Announcement: Restarting Digital #dorkdancing
From June 14th-July 25th, dorks first danced on the beach. Then lockdown #2 happened. In response, we launched Digital #dorkdancing on July 27th, 2020.
The lockdown continued, and so did our dancing, for 41 days. You can learn more about the lockdown experience and how the Da Nang community came together to cope through the mental health challenges of staying indoors, for what felt like forever.
Once the lockdown lifted, digital #dorkdancing stopped. For some dorks, the end of digital #dorkdancing was sad news.
Take Daniel, from Spain, for instance. He could join us in some #dorkdancing from Spain only because we met online. It was impossible for him to meet us on the beach in Da Nang. When digital #dorkdancing ended, so did his participation in our community. That was the end for him, and he wanted to keep going.
For dorks in Da Nang, a number of them still preferred the online experience to the beach because of some unique advantages.
First, online, you don’t need to travel anywhere because already you are at your destination. You can just roll out of bed, turn on the computer, and click the link. Done. Easier than that commute.
Second, the music at home was better because digital #dorkdancing gave more space. Digital dork dancers can simply mute their videos/ audio and play their own favorite music. At any time, from home, dancers can directly control what they listen to throughout the entire experience. At the beach, that’s not possible because music comes from the group.
When digital #dorkdancing stopped, a part of our community was lost. For this reason, we are deciding to relaunch digital #dorkdancing.
With Thai and Bence volunteering on the beach, we now have the capacity to start expanding the community and growing our impact in new ways. Now, we can both dance on the beach and dance online.
In restarting Digital #dorkdancing, we hope to not only dance with new dorks, but reconnect with our old friends as well. Dork Dancers who joined us in Da Nang and have since moved. People like Anna, who is in Albania. Anastasia, who is in Russia. And Lan, who will soon be in Malaysia.
Instead of 5PM Indochina time, we are offering new times to accommodate Digital Dorks from anywhere around the world.
The offering is simple. MENTAL Mondays, #dorkdancing for mental health twice a day. 8AM & 8PM Eastern Standard Time. Regardless of where you live, we hope one of these times might work.
Dork Dancing is a grassroots mental health idea, campaign, and community. Our efforts depend entirely on charitable giving to inspire impact. We hope you may consider supporting by donating.