We’re Turning 100 🎉🔥💚
Today is the 100th anniversary (days, not years! 😅🤓) of #dorkdancing for mental health in Da Nang. 41 days online, 59 days on the beach. And what a journey it has been.
We think this is something worth celebrating and sharing. There’s too many memories to reflect on, with over 2,000 files of photos & videos to try and preserve them.
Each day brings something new. New dancers, lessons learned, smiles, laughter, conversations, healing, acceptance, confidence, friendships, joy, and growth. #dorkdancing is a process of self-discovery & self-love. It’s shared within our community and practice. No day of #dorkdancing is the same, but the journey is characterized by a constant: it’s contagious.
Here we try to capture, as best we can, what the #dorkdancing contagion has looked like over the past 100 days.
Day 1 started with just two dancers, Ethan & Thai. By the end of week 3, the idea & practice attracted a sizable crowd. This article describes the growth of those early weeks, explaining how exactly Dork Dancing began in Da Nang.
Things were going so well that we were kicked off the sidewalk because we were blocking the path. We then danced on the beach, but things slowed down some as we were finding our new location. And then the lockdown hit. We continued our progress online. This article describes how #dorkdancing went digital during lockdown.
When we returned to the beach after Da Nang’s second lockdown, there was something different in the air. The wind blew stronger and the sun fell earlier, but the conditions were just right for something bigger and better.
We were now more prepared than before, because when we started, we had no idea what to do or what to expect. Warmup, made up a few days in. Sizable speakers, bought later. Banner, purchased weeks after. Business cards, eventually designed. Photographs, powerfully captured. Headbands, finally delivered. There was a tremendous sense of fun & adventure in not knowing what we were doing.
It all came together, day-by-day, bit-by-bit.
After lockdown, we came much more prepared. We had our process, and materials, ready. We had more experience and knowhow, built through trying inexperience and delightful ignorance. Lots of people already knew about #dorkdancing too, so things were objectively easier.
Before lockdown, our group size hovered around 10. After lockdown, that roughly doubled to near 20. We bought new speakers to help. People were, and are, ready to let loose. It’s not easy being bottled up in your room for 41 days straight, leaving only for grocery visits.
99 days after that first day on the beach, the community has grown to over 200, with new communities emerging in Denver, Ho Chi Minh City, and Chiang Mai.
The 200 and some dancers in Da Nang have danced for nearly 1,000 times. That means, on average, for each dancer who has joined us, they have come to about 5 of our events.
When we started we didn’t know what to expect or what would happen but people are resonating with what we are doing and why because we are driven by a mental health mission and combining that with a fun, light-hearted idea that delivers immediate mental health benefits.
After 100 days, we are excited to share #dorkdancing for mental health as an idea that works. We know this intimately. The impact found in our numbers, and the stories behind them, prove it.
So today on our 100th day we celebrated some at “Dork Dinners.” We ate delicious vegan food, had good, casual conversation, and shared a cake to celebrate the day. It was something light but fun.
The journey has been simply incredible. Try organizing #dorkdancing for mental health for 100 days in your community and you will most powerfully understand why.
If you have a desire to support, organize, volunteer, comment, or ask, please reach out!