A Zone of Low Impact: Exploring the Summertime Dance Series at Robson Square

Laureano Ralon

August is all about the environment, and what better way of helping to preserve it than to switch off your computer and liquid plasma television, walk or take the SkyTrain to downtown Vancouver, and engage in four hours of unmediated, low-impact, face-to-face interaction in a communal setting that provides for exercise, socializing, and fun? If this sounds like an appealing combo, then join the Robson Square Summertime Dance Series 2007 every Friday for the remainder of the summer — great for the body and great for the soul!

If there’s a correlation between the isolated life of suburbia, illness, and pollution, then what’s needed is more social interaction and activities like dancing in a community-friendly setting such as Robson Square. Arthur Erickson’s design of the Robson Square complex was, in a sense, conceived as an antidote to the suburban lifestyle: the complex was to provide a setting where citizens could come together and use the premises for a wide array of communal activities. Since then, Robson Square has offered the best outdoor community events summer after summer.

One year after the completion of the Robson Square complex in 1978, Vancouver witnessed the opening of the Robson Square Summertime Dance Series, which has continued each summer for the past 28 years. For those interested in exploring dances other than salsa and its derivative Afro-Caribbean rhythms, the Robson Square Summertime Dance Series offers a great alternative to the Sunday Afternoon Salsa event featured in our last issue. The Robson Square Summertime Dance Series takes place every Friday night from 8 p.m. on the skating rink beneath the dome, and offers a wide selection of music and dance instruction in addition to salsa. A mix of waltz, cha-cha, tango, jive, and swing is played throughout the night, entertaining a diverse crowd of all ages and backgrounds — from professionals and aficionados to observers and “wannabes.”

The structure and organization of the Friday night dance series is similar to the Sunday salsa event. Every Friday starts with a half-hour, complimentary lesson at 8 p.m., followed by general dancing and performances until 11:30 p.m., when the event wraps up with the traditional waltz. Some of the more noteworthy performances this summer include West Coast Canadian Swing Champions’ Myles and Tessa from the Canadian Swing Dance Company, Grupo America Dance Company, and the North Shore Dance Academy.

For nightly and weekly schedules, visit www.dancesportbc.com. Admission is by donation, with funds raised going toward covering expenses. We are also supporting the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society, and ask you to please bring along a non-perishable food item to help fight hunger in your community.

Join Robson Square’s low-impact zone this summer, as you unplug and enjoy two great outdoor dance events over the weekend — great for the environment and great for body and soul!