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The International or World Dance Day is marked every year on April 29, on the date when the French dancer, choreographer, and ballet master Jean Georges Noverre was born. 

Noverre in dance history is considered as the reformer of ballet art and founder of ballet d' action that was a significant step in showing the expressive power and the potential of ballet as an independent art form. In his Lettres sur la danse et sur les ballets written in 1760 he discarded the role of dance as mere entertainment (divertissement) in operas and wrote about ballet as an important artistic form in which dancers bring to the stage content and express emotions. Because of this innovative contribution and concepts that have altered the understanding of dance and the relationship toward that art form Jean Georges Noverre is considered to be one of the most important individuals in dance history and his birthday has been selected as the date for the marking of the International Dance Day.

The Croatian message for World Dance Day 2024 was written by the dance pedagogue Ilijana Lončar and the international message by Marianela Núñez, the renowned ballerina from Argentina .

CROATIAN MESSAGE
ILIJANA LONČAR                                                      

Dance is omnipresent!
It shapes us both from the inside and the outside. It makes us vulnerable, but also exceptionally strong. It implies dedication, passion, and persistence. Without movement, even the smallest one, there is no communication. When it seems that everything is static and idle, it is only an illusion, because right at that moment we come to a revelation. We dance with both the mind and the body.
Let us surrender to the sharing of thoughts, emotions, and good intentions. Let us be free, bold, self-expressive, respect differences, have faith …
Let us take of the shackles of indifference, superficiality and mediocrity and enjoy our own resources of artistic power and be willing to share and accept them.
Let us be human, let us play, daydream and dance.
Dance is omnipresent!

INTERNATIONAL MESSAGE
MARIANELA NÚÑEZ

A memory is not enough to make history. And the history of a theatre, like that of each one, is also the history of others, of how an art like dance migrated and grew in different latitudes.

The walls of the Royal Ballet treasure photographs that narrate the journey, history calls for its protagonists and dance in Argentina shines with each of those names. Often, institutions submerge themselves in silent anonymity, without faces or surnames, avoiding facing the echo of the past. The organizations promoted and supported by ITI-UNESCO, such as the Argentine Dance Council, that frequently act as a wall that stops forgetfulness.

I am with you all in the commitment to rescue and revitalize the history of masters, artists and

choreographers who have enriched the world of dance, deserving of being heard by future generations. Let us all know that we are not spectators, but inheritors of a tradition forged with art, dignity and sacrifice, nourishing our path with vocation and love for beauty. Although the future and the present capture our attention, without the solid foundation of the past, without the fertility of our land, the dance tree cannot flourish. The roots are tradition and at the same time... nutrients.