Greetings from John Griffith, creator of the BioBlitz Dance. This is your official invitation to be a part of the BioBlitz Dance Movement! The BioBlitz Dance is a celebration of the outdoors, diversity within the conservation movement, and the centennial anniversary of the National Park Service. There have been over 60 BioBlitz Dance videos from various groups posted on YouTube and/or Facebook. The number is expected to grow exponentially by this summer.
The BioBlitz Dance was created after my California Conservation Corps (CCC) crew and I were invited by Outdoor Afro’s founder and CEO, Rue Mapp, to participate in National Geographic’s 2014 BioBlitz Event at the Golden Gate National Parks. We made the first BioBlitz Dance video for the event and were amazed that it received over 30,000 views. The dance has spread quickly with BioBlitz Dances coming from all corners of the USA, New Zealand, Kenya, Nigeria, and Romania. To learn more about the dance’s history, please check out the link “BioBlitz Dance’s Creation Story” below.
The BioBlitz Dance has some guidelines that you should learn about before checking out the tutorial video:
- The BioBlitz Dance must be done outdoors. You are welcome to practice it indoors, but when you are ready to record it, it must happen outside.
- Upload the video of your BioBlitz Dance to YouTube and include the words, “BioBlitz Dance” somewhere in your title. Example: Malheur Refuge Liberation BioBlitz Dance.
- More than ever we need a unifying message and celebration of public lands. That’s why we strongly encourage everyone to stick with the original three core moves of the BioBlitz Dance. Again, you must include the three core moves, or it’s not the BioBlitz Dance. The moves: Black Bear, Turkey Vulture, and Ground Squirrel can be renamed to reflect animals in your park if you’re interested in using the dance as an interpretive tool. However, please do not change the moves. The moves are what identify it as the BioBlitz Dance and connect all of us who celebrate the outdoors, diversity within the conservation movement, and public lands no matter where we are.
- The fourth move of the BioBlitz Dance is designated as a freestyle, where each individual dancer can bust their signature moves. In addition, this is also an opportunity for your group to create your own unique fourth move. For example, Shepherdstown Elementary School created a ‘Brook Trout Dance’ as their fourth move to reflect an animal they had studied recently. Your fourth BioBlitz Dance move could be another popular dance like the Twist, the Quan, or the Nae Nae like the group Keeping It Wild did to great effect. (see link below).
- “Bird Machine” by DJ Snake has been the go-to song for the Bioblitz Dance. It is available on iTunes. You can click here to download National Geographic’s cover of Bird Machine or just play it from here:
If you are in California and would like to take some BioBlitz Dance lessons, my corps members and I will be doing two BioBlitz Dance Workshops this year (with more in the works but yet to be scheduled). The first is at The BLM Youth Summit on Feb 19th on the Sacramento University campus. The second is at the National Association of Interpretation Conference on the Humboldt State University campus on April 3rd.
Please share this with anyone who may be interested. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Don’t miss the links below.
Thanks for being a person who is interested in celebrating the outdoors with a dance!
Kind regards:
John Griffith
National Geographic blog on the BioBlitz Dance:
BioBlitz Dance Creation Story:
Two examples of great fourth moves:
Shepherdstown Elementary School’s BioBlitz Dance:
John Griffith’s YouTube Channel:
