Dancing for kindness put on in Waterloo
WATERLOO — The world could use a little more kindness.
That’s what brought Julie Hong and her partner Mike Fralic out to the Dance for Kindness event at Waterloo Public Square on Sunday.
It’s the first time Waterloo has participated in the worldwide event to celebrate World Kindness Day on Monday. The dance event involves a flash mob event where people gather to dance. Similar events are held in 120 cities in 50 different countries.
“We could be in a kinder world,” said Hong, who lives in Ottawa but was visiting family in Heidelberg for the weekend.
“We could use more empathy, more compassion and anything that can give support to that I’m in,” she said.
“I came here to dance,” added Fralic.
About 200 people gathered at the public square to participate in the event. Jennifer Myers, local organizer, started a similar dance mob at Lincoln Heights Public School where she teaches a few years ago. This year she wanted it to grow. “Waterloo needs to be on the map,” she said.
Lisa McTavish, a Grade 7/8 art teacher at Lester B. Pearson Public School, saw the posters at her school about Dance for Kindness and brought one of her students along.
“I wanted to spread the word on kindness,” said Grade 8 student Rachel Leslie.
“It’s cool and it’s worldwide,” she said. “People are doing this in other provinces and across the ocean.”
For Elias Sevaptsidis, dancing was a family affair. Decked out in bright-orange T-shirt, Sevaptsidis came out with his wife and daughter.
“With modern technology, a lot of us spend time with a lot of distractions,” he said. “We need to pause and put people first,” he said.