International Dance Day 2024: True to its form

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People light flares and dance to celebrate the victory of Ekrem Imamoglu, Istanbul mayor and Republican People's Party (CHP) candidate in Istanbul, Turkey, on April 1, 2024. CHP won 36 of 81 provinces, making inroads into President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's AK Party strongholds since he came to power two decades ago.  

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The Fire of Anatolia performed on stage at the Metropolitan Theater in Medellin, Colombia, on April 25, 2024. Led by 55 talented performers, the Turkish dance group's show made its Colombian debut in Medellín. It brought Anatolian legends to life with thunderous rhythms and breathtaking spins, combining ancient folk dance, stunning costumes, and live music.

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Indonesian breakdancers perform in front of the Olympic rings during the opening of the AFP photo exhibition "Road to Paris 2024" in Jakarta on April 25, 2024, ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The sport of breaking (also called b-boying, b-girling, or breakdancing) will make its debut at the Paris Olympics in an effort to bring the Olympics to a wider and younger audience.

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A student practices a trick during a class at Wild Pole, a pole dancing studio in Paris, France, on March 26, 2024. After being essentially confined to cabarets and strip clubs, pole dancing was recognised as a sport in 2017. A physically demanding discipline, many pole dancers hope to see it featured at a future Olympics as a sport.

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Demonstrators sing and dance during a march against the high cost of living in Cotonou, a port city in Benin, West Africa, on April 27, 2024. Benin's economy has faced challenges such as trade disruptions due to the closure of the border with Niger after a coup, increased inflation, and rising petrol prices, according to a World Bank report.

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D-Day veteran Alec Penstone (R) dances with a member of the D-Day darlings, a war-time themed song and dance group, during an event in central London, UK, on April 26, 2024, to launch the 80th-anniversary commemorations of Allied amphibious landing (D-Day Landings) in France in 1944.  Heads of state and veterans are due to mark the anniversary of D-Day on June 6, a date that was key to Allied Europe's eventual victory against the Nazis in World War II.

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South Korea's ruling People Power Party campaigners dance during a party rally ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections in Seoul on April 8, 2024. South Korea's liberal opposition party won a landslide victory in the country's parliamentary elections, putting President Yoon Suk Yeol in a challenging position for the three remaining years of his term.

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Bharatiya Janata Party supporters dance as they wait for India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi's roadshow to arrive in Ghaziabad, India, on April 6, 2024, ahead of the general elections. However, Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar recorded low voter turnout on the day of the elections, April 26.

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Dragon dance teams from China and Southeast Asia perform at the 7th Nanning International Traditional Dragon Dance Invitational Competition in Nanning, Guangxi province, China, on April 11, 2024. Professional referees and experts evaluated each of the impassioned teams for the degree of difficulty, innovation, and the effect of their performance - in showing the majestic aura of the dragon - to select the champions of each event.

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USC dance team members perform before a game against the Connecticut Huskies in the Elite 8 round of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament at Moda Center in Portland, Oregon, US, on April 1, 2024.  USC ( called the Trojans for bringing people of different backgrounds and experiences together and forging unique bonds) reached the NCAA Elite Eight and made their deepest tournament run in 30 years.

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Members of the aerial/vertical dance company Bandaloop perform outside Dee and Charles Wyly Theater at the AT&T Performing Arts Center Dallas, US, on April 13, 2024. Bandaloop's signature technique,   "vertical dancing," combines rock climbing and dancing features. Performers leap up, down and sideways in ballet-like moves, all while suspended by cables, sometimes hundreds of feet in the air.

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Nepali masked dancers take on the form of Hindu deities during a performance at the Kathmandu Durbar Square in Nepal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, on April 5, 2024. The dancers from the ancient city of Khokana in Lalitpur District travel to Kathmandu once every 12 years to showcase the Rudrayani Devi Naach dance as a revered continuing tradition in the Himalayan nation.

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Egyptian folk artists perform the swirling Tanoura dance on a street decorated with lights during the last day of Ramadan at the Lusail Commercial Boulevard in Lusail, Qatar, on April 9, 2024. Performed with the Tanoura (an ornate and colourful skirt) around the waist, the Sufi whirling dance is a form of physically active meditation that originated in Syria.

Image: Issouf SANOGO / AFP

Congo Brazzaville's group Danseincolor performs a contemporary dance during the 13th edition of the African Entertainment Arts Market (MASA) at the Palais de la Culture in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on April 17, 2024. A cultural platform for promoting African performing arts, the weeklong festival in Abidjan featured 35 artists and artistic groups from 13 countries.