Dance around the world

We humans are natural dancers. Dances can be celebrations, or for praise, or for an audience - or just a simple act of letting the rhythm move your body. Dancers can communicate ideas, preserve cultural identities, strengthen social bonds, or just have a lot of fun. Collected here are recent photographs of us, human beings around the world, professional and amateur, in motion for all of the reasons above and more. [See also: Dance around the world, part II] (39 photos total)

A dancer from the English National Ballet performing 'Ballets Russes' at Sadler's Wells poses in her 'Dying Swan' costume designed by Karl Largerfeld on June 16, 2009 in London, England. (Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

Tommy Tucker and Sarina Robinson swing dance in Central Park to honor legendary Lindy Hop dancer Frankie Manning May 22, 2009 in New York City. More than 2,000 Lindy Hoppers from around the world gathered in New York to celebrate Manning's life and mark what would have been his 95th birthday as he passed away prior this year on April 27. (Mario Tama/Getty Images) #

People dance under the rainbow as they refuse to let the wet weather dampen their high spirits during the Bela Music 2009 rock festival at the Borovaya airfield just outside of the Belarus capital Minsk, Saturday, May 23, 2009.(AP Photo) #

Villagers dance during a ceremony for the opening of housing units in the al-Dhafir village west of Sanaa, Yemen on May 24, 2009. The houses were built by Saudi Prince al-Waleed bin Talal for victims of the December 28, 2005 landslide in al-Dhafir. The landslide killed 65 people and destroyed 27 of the village's 31 houses. (REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah) #

Honda's humanoid robot "Asimo" leads pupils in a dance at a primary school during its first appearance in Wuhan, Hubei province, China on May 26, 2009. (REUTERS/Stringer) #

A North Korean waitress dances with Chinese visitors at a North Korean restaurant in the Chinese border city of Dandong, May 28, 2009. (REUTERS/Jason Lee) #

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater members Antonio Douthit, Glenn Allen Sims and Kirven Boyd. (Andrew Eccles) #

Egyptian groom Ayman Muhammad, 32, dances with his bride Mona as they take a midnight boat trip on the Nile River on June 1, 2009 in Cairo, Egypt. (David Silverman/Getty Images) #

Festival visitors wear plastic bags around their feet as they dance during a rain shower at the music festival "Rock am Ring" (Rock at the Ring) at the Nuerburgring racetrack in Nuerburg, western Germany on June 6, 2009. (PHILIPP GUELLAND/AFP/Getty Images) #

Dancers of the Morenada participate in the entrance of Jesus del Gran Poder (Jesus of Great Power) during the festival of the same name in La Paz, Bolivia on June 6, 2009. The pagan festival, where 55 fraternities and some 35,000 folklorists participate, takes to the street of the Bolivian capital in reverence of Sr. Jesus del Gran Poder. (AIZAR RALDES/AFP/Getty Images) #

A dancer from the Argentine troupe Fuerza Bruta, or "Brute Force," performs during opening night at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami, Florida, June 10, 2009. (REUTERS/Carlos Barria) #

Employees of a marine park perform an underwater mermaid dance routine inside a giant aquarium in Manila, Philippines on June 5, 2009. (JAY DIRECTO/AFP/Getty Images) #

U.S. army soldiers dance during their time off at Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan on June 6, 2009. (REUTERS/Jorge Silva) #

A dancer from the Argentine troupe Fuerza Bruta performs during opening night at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami, Florida, June 10, 2009. (REUTERS/Carlos Barria) #

People enjoy the Junkanoo parade as a dancer passes by at the Goombay Festival on June 6, 2009 in Coconut Grove, Florida. The festival is a celebration of culture expression embracing the legacy of a Bahamian-rooted community. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) #

Hindu devotees perform a ritual dance before immersing an idol of the Goddess Durga into the revered Ganges River, in Allahabad, India, Wednesday, June 3, 2009. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh) #

Cheerleaders from the Los Angeles Lakers team dance during game two of the NBA finals against the Orlando Magic at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on June 7, 2009. (MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images) #

Dancer Tania Isaac, performing in costume. (Bill Herbert) #

Supporters of reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi dance to music coming from a speaker in the trunk of a car, right, in the streets at a night-time street rally just days before the election, in the Sadatabad district of northern Tehran, Iran, in the early hours of Tuesday, June 9, 2009. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis) #

Spectators watch dancers from the Argentine troupe Fuerza Bruta perform in water above their heads during opening night at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami, Florida, June 10, 2009. (REUTERS/Carlos Barria) #

Dancers of the World Roma festival Khamoro dance at the Old Town square in Prague, Czech Republic, Thursday, May 28, 2009. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek) #

Israeli actors dressed in illuminated outfits dance outside of Jaffa gate during the Jerusalem Festival of Light in Jerusalem's Old city, Thursday, June 11, 2009. (AP Photo/Tara Todras-Whitehill) #

People dance in the street a day before the start of the Confederations Cup soccer tournament in Rustenburg, South Africa, Saturday, June 13, 2009. (AP Photo/Paul White) #

Chamara Tomlinson performs a traditional Praise Dance in front of the casket of Spc. Roberto A. Hernandez II, 21, of Far Rockaway, New York, during his funeral June 12, 2009 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Spc. Hernandez was killed of wounds sustained when his mounted patrol was attacked with an improvised explosive device and small arms fire on June 2 in Paktya, Afghanistan. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) #

Dancers dressed as Kumari, The Living Goddess, perform a traditional dance in Kathmandu, Nepal in this June 13, 2009 picture. A group of boys and girls from Vajra Kala Kunja dance troupe performed in public to showcase their learning of fast-disappearing Nepali traditional dance. (REUTERS/Gopal Chitrakar) #

Revelers dance and celebrate during the 116th Street Festival in Spanish Harlem June 13, 2009 in New York City. The 28-block festival draws around 100,000 attendees and is one of a number of weekend Puerto Rican pride festivities occurring a day before the annual Puerto Rican Day Parade. (Mario Tama/Getty Images) #

Supporters of Indonesian presidential candidate Megawati Sukarnoputri dance as a singer performs prior to her speech at Porong district in Sidoarjo, East Java province June 14, 2009. (REUTERS/Beawiharta) #

Jamaica Macdonald of Providence, Rhode Island, AKA "Jinx", works a homemade lighted hula hoop on the dance floor during Elektra's Revenge at Wonder Bar in Allston, Massachusetts on June 11, 2009. (Erik Jacobs/Boston Globe) #

Monks from the Shaolin Temple in China rehearse inside wooden boxes as part of a dance entitled "Sutra" choreographed by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui - part of the annual Singapore Arts Festival, Wednesday May 20, 2009.(AP Photo/Wong Maye-E) #

Monks from the Shaolin Temple in China rehearse a dance entitled "Sutra" as part of the annual Singapore Arts Festival, on Wednesday May 20, 2009.(AP Photo/Wong Maye-E) #

An Israeli student dances in foam during a party marking the start of gay pride events at Sapir College near the southern town of Sderot, Israel on June 8, 2009. (REUTERS/Amir Cohen) #

Melissa Conner of Boston dances with Damon Iannuzzelli of South Boston at an event named "Hearthrob vs. Thunderdome" at Puma City, a temporary event space set up on Boston's Fan Pier on May 2, 2009. (Erik Jacobs/Boston Globe) #

Doug Walker and his "New York City Float Committee" group break dance in Times Square Station (Damon Winter / The New York Times) #

A member of Australia's Tom Tom Crew performs during a photocall in central London on June 18, 2009. (SHAUN CURRY/AFP/Getty Images) #

Dancers dressed in traditional costumes perform during a street parade in central Colombo, Sri Lanka on May 22, 2009. The parade of over 200,000 people was part of continuing celebrations to commemorate the victory of government troops over the Tamil Tiger rebels in their 25-year war. (REUTERS/David Gray) #

Dancers perform during a national folk dancing competition for the wheelchair-bound in Herzliya near Tel Aviv, israel on May 19, 2009. (REUTERS/Gil Cohen Magen) #

A dancer from ISIS Dance Troupe, a belly dance group in Vietnam, performs during a show called "The 1002nd Night" in Hanoi, Vietnam, Friday, May 22, 2009. (AP Photo/Chitose Suzuki) #

In this photo taken on March 21, 2009, Lawrence Carter-Long tapes up his battered feet before the a performance of GIMP in New York. In GIMP, a performance choreographed by Heidi Latsky, a troupe of abled and disabled dancers explores beauty in its many forms. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) #

Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, a young actor from the film "Slumdog Millionaire", peers from behind a curtain during a dancing session at a charity event in Hong Kong on Sunday, June 7, 2009. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu) #

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