Ms. Tzipporah of Shimmy Jam Milwaukee taught Egyptian Belly Dancing, and Jessica Woolridge of Signature Dance Company taught Hip Hop and African Dance. D.J. Roc D.J.’d the event. Community members also brought in food from different countries to share with each other. It was a delightful feast! In between the dancing, the boys raffled off annual memberships to the Urban Ecology Center and copies of “I Am a Boy of Color,” a children’s book written by the boys' mother, Deanna Singh.

The boys are co-chairman of the Flying Elephant Foundation, which is funded by the proceeds of the book, so they were happy to be able to share that work at the party! The idea for the party came from Zephaniah last year when he was 7 years old. After hearing about a world dance party in Seattle, Zephaniah said, “Mom, we like to eat good food, dance, and learn about different cultures. We should do a party here. But we can’t just do a world dance party; it needs to be EPIC!”

Zephaniah then connected with Terry Evans, Branch Manager of the Urban Ecology-Washington Park, and asked if he would be willing to co-host. Terry graciously agreed and they set out to plan an EPIC World Dance Party. Last year, everyone left with just one question: when is the next one? So the Ponder brothers set a date right away! This year was no different. Plans are in place to have another Epic World Dance party in 2018. Zephaniah said, “I definitely want to do it next year because everyone really loves dancing together! It is way too much fun not to keep doing it!” and when asked what he thought about doing it again, Zion simply said, “Let’s dance!”

See you next year!  

Guest Blogger: Zephaniah Singh Ponder, Age 8