A “Dork Dancing” event in Depot Square on May 10 from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. is looking to break the stigma about mental health.

Founder Ethan Levy is leading the event, with help from Melody Russell.

“One night Ethan was making supper in his house in Vietnam with his friends when they started dancing. The dancing was eventually moved to a local park and people just seemed to join in,” Russell said as she described the origins of Levy's idea.

Levy had moved to China out of college, then at the start of the COVID pandemic moved to Vietnam when he fully indulged his idea. His goal is not only to give people the opportunity to dance, but also the opportunity to break stereotypes around people with psychiatric disabilities.

“Ethan is someone with bipolar disorder himself and he really stresses that people should move away from using the term ‘mental illness’ and instead use ‘mental health’ as a new term. I’m looking forward to the stigma being taken out of mental health,” Russell said. “I can't stop smiling about it, I am older and still need to get exercise so it’s great to be able to dance for hours and not realize”. 

According to Russell, “Dork Dancing is for everyone.”

“It’s a very fun, social thing; you can bring your 4-year-old or your 8-year-old and even your grandmother,” she said. 

Russell believes that this event can give people an opportunity to “be together without expressing political views or feeling awkwardness between the people we live simultaneously with”.