Streets and squares and parks throughout the world have been reverberating to millions of feet dancing to the same tune.
It is all part of the ‘One Billion Rising’ campaign to end violence against women. Around 200 countries have taken part.
It is the brainchild of the playwright Eve Ensler, prompted by a shocking statistic that one in three women will be the subject of violence at some point in her life. That is a billion people.
In Brussels, the choreographed moves were followed by an hour of free dance expression.
At the dance event in the Place de la Monnaie, the president of the European Women’s Lobby, Viviane Teitelbaum told euronews: “It’s important to make people more aware, so we can try to legislate, not only in European countries but more widely throughout the world. And once we’ve legislated, there should be zero-tolerance for violence against women.”
There was a specially written song for the day – Rise Up, Stand Up was the soundtrack for the Valentine’s Day voice against violence.
Reporting from the dance our correspondent in Brussels, Marta Vivas Chamorro said: “Thousands of associations and organisations around the world have joined this campaign with different events. Here as well as dancing they want also to make 2015 the European Year Against Gender Violence.”
