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EXE_RDJ2_001Sunday, May 4th, was a beautiful day in Long Beach, California. At Rainbow Lagoon Park, near the Long Beach Convention Center, the sun was shining in a bright blue sky and a cool breeze balanced out the warm sun. It was the perfect setting for the first annual Discount Dance “Run de Jambe” 5k . Over 200 dancers from the community joined Discount Dance Supply at Rainbow Lagoon Park to support the National Dance Education Organizaton (NDEO).

Presenting sponsor,  Kids Artistic Revue (KAR) and sponsor Discovery Arts, set up booths and upbeat toe-tapping tunes were played for the crowd. Southland Ballet Academy ballet instructor (and Dance Life contributor) Lana Brooks, led the crowd in a series of warm ups on the green spring grass overlooking Rainbow Lagoon. The runners were given a “5,6,7,8” at the starting line and they sprang away, with the first runner finishing in just over 14 minutes!

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EXE_RDJ2_003KAR brought along reality TV personality JoJo Siwa and her friend Bailey, along with super cute and trendy goodies for sale from the “Heartless Romantic” line of dancewear. The girls danced and twirled almost non-stop, hung around the KAR booth to chat with fans, and posed for pictures with professional dance photographer (and all-around nice guy) David Hofmann. JoJo and Bailey were so sweet cheering on the runners and slapping high fives as they passed. NDEO Executive Director, Susan McGreevy-Nichols and Discount Dance CEO, Brian Hill, each said a few words thanking the runners for supporting dance education as a community.

You can check out a short live video form JoJo and Bailey here.

Through out the day awesome prizes were raffled off and attendees participated in a live Instagram contest to win a mini photo shoot with David Hofmann. The event was brought to a close with a fun dance celebrity meet & greet. Chelsie Hightower, Makenzie Dustman, Paul Karmiryan, Juliet Doherty, Miko Fogarty, Brian Friedman, Sophia Lucia, Jordyn Jones and Asia Monet Ray signed autographs and posed for photos with fans.

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You can see all the Run de Jambe 2014 photos on the Discount Dance Facebook page!