If you see students dancing in the commons during finals week, don’t be surprised.

NIU’s dance program will present a series of performances, exhibits and workshops on dance.

NIU’s observance of “Inter-National Dance Week” will be through May 4. Dances will be performed at noon in the King Memorial Commons from April 30 until May 2. All performances will be free and the public is invited to participate, said Billie Mahoney, coordinator of NIU’s comprehensive dance program.

“Monday was the first day of dance week and NIU President John La Tourette signed a proclamation,” Mahoney said.

Irish and European folk dances were featured Monday while Spanish and Latin American dances will be the focus for Tuesday.

Wednesday will feature African and Japanese dancing and American jazz will be exhibited on Thursday.

“There are a lot of incorporated activities throughout the week. Thursday we’ll do a ‘Hands Across the Campus’ after some jazz dancing,” Mahoney said.

Physical education dance faculty will perform at 8 p.m. at Anderson Hall’s studio/theater in room 135. A small fee will be charged to viewers.

Mahoney explained that National Dance Week was first celebrated in 1972 when four commemorative dance postage stamps were issued. The diamond-shaped stamps honored ballet, folk dance, modern dance and theater dance.

In 1985, the observance of dance became known as “Inter-National Dance Week” when the celebrations expanded and took on an international flavor outside the American field of dance.

The event is celebrated every year around April 29 in memory of Jean-Georges Noverre, said Mahoney. Noverre was a ballet master at the court of Fontainebleau in France. He gave lessons to royalty such as Marie Antoinette.

“Inter-National Dance Week” is open to the public. Mahoney said that the cultural celebration of dance will help encourage interested people to learn more about dance.

“We’re trying to bring a little culture here to campus. We’d like to see this as a yearly event,” Mahoney said.

Mahoney said that interested students may seek two different types of dance degrees at NIU. They may work toward a degree in physical education with an emphasis in dance education or a theatre arts degree with a dance performance emphasis.