November 19, 2012
V-DAY’S ONE BILLION RISING CAMPAIGN UNVEILS NEW SONG AND MUSIC VIDEO:
“BREAK THE CHAIN”
Written by Renowned Producer Tena Clark, Featuring Dancer and Choreographer Debbie Allen, and Directed by Tony Stroebel, New Video to Spread Awareness of Global Campaign
ONE BILLION RISING Campaign Escalates with 176 Countries and Over 13,000 Organizations Signed on to Support Global Day of Action to End Violence Against Women and Girls
NEW YORK – (November 19, 2012) – Today, V-Day, the global activist movement to end violence against women and girls, unveiled an exclusive new song and music video to support its ONE BILLION RISING campaign. “Break the Chain,” written and produced by Tena Clark with music by Tena Clark and Tim Heintz, debuted world-wide today: http://ow.ly/fo9fH
Directed and shot by South African filmmaker Tony Stroebel in New York City, “Break the Chain” spotlights a cast of V-Girl dancers and activists from around the City, led by acclaimed dancer and choreographer Debbie Allen (“So You Think You Can Dance,” “Fame”). The song features moving vocals by Liz Byrne, Shelea Frazier, Ashley Juedy, Dana Kluczyk, Jenny Mollett, Jenna Brooke Scannelli, Tanyaradzwa Tawengwa, Naomi Walley, and Caitlin Witty.
“Break the Chain,” aims to raise awareness around the world about V-Day’s fastest escalating global campaign to date, ONE BILLION RISING. V-Day will create a “how to” video, featuring choreographer Debbie Allen, and accompanying curriculum outlining the steps and lyrics, so that activists around the world can hold their own flash mobs using “Break the Chain” on February 14, 2013.
The ONE BILLION RISING campaign began as a call to action based on the staggering statistic that 1 in 3 women on the planet will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. With the world population at 7 billion, this adds up to more than ONE BILLION WOMEN AND GIRLS. On February 14, 2013, V-Day’s 15th anniversary, activists, writers, thinkers, celebrities and women and men across the world will come together to express their outrage, strike, dance, and RISE in defiance of the injustices women suffer, demanding an end at last to violence against women.
“Dancing insists we take up space, and though it has no set direction, we go there together. Dance is dangerous, joyous, sexual, holy, disruptive, and contagious and it breaks the rules. It can happen anywhere, at anytime, with anyone and everyone, and it’s free. Dance joins us and pushes us to go further and that is why it’s at the center of ONE BILLION RISING,” said Eve Ensler, V-Day Founder and Artistic Director. “With beautiful music and infectious lyrics from Tena Clark, amazing vocals by a talented group of V-Girls, and Debbie Allen’s bold choreography, Break The Chain is sure to inspire women and men worldwide to rise.”
The campaign is growing every day in the lead up to February 14, 2013, with women and men around the world signing on. To date, thousands of activists, over 13,000 organizations around the globe, and 176 countries have committed to participate and hold events. From the International Rescue Committee, to NOW to the AFL-CIO, to OXFAM Australia, to Sangat South Asia and Lila Pilipina, to Amnesty International USA, thousands of organizations are spreading the word amongst their millions of members in an effort to make the campaign the largest volunteer mass action ever.
V-Day’s short campaign film ONE BILLION RISING, shot and edited by South African filmmaker Tony Stroebel, has been viewed and shared over 170,000 times since launching this fall. Celebrities including Jessica Alba, Connie Britton, Anne Hathaway, Donna Karan, Jennifer Lawrence, Dylan McDermott, Riley Keough, Thandie Newton, Yoko Ono, Laura Pausini, Robert Redford, Charlize Theron, Lily Tomlin, Kerry Washington, Ruby Wax, Rosie Huntington-Whitely, Monique Wilson, and Zoe Kravitz, are all actively working to raise awareness about the campaign and recording PSAs to inspire others to sign on.
Today Ensler kicks-off a multi-city tour with stops in Mexico City, Lima, and Guatemala City to meet with officials and activists. Governments and politicians around the world are already supporting ONE BILLION RISING. From the First Lady of Nepal to the Mayor of Lima, from the Los Angeles City Council to British MP Stella Creasy, from officials in Santa Fe to France, around the world leaders are joining the campaign.
Regional coordinators are working around the clock, building grassroots coalitions. From Iran to Fiji, from Hong Kong to Guatemala, the reach of the campaign is already upwards of hundreds of millions of individuals. Renowned writers and thinkers including Alice Walker, Adam Hochschild, Naomi Klein, Dr. Denis Mukwege, and Christiane Northrup are supporting the effort. Every day the campaign grows, and more women and men are committing to rise together on February 14, 2013.
Individuals and organizations can get involved with ONE BILLION RISING by:
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About V-Day
V-Day is a global activist movement to end violence against women and girls that raises funds and awareness through benefit productions of Playwright/Founder Eve Ensler’s award winning play The Vagina Monologues and other artistic works. In 2012, over 5,800 V-Day benefit events organized by volunteer activists in the U.S. took place around the world educating millions of people about the reality of violence against women and girls. To date, the V-Day movement has raised over $90 million; educated millions about the issue of violence against women and the efforts to end it; crafted international educational, media and PSA campaigns; reopened shelters; and funded over 13,000 community-based anti-violence programs and safe houses in Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Kenya, South Dakota, Egypt and Iraq. Over 300 million people have seen a V-Day benefit event in their community. V-Day has received numerous acknowledgements including Worth Magazine‘s 100 Best Charities, Marie Claire Magazine‘s Top Ten Charities, one of the Top-Rated organizations on Philanthropedia/Guidestar and Great Nonprofits. www.vday.org
