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9-Year-Old Dance Prodigy Dances Her Way Through the Day To Reach 10,000 Steps

By Arnesia Young on February 16, 2021

In a Swedish health campaign, 9-year-old dance prodigy Lilyana Ilunga dances her way to 10,000 steps in order to encourage kids to live a more active lifestyle, while also showing them that it can be fun. Non-profit organization Generation Pep—which organized the Dance 10.000 initiative—was started by the Swedish Crown Princess Victoria “with the vision that all children and young people in Sweden should have the ability and desire to live an active and healthy life.” With that mission in mind, the Swedish organization works to spread awareness and advocates to make it easier for young people to live a healthy lifestyle.

Though the organization is based in Sweden, the Dance 10.000 initiative is a global campaign created to inspire children to live a less sedentary lifestyle. “We know that children and young people in many countries don’t get enough exercise, a trend that unfortunately seems to have worsened during the pandemic,” says the operations manager at Generation Pep, Carolina Klüft. “But the important thing isn’t the exact number of steps or 10,000 steps in particular, but to get moving a little every day. Every step counts.”

The Dance 10.000 video itself is enough to get anyone up and moving. With a new version of French EDM group Justice’s 2007 hit, “D.A.N.C.E,” made especially for the campaign—and a surprise cameo from one of the band’s members—people both young and old will be grooving to the infectious beat. And Ilunga’s energetic moves—nonstop from the time she wakes up until she falls back asleep—illustrate that movement can be an enjoyable part of everyday life.