The Bahamian dance community is in mourning with the news of the loss of two dance icons.
Alexander and Violette Zybine died tragically from carbon monoxide poisoning in their home in Mexico early this week.
Though only spending a decade in The Bahamas, the pair managed to make a major impact on the cultural development of dance in the country.
In the late 1960s, Hubert Farrington met fellow performer Alexander Zybine at The Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Having established the Nassau Civic Ballet in Nassau, Farrington enlisted Zybine and his wife to travel to The Bahamas and look after the newly-formed company.
In 1970, the Ministry of Education offered him a teaching position at C.C. Sweeting Senior High School, where he worked for two years. When the abandoned Villa Doyle on West Hill Street (now the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas) was declared to be a center of cultural activity, Alexander and Violette began dance classes on the property while Kayla Lockhart-Edwards and Cederick Scott offered instruction in music and drama.
Out of this, Alexander formed a non-profit dedicated to dance. The New Breed Dancers accepted and taught any Bahamian student free of charge to promote the art of dance in the community.
This group made a huge impact locally and internationally, taking part in the annual Goombay Summer Folkloric Show in Nassau in the 1970s, dancing as part of the Inaugural Independence Celebration in 1973, and performing successful shows regionally, in major U.S. cities, in Mexico, and even in Europe.
Part of Alexander's brilliance as a dancer is that he used classical ballet techniques in an innovative way to expresss folk traditions. He was known for using local music for his choreography. In fact, when his dance group traveled to the Cultural Olympics as part of the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico to perform as a representative for The Bahamas, they performed "Sammie Swain", originally choreographed by Alexander as a ballet.
Through the pair's efforts, they managed to form many successful classical dancers, including Lawrence Carroll, Christina Johnson, Paula Knowles, Ednol Wright and Victoria McIntosh.
As teachers, the pair's opposite personalities meshed well to form dancers both serious and joyful about their craft. Violette's no-nonsense approach, pushing her students' boundaries to get their very best, was offset by Alexander's kind encouragement, giving their fledgling Bahamian dancers a sense of empowerment in their talents that few teachers had ever encouraged before.
"Who I am now has so much to do with what Mr. Zybine did for me," says his ex-student and an extraordinary dance teacher, Christina Johnson.
"I felt like I wasn't always the brightest, but he made you feel like the best. When I look at my life and my achievements, it's all thanks to him. He always told us, 'Never stop moving.'"
"We were all like family," she continues, remembering their many hours of practice together as the New Breed Dancers every evening after school. "We were his family; we were his life."
Indeed, the Zybines kept in touch with every person they came across, especially students, even if only for a brief time. Though they moved to Mexico in the mid-1970s where they continued to inspire countless lives with the power of dance, they sent frequent e-mails to the community of dancers they formed in The Bahamas, becoming lifelong teachers and family members to many Bahamians.
During each visit to Nassau - once in 1994 and again in 2007, where the New Breed Dancers threw a celebration in their honor - the pair continued to teach, offering guest instruction and inspiration to local institutions of dance like the Nassau Dance Company.
Indeed, the ripple effects of their short times in Nassau are still being felt in the country today, making them true icons in The Bahamas.
Like many cultural icons, however, their presence unfortunately remains unknown by the larger population. It's all the more reason to continue honoring their memory locally, says Robert Bain of Dance Bahamas, who was encouraged by the Zybines during one of their visits to continue to lift up dance in the community.
"It's a sad day for dance," says Bain. "Whatever we have achieved in dance in this country is partially responsible to Alex and we shouldn't forget that. We shouldn't forget him."

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