Bahamian Dance Theatre Company (BDTC) alerts you to keep Saturday August 6th free on your calendar! That night, at 7:30, under the masterful direction of Mr. Mervin A. Smith, BDTC brings its exciting and inimitable choreography back to the stage of the National Centre for the Performing Arts on Shirley St. The company will present seven repertory works, six of which are new to the Bahamian public! For tickets ($15 in advance, $20 at the door) contact BDTC at bahamasdance@hotmail.com, 436-7710 or 361- 0622. To view pictures and promotional video from BDTC’s previous thrilling performances, visit Bahamian Dance West Wing on Facebook. Join the Dance! Support the Arts!

Profits from the performance (BDTC’s 4th season concert) will support two members of the company as they study dance in 2011 – 2012. Director Mervin A. Smith will build upon the education he received at the famed Ailey School (official school of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre) by pursuing a BA in dance and media arts at Long Island University in New York. Resident choreographer Denton H. Gay will begin his third year of study at Palm Beach Atlantic University. Both men are enthusiastic about advancing their dance education, and are eager to bring their knowledge back home to the Bahamas to inspire and train a corps of professional dancers that will revolutionize Bahamian modern dance, pushing it to new levels of complexity and renown. Gay and Smith are enthusiastically supported by their six colleagues, Charlene Marsha Allen, Zanya Carey, Vernell Davis, Keva Major, Christopher Rahming and Camille Turnquest.

Established in 2008, BDTC is a non-profit dance organization that performs Bahamian folk, modern, contemporary, jazz and classical ballet. The company’s talent, ambition, class, and drive towards excellence has been nationally recognized. Competing in the E Clement Bethel National Arts Festival, BDTC captured eleven first place titles in solo, duel and group dance spanning genres of classical ballet, modern, jazz and popular dance (hip-hop). The dancers also won the festival’s most coveted award, The Hubert Farrington Award of Excellence in Dance for Most Outstanding Dance School and Dance Company of The Bahamas. Mr. Smith garnered the award for Most Outstanding Choreographer of the Bahamas.

The public is urged not to miss this concert—this will be the last time for the forseeable future that BDTC will grace the stage because its director will be occupied with his studies abroad. Come out and support the show and its aspiring dancers!