Dance is a way of moving through life, from childhood to adulthood, and it's never too early to value dance, according to Cristen Carole, great-niece of the legendary Shirley Hall Bass. With this in mind, Carole is continuing Hall Bass' legacy of excellence in performing arts education with hosting the 5th annual Shirley Hall Bass Dance Educators Forum, "Dance Integration: Beyond Imagination".
Programming for the general public, school teachers, dance educators, and pre-professional classes in Katherine Dunham and Pearl Primus techniques will be held during the forum which will be hosted July 27-30 at University of The Bahamas (UB).
International teaching artists Amansu Tolewa Eason and Sheron Trotman will be featured.
Barbadian choreographer and dance educator Trotman will offer the advanced Pearl Primus dance workshop for pre-professionals, dancers 15-plus. One of Primus' strongest influences during her early search for aesthetic direction was her intense interest in her Afro-diasporic heritage. This became a source of artistic inspiration that she would draw on throughout her career.
Eason is a dancer, choreographer and teacher of African/diaspora dance. He is a certified instructor in the Katherine Dunham Technique.
Carole, after the country's Independence Day celebrations, on Facebook wrote that she found herself reflecting and that she was inspired to hear the details of each Family Island's history and attributes, to see the well-known symbols of the Bahamas and the late Prime Minister Sir Lynden Pindling himself hovering miraculously in the sky over Clifford Park, and that she wondered deeply about the generations of dancers, actors, musicians, and other designers that her great-aunt had touched.
"Reveled in the Afro-diasporic dance traditions Shirley learned from her Broadway-trained mentor Sammy Dyer. I have been steeping in the love and acceptance that we were both shown, though foreign, and marvel at the clear but steep path before us. How grateful I am to have the model of an independent nation, with freedoms and opportunities for my Bahamian-born son and his children...black for the people...
"I was recently asked what I meant by focusing this year's 5th Annual Dance Educators Forum on 'de-colonizing' dance education. First, we have to recognize what dance is, as an expression of culture and one's identity. Each culture has common and many reasons for dancing; in Europe, formal dances were learned to entertain the king or as a mark of social distinction. However, when dance occurs during significant rites of passage (birth, marriage, death, adulthood, etc.) within the community, intergenerationally, or as a part of storytelling or marking of the years, well, that is different. When colonizers come, they make you learn their language, their religion, their customs, and medicines. They typically deliberately wipe out indigenous cultural expressions and aesthetics.
"I grew up believing that 'classical ballet was the foundation of all dance!' Really? Says who? Whether through liturgical dance or Junkanoo, The Bahamas must embrace our African history and art forms."
Carole encouraged people to take a lesson from Hall Bass' culturally responsive performing arts education practice.
"The 1967 program book shows the American take on a British classic...commercially colonized! But in 1973, we see 'Black Magic' with an image of ethnographic researcher and dancer Pearl Primus (the inspiration for this year's conference) on the front and a wide Afro-diasporic lens on Black music and dance. These program covers reflect her understanding and responsiveness to a people," Carole wrote.
The mission of the Shirley Hall Bass Dance Educators Forum, which first convened in 2019, is to establish dance as a driving force in Bahamian education, tourism and national identity through the development of a professional learning community with concerted focus on quality education from kindergarten through higher institutions of learning.
The focus is nation-building through performing arts education.
Then, there's the fact that dance lifts people's spirits and brightens their days. As such, its emotional benefits are present at every moment and have cumulative effects in the long run.
In 1973, Shirley Hall Bass collaborated with Bahamian choreographers to stage that Independence Day event - 50 years later, Carole is continuing Hall Bass' legacy of excellence in performing arts education with the hosting of the forum.
The forum, named for the well-known dancer, dance educator, choreographer, and producer Shirley Hall Bass, seeks to preserve and protect culture through performing arts education.
In keeping with its goal of "moving a nation one classroom at a time", the Shirley Hall Bass Legacy Project is extending their reach to primary and secondary educators and dance teachers across the nation.
The project's research-based methods and movement integration workshops organizers say will increase student engagement, social and emotional learning, and support classroom management.
The workshop/conference will be international with regional emphasis on Afro-diasporic dance traditions highlighting performing arts as culture and culturally responsive methods of teaching dance.
Panelists and lecturers will discuss dance education's impact on the orange economy, and on an individual's overall well-being, creativity and critical thinking skills. Their theme, "Dance Integration: Beyond Imagination Moving a Nation One Classroom at a Time", is timely, given the government's recent impetus to establish a performing arts school.
Dance also provides mental health benefits. It boosts confidence, encourages good habits, strengthens cognitive ability, improves communication, creativity and is motivating and inspiring.
Social benefits of dance include social activity - dancing encourages socialization; involves teamwork - everyone has a part to play in a performance or routine; and teaches respect - dance does not discriminate.
Dance also provides physical benefits - promotes neurological development, improves flexibility, improves balance, develops spatial awareness, is rhythmic and is a release.
To commemorate The Bahamas' 50th anniversary of independence, the Shirley Hall Bass Legacy Project has partnered with the Ministry of Education and Technical and Vocational Training; the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture; and UB to present the conference/workshop.
Supported by UB's Office of Academic Affairs, the four-day conference and workshops will focus on nation-building through performing arts in public education and programming. Besides the full-day dance educators forum on Saturday, July 29, there will also be youth program site visits, free dance classes (in person and virtual), lectures on Bahamian dance history and education, an awards presentation, and performances.
The forum will culminate with a performance at UB's performing arts center with scholarship presentations and live entertainment featuring local performers and student groups.
Shirley Hall Bass was a student at the Sammy Dyer School of Dancing. She became an original Dyerette when the chorus group was formed in 1950 by choreographer Sammy Dyer. When he died in 1960, Hall Bass took over directorship of the school and established a cultural exchange program between students there and at Bahamas Dance Theatre. She served in this role until her death in 1998.
The Shirley Hall Bass Dance Educators Forum was co-founded by Dr. Faith Butler, and Carole, Hall Bass' great-niece and former curriculum specialist with The Joffrey Ballet, and first convened on New Providence. Its mission is to establish dance as an essential discipline in Bahamian education, national identity and tourism community with a concerted focus on quality dance education.
The Shirley Hall Bass Legacy Project is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion.
Registration is free for all Ministry of Education teachers; and $30 ($40 with boxed lunch) for the general public. Conference and workshops will be held in the Harry C. Moore Library and Information Centre at UB's Oakes Field Campus.
The Shirley Hall Bass Legacy Project is a registered not-for-profit organization in The Bahamas whose goal is to engage the entire archipelago in improving the health and wellness of our nation while preserving and celebrating Bahamian culture through dance education.
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