Dance Empowerment Workshop to be hosted in Sandy Point

ZIZ News…July 13 2012 — All dancers and lovers of dance in the western part of the island will be given the opportunity to learn new styles and enhance their technique at ‘POISE’ – a dance empowerment workshop for women and teenage girls. Facilitating the workshop is Ms. Desi Brown, an avid dance tutor, choreographer and performer who resides in Sandy Point.

POISE will commence on Monday, 23rd July at the Sandy Point Community Centre and ends on Saturday, 28th July. The workshop will include formal instruction in Ballet, Jazz, Use of Props, Improvisation, Folk and Caribbean dance forms such as Soca and Dance hall. At the end of the workshop, participants will perform in a community showcase. They will each receive a certificate of participation and there will be special prizes and awards.

Desi stated that the main reasons for hosting her dance workshop in the west. “There is a growing interest in Dance in Sandy Point and the neighboring communities. Therefore, as a fellow Sandy Pointer I would like to maximize on this interest and share my knowledge to dancers and lovers of dance in these areas. Also, I am fully aware that traveling to Basseterre where the dance academies are located is a hindrance. It is quite costly and hectic journeying to Basseterre every day to tutor, train or perform although we tend to say that no place in St. Kitts is too far.”

Ms. Brown started her journey as a dancer at age 7. She has participated in many dance workshops in Jazz, African, Afro-Caribbean and Modern dance and attended the Edna Manley School of Visual and Performing Arts Summer Programme in Jamaica in 2011. She is currently a tutor and student at the Learning Empowerment of the Arts Programme (LEAP) under the tutelage of Ms. Genieve Hanley. She has also been mentored and trained by the Director of The Children’s Dance Theatre & CFBC Dance Ensemble, Ms. Julie Martin as well as Director of the Fireflies Dance School, Ms. Heidi Slack. Ms. Sharon Rattan and Ms. Stacey Greene are also persons she had the opportunity to work with.

Funds collected from POISE will go towards Desi’s participation in the UNESCO Chair & Comparative Human Rights’ 8th Annual International Leadership Training Programme: A Global Intergenerational Forum in Connecticut this August.

Interested persons can call 765-9005 or email desianb@gmail.com for more information.