ResiliDANCE – Dance Shows Return to the Bliss
Dance shows are returning to the Bliss Center for the Performing Arts. This Friday and Saturday, four resident dance companies will be creating an explosion of dance styles – cultural, folkloric, modern and classic – all in one. News Five’s Duane Moody Found out today what audience members can expect.
Duane Moody, Reporting
The newly retrofitted dance studio at the Bliss was the venue for a briefing to announce ResiliDANCE – a project to revitalize dancing following a two-year break from in-person sessions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Excited about this move is Senior Program Officer, Kim Vasquez, as it falls in line with the rebirth of the Bliss.
Kim Vasquez
Kim Vasquez, Senior Program Officer, Institute of Creative Arts
“We started to discuss having a collective dance show. For them, they see it as a way of giving back, of supporting their home here at the Bliss. And so we bounced around different ideas and from the beginning we felt that the theme of resilience was the theme that we wanted to go with and so that’s where the title ResiliDANCE comes from. We know that the creative arts had been severely impacted by COVID-19; creatives lost the opportunity to perform and so we are really excited to be at a point where we can get back an audience and have a live show here at the Bliss.”
It’s the same show both nights, starting at seven-thirty p.m. It will feature performances from the Belize National Dance Company, Modern Dance Movement, Belize Afro Dance Formation and the Ugundani Garifuna Dance Group and some other guest performances. So what can you expect with these dance companies returning to the stage?
Althea Sealy
Althea Sealy, Artistic Director, Belize National Dance Company
“B.N.D.C. will be returning as a new B.N.D.C. after thirty-two years with new members. I’m sure you all will enjoy them as much as you enjoyed the dancers of the past because they have that same sort of training.”
Duane Moody
“There are some unique pieces that B.N.D.C. is known for; will we see any of those?”
Althea Sealy
“We have something old and something new. We have three pieces that we are going to do. Two of them are new – the modern and the jazzy type – and then a folk cause you know that the folk, you will say “Oh, I saw that already,” but still we can’t get rid of it.”
Crysel Gabourel
Crysel Gabourel, Artistic Director, Belize Afro Dance Formation
“With my dance group, we offer almost every single style of dance so we have modern contemporary, classical, cultural. But on stage for this night, you are going to be seeing modern contemporary and a bit of acro-dance because acrobatic dance is a new genre that we have added to our curriculum since last year and our students have been learning to bend themselves into different contortions through proper training. So they are going to be exhibiting just a little snippet of that.”
Jaylan Craig
Jaylan Craig, Artistic Director, Modern Dance Movement
“We’ve been actually on the dance floor virtually. Modern Dance Movement was founded in 2019 just before the pandemic hit so all our shows have been virtual, pre-recorded. But now that we have been able to host live performances, it is a completely different experience. Because the show is ResiliDANCE, resilience is a general term of strength and power and moving forward. Modern Dance Movement will be offering a ballet piece and a modern piece.”
Matthew Martinez
Matthew Martinez, Artistic Director, Ugundani Garifuna Dance Group
“We’ll be having very exciting, traditional Garifuna dances and we will be doing various genre: paranda, hounguhugu as well as the wanaragua. And for everyone to know, the Ugundani Dance Group will close the show for two nights so then it will be an exciting culmination of the show. So please be encouraged every single body to come and enjoy this show. It will be an exciting show and the young people who are participating – the dancers, the singers – everybody is excited.”
The proceeds from the event will go into other repair works at the Bliss.
Kim Vasquez
“The dance companies are not keeping anything for themselves, they are giving it to the Bliss Center for the continued upgrades. We have a lot of upgrades needed in the technical department and they want to contribute and give back. We do hope to eventually release some digital copies for sale of the show.”
Duane Moody for News Five.
On both nights, the show begins at 7:30 p.m. and will be hosted by News Five’s very own Duane Moody. Tickets are available at twenty dollars for adults and ten dollars for children. These tickets can be purchased at the Bliss Box office.
