Tribute to Beverly Smith-Lopez opens at the Bliss

Words may not always capture what artists want to say. So if a picture captures a thousand words then the body captures millions. The Belize Dance Company brings life to the expressive arts. Tonight is the first of a three day concert that the dance company is performing, and the concert is being commemorated in memory of the late creative arts icon, Beverly Smith-Lopez. According to Artistic Director, Althea Sealy, the dancers of the Belize Dance Company are more than ready to showcase what they have learned…

Althea Sealy, Artistic Director, Belize Dance Company
“We decided to dedicate this year to Beverly because she had contributed a lot to us and supported us a lot while we were here. We had many opportunities while she was alive so we just decided that this year we’re gonna dedicate all to her. In the company, you’re there to be disciplined in your movement and at the same time we give the kids freedom to do what they like so that they don’t feel too confined to whatever. So we do a mixture, we’re very diverse in our techniques. we have Cuban techniques, from professor River, we have our folk, our black folk which is Garifuna and the Creole but we do contemporary Garifuna and we do the traditional for the Garifuna culture and we do our Creole.”

Duane Moody
“Okay, what can one expect from the concert that is going to be held this Saturday?”

Althea Sealy
“Nothing but the best, you know I would have said that anyhow right. This year is very interesting because we have very talented dancers and young dancers to really get the opportunity to show what they are capable of doing. Time has passed and it’s time for myself and others to really step back and give the younger generation a chance to display what they could. For me it would be a blessing to sit back and see how far dancing has gone and to know more or less that we had given them an opportunity to express themselves.”

The show starts at eight p.m. tonight. Tickets for the encore presentations are selling for fifteen dollars for reserve and ten dollars for general admission.