Dance from the Soul with Dance X 2016
On Friday and Saturday, Belize City, Orange Walk and Cayo will be entertained as dancers from across the country, as well as the U.S. and Mexico, will converge to put off one of the biggest dance shows in Belize. Dance X 2016 is being held under the theme Dance from the Soul and will feature Belize’s very own Jamie Thompson of Lyve Arts U.S.A. and a troupe from Indonesia. Today, News Five’s Duane Moody spoke with the Institute of Creative Arts Acting Director Karen Vernon and Thompson on what people can expect. Here’s that report.
Duane Moody, Reporting
It’s a project of the National Institute of Culture and History and after five years, Dance X Belize remains a highly anticipated event that fuses the various styles of the creative arts and puts it on display inside the Bliss Auditorium. Dance X Belize 2016 is being held under the theme “Dance from the Soul,” and this year, various local dance groups, as well as Belize’s very own Jamie Thompson and his company Lyve Arts USA, and a troupe from Indonesia, will perform on stages in Belize City, Orange Walk and San Ignacio on Friday and Saturday.
Jamie Thompson
Jamie Thompson, C.E.O., LyveArts U.S.A.
“Every year, my goal with Dance X is to make sure that the works that are presented across the country are more reflective of the community; it is very important that we see what we look like on different levels, on different scales. So the pieces that I brought are a little bit more afro-centric. The Belizean community will be able to identify their culture within the works that they are doing. One piece is an afro-piece called afro-light and the other piece is a reggae suite; we are doing dances from the music of Bob Marley and Raging Fire. Tomorrow at ten a.m. we have the school shows and we will be doing the two pieces there and tomorrow night we go to Cayo and we will be performing at the Cayo Welcome Center and then we come back to Belize City on Saturday and do the show again on Saturday night…so we are having three runs of the show.”
Annually, the Dance X project features workshops in the various styles of the creative arts; the technical classes are taught in several districts by Thompson, himself. The dancer turned C.E.O. of an international dance company says that his goal is to raise the level of the talent already present locally.
Jamie Thompson
“Last night actually, we went to Benque Viejo to work with Orqueda Negra and it was great. It was intense; we did three hours of dancing and coaching and at the end of three hours, I saw the difference from when we started. One of my things as a teacher, wherever I go, I must be able to meet my students where they’re at. And I have an idea…at that time; I will make a decision…what is their next level because for me my next level would look completely different than the people who I am teaching. I consider my teaching as service. So I was able to give them just a notch above where they are comfortable doing which requires some friction, but it was well-received. They were open, they were eager and they were very disciplined and that’s all that is required.”
According to Acting Director of the Institute of Creative Arts, Karen Vernon, the next two days have been packed with pure talent. She spoke about how Dance X has grown since its inception and how the move to include two other districts is well-received.
Karen Vernon
Karen Vernon, Acting Director, ICA
“We have dance groups from all the districts performing along with Indonesia internationally and Jamie, Ballet J Dance Group…he’s brought a female dancer along with him this year so you get to experience that. From Dangriga we have Lirahuna Satuye; they will be performing in Orange Walk on Saturday night. Cayo lineup is two dance groups from Cayo and Orqueda Negra from Benque Viejo along with Jamie. And there is a hip hop group from Punta Gorda also performing in Cayo on Friday night. Friday night, Belize City sees Indonesia along with the Belize National Dance Company, the Belize Elementary Dance Troupe and the San Pedro Dance Group. Then Saturday, we have lineup in two different districts. In Orange Walk though we get to see the Mestizo groups, an East Indian Group along with Lirahuna as well as an Indonesia group from Mexico.”
Duane Moody for News Five.
Tickets are available at the Bliss Center for the performing arts for only ten dollars for either event; in Orange Walk, the show will be held at the Multipurpose Sports Complex for five dollars while the presentation at the Cayo Welcome Center is free.
