Belize National Dance Company Makes a Comeback
Founded by Rosita Baltazar and a troupe of dancers in 1990, the Belize Dance Company is a cultural preservation organization that showcases Belize’s many ethnicities in classical, contemporary and traditional folk dancing. The initial group of sixteen dancers eventually grew to as many as eighty, traveling across the world to far-flung places including Malaysia and Spain. The Belize Dance Company has been dormant for a few years, but is making a comeback with a thirty-third anniversary dance concert dubbed “Keep the Torch Burning”. On tonight’s episode of Belize on Reel, we go behind the scenes, as well as look back at the work of the Belize Dance Company.
Duane Moody
“As the newly appointed artistic director, what’s your vision for the dance company?”
Wilford Williams
Wilford Williams, Artistic Director, B.N.D.C.
“I just want to keep dance alive and I want to see the young people get interested in it. I don’t want them to feel like, oh, they have to adopt different styles or adopt what the Americans do or what the Jamaicans do. There is a culture here in Belize and that is what I want to keep alive, keep alive the Creole culture and the movements, keep all of that going and have them enjoy it. Personally, I like the drums, but I also like when we do folk and we have to come into different roles, a little bit of drama. I like that when we get to play with the girls and pretend that we’re flirting, you know, I like that too.”
Monica Nunez
Monica Nunez, Dancer, B.N.D.C.
“It’s been something that I have been aspiring to from I was very young. I started doing dancing with Ms. Rosita Baltazar at Grace Primary and I knew that she was always a part of this company, so my goal was to always be a part of this dance company.”
Duane Moody
“So now that you are here, let’s talk about what it is that you want people to see when they see you dancing on that stage?”
Monica Nunez
“They’re going to see a very lively person on that dance floor. I make sure that when we make our moves, it’s done to the best of our ability. Yes, techniques are in place and everything, so yeah, they should be looking out for the best when they see us.”
Keana Pollard
Keana Pollard, Dancer, B.N.D.C.
“The National Dance Company is a diverse group, you know, they focus more on the cultural side, so I believe that here, you get more of that technical, you know, you get ballet, you get more modern, so I believe that this is a different aspect as it pertains to dancing and coming from that hip-hop dancehall that I’ve also done, this gives me more of an insight as to what I want to further as well.”
Jaylan Craig
Jaylan Craig, Dancer, B.N.D.C.
“I’m really excited not only to have modern dance music participate in BNDC’s show, the upcoming show, but also being a part of it has been a great experience. Before coming back from studying dance, I was with the Belize National Dance Company for two years and I’ve learned so much, especially from Ms. Althea Sealy and so it’s been an honor to be invited back to not only perform with my dancers at Modern Dance Movements, but also to be performing with the BNDC main company. So it’s been a great experience so far.”
Wilford Felix
Wilford Felix, Drummer, B.N.D.C.
“I started off by saying that this is a humbling experience, not only to be a part of this momentous occasion, but to do so in representation of the Creole culture because most of the time when people hear about drumming or know that you’re a drummer, they automatically assume that you play Garifuna music or you play the Segundo or the Primero. So now that people are knowing that there are Creole drummers in the country also, there are Marooned Creoles in the country, is something that I am definitely going to look forward some more to every year and bringing the dancing and the drumming together is culture.”
Althea Sealy
Althea Sealy, Managing Director, B.N.D.C.
“We survived and I am really happy that we survived for this thirty-three years. I would really like to see the other generation kind of put in much more than what we had put in and if that happens then we know that dance will live forever on. That’s my dream, that dancers that we have now can let it survive for another thirty-three years and probably have another generation to carry it on. So we really want the torch to keep burning. But we have a spectacular event to share with the public. We’re doing preludes of our past, so people might come and say, “I done sih that.” But no, the trick about it is how Wilford has it organized because actually he is the one. If I didn’t have him, all this wouldn’t have been possible. So Wilford rearranged and set it in a way where it can be very interesting for you all to enjoy. It’s going to be dance, music, facial drama in whatever choreography.”
