Bringing dance education and training to many Barbadians tuition-free August 8-17 2017 www.barbadosdanceproject.com
Barbados Dance Project (BDP) is an arts outreach and educational program created in 2014 by Jamal Callender. BDP’s aim is to educate, collaborate, and engage with the Barbadian community by offering tuition-free dance training as a means to empower and cultivate artistry with the youth on the island. BDP provides a 2-week summer dance intensive that rigorously propels and encourages students to explore their individuality as well as a collaborative spirit. We provide access to the critical tools needed in the dance world today. We provide access. BDP programming offers daily training in Ballet, Contemporary, Modern, Improvisation, West African Dance, Body Conditioning, Dance History, Repertory, and the Rehearsal/Creative process.
The 2017 BDP Summer Dance Intensive will accept 25 dancers ages 15 and older. We will be in session from August 8th-17th, daily from 10am-6pm.
We strongly encourage all dance styles and levels of dance experience to attend.
Whats new for 2017
BDP Day Camp
BDP is expanding! For the 1st time we will offer dance classes and rehearsals for students ages 9-14. We are looking for 15 bright, young Barbadians. Students in that age range with interest in any dance styles are invited to join us in the studios daily between 9:30am-2pm from August 8th-17th, 2017. All levels of experience are welcome.
This new venture will allow BDP to find Barbadian talent at a younger age, help encourage youth development and introduce the magical world of dance. BDP Day Camp is also TUITION FREE.
BDP Evening Workshop After a year of hiatus, BDP is excited to return with adult evening workshop classes. BDP understands the importance of this space for those who cannot take training during the day due to work and other circumstances. We know this will put a smile on many of our past participants’ faces and we hope to see new people join us.
BDP Dance Showcase BDP dance showcase has been the climax and highlight of the summer intensive for our students and for the community. The performance opportunity allows students to feel accomplished in all they have learned during the course of the intensive. The audience gets a glimpse of the hard work and commitment from each student. Admission is FREE!
This year BDP is happy to announce an addition to the Dance Showcase: The Knight Awards. The Knight Awards celebrate and honour outstanding achievement by Barbadians who elevate the standards and demonstrate artistic excellence in dance in Barbados, regionally in the Caribbean, or globally. The annual Dance Showcase will be the main feature in the 2017 BDP Knight Awards program.
What is your role?
BDP needs you and your generous spirit.
Barbados is a beautiful island with breath-taking beaches, rich cultural roots and identifiable input in several artistic areas. However, dance is an artistic area where the island can use help. To date, there is no professional dance company on the island and no dance companies tour to Barbados. This means the island’s youth are left to watch YouTube videos and television shows like So You Think You Can Dance to gain inspiration and as their main resource for exposure to professional dance. Direct access to professional artists is key to a young dancer’s development and is at the core of why BDP was created.
The mission of BDP is to provide TUITION FREE DANCE TRAINING and EDUCATION to all participants. Your generosity is essential to our aim and to making BDP a continued success. In order to give the best of dance to our students, BDP does provide direct access. We bring world class artists from around the globe right to the small island. We do this in order to have an global impact on the youth and to expand their scope of possibilities.
As one student writes:
“There was a certain level of professionalism and encouragement unlike anything I have experienced. Imagine being fed gas station popsicles all your life and then one day someone treats you to a sundae. The gas station popsicles were good but now you have experienced something so much better, it’s rather hard to look back.” -Alitha 14 years old
Your contribution to BDP 2017 will help assist with costs in the following areas:
Air Travel
Housing
On land travel
Studio/Theater/Tech/ Insurance fees
BDP apparel
Honorarium for guest tutors
Miscellaneous costs that arise
Why is BDP important?
The average cost for a student to attend a summer dance intensive ranges from $2500-$4000 USD per summer intensive. This doesn’t include travel, room and board etc. A family can expect to pay $5000-$7000 USD total on average to send a child to a summer dance intensive. If a student lives abroad and outside the US, the price increases.
This places a heavy burden on many families living in Barbados who wish to send their talented child to a summer dance intensive but simply cannot afford to do so.
BDP came to Barbados with family in mind. Create an environment that accepts all students, no matter what dance experience or financial background they come from. Allow both parent/guardian and student to have one less burden. Students gain excellent training from world class, award-winning artists right in their own backyard.
Barbados in Action
BDP has created a massive movement in Barbados. Our students have since gone on to study at institutions on the island and abroad including Adelphi University (New York), Arizona University, Interlochen center for the arts (Michigan), Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance (London), Big Act Academy of Performing Arts (Bristol), Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts (Jamaica), AMDA (New York), Barbados Community College, University of the West Indies Cave Hill.
BDP wants each student to understand that their potential is in their hands. They can achieve anything that is possible. BDP hopes our encouragement will become the catalyst to create the next generation of dancers and make Barbados a new hub for recruiting talent.
photos by Adrian Richards
2 weeks is not enough!
BDP wishes it could be a year-round program in Barbados. 2 weeks feels like a tease in many respects. Just when you start to see students break through, find something within themselves, and reach a goal that they have been working toward daily, we are already hugging and saying goodbye. Each year we wish to expand and make the program more extensive.
The best part of BDP is that we bring artists who are professionals in the field. Award winning artists like the founder of BDP, Jamal Callender. Jamal is a full time dancer working on stage, traveling and touring the world. It is an extreme honor for him and every professional artist who works with BDP to have the time to travel to Barbados to give back even if it’s for only two weeks. Jamal and the artists treasure this the time and try to make every minute in the two weeks feel endless. With your continued support perhaps BDP can start slowly by extending to 3 weeks in 2018 and eventually becoming a year round artistic hub of creativity on the island.