Schedule For The Year 2002 - 2003 / Exam Results / National Dance School Application

An Early History of the National Dance School

The National Dance School was officially established in 1976 under the auspices of the Ministry of Education and the Cultural Affairs Division under the directorship of E. Clement Bethel. The principal aim of the school was and still is to train Bahamian dancers and teachers. The programme is committed to researching the roots, development and current manifestations of dance forms that are indigenous to the Bahamas both in New Providence and the Family Islands.

According to Mrs Patricia Bazard, Officer at the Cultural Affairs Division, dance was added to the National Arts Festival by the late Clement Bethel who thought it best to have all aspects of the performing arts included in the National Arts Festival. Prior to this there was no form of expressive or interpretative dance in the schools. However, private groups like Hubert Farrington’s Nassau Civic Ballet; Patricia Myers Dance Studio; and the Shirley Hall-Bass Dance Theatre all did dance in the local community.

In order to commence with the immediate implementation of dance in the Bahamian schools, The Ministry of Education and Culture brought in Madam Levinia Williams from the Republic of Haiti to train Bahamian teachers. Madam Levinia Williams was well known for helping to develop the Jamaican and the Hatian Dance Companies. It was envisaged that out of this training programme would come a cadre of dance instructors who would be proficient enough to teach dance in the Bahamian schools in the future. The Ministry of Education responded by releasing teachers from their dance classes once a week for training. At this time, the venue used for these sessions was the old post office building on Shirley Street.

This building was used from the school’s inception since 1st November, 1976. In May 1978, this venue was changed to the Ranfurly Building at the C.C. Sweeting Secondary School, Oakes Field. Again the venue was changed to the sporting facilities at the Baillou Hill Road Sporting Complex.
The school remained at this site until October, 1998 when it was moved to its new location in Centreville.

Madam Levinia Williams remained with the school until October, 1978. Following her departure, Mrs Shirley Hall-Bass was hired as the principal dance instructor and coordinator of the school. She remained with the school until her retirement in 1996.

In 1979, Mrs Neville Bowen, a Jamaican dance instructor was hired to teach ethnic dance at the school. Neville was a former student of the National Dance School who had earlier taken dance classes there. In absence of Shirley Hall-Bass, he supervised the school until his departure in 1985.

In 1982, Ms Noelle Chutkan, another Jamaican dance instructor was hired by the Ministry of Education and Culture under whose portfolio the N.D.S. came. She was responsible for teaching modern and folk dance to students at the school. She remained at with the N.D.S. until 1987 when she left to further her education in the U.S.

As a result of these efforts, a core of dance instructors evolved whose work would impact the lives of Bahamians - young and old alike for many yeas to come. Some of theses instructors were persons like Ednal Wright, Paula Knowles, and Victoria Mc Intosh-Josey, Christine Johnson, Oswald Mortimer, Lawrence Carroll and others.

These persons were able to further their education in dance by attending dance school in the United States and Canada. The males studied Royal Academy of Dancing (RAD) at the Ryerson Polytec School of Dance, Canada and the females studied at the Sunyi State University of Dance, New York. They all received degrees in dance from these institutions. Many of them have now returned to the Bahamas as dance instructors and are working in the Bahamian schools.

SCHEDULE FOR THE YEAR 2002 - 2003

TIME
STUDIO
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
4:00 - 5:00 p.m.
1
Grade 1
Ballet
L.B
Pre-primary/
Primary
Ethnic
C.A
Grade 1 & 2
Ethnic
L.B.
Pre/primary
V.D.
Aerobatics
C.A. / L.B. 4.5:30
4:00 - 5:00 p.m.
2
Grade 2
Ballet
V.D.
Tap B
V.D.
Primary
Ballet
L.B.
Tap A
V.D.
4:00 - 5:00 p.m.
3
Pre-Dance
Ballet L.B.
Grade 3
Ballet C.A.
Pre-Dance
Ethnic C.A.
Drumming
H.B.
.....
5:00 - 6:30 p.m.
1
Grade 3 & 4
Ethnic C.A.
Int Found.
Ballet V.D.
Grade 4
Ballet V.D.
Grade 3 & 4
Int Found.
Teens-Stretch/Jazz
L.B.
5:00 - 6:30 p.m.
2
5 - 6
Beg. Pointe
V.D.
Tap C
C.A.
Senior
V.D./C.A.
6:30 - 7:30 p.m.
1
Adult Ballet
L.B.
RAD TCP
Adult Tap
V.D.
Adult Modern
RAD TCP




The Summer Dance Workshop

Cultural Affairs has held summer dance workshops for many years annually. These workshops are a duration of six weeks during the months of July to August. Every worshop culminates with a major dance production.

In these workshops, the students are disciplined in drumming, ballet, modern dance, ethnic, jazz and tap.

These classes are taught by our teachers at the National Dance School along with guest instructors from the Caribbean and the United States of America. There are sessions that cater to experienced dancers as well as beginners.

For your information we are located in Nassau, Bahamas, 5th Terrace Centerville, just above the Nassau Bicycle Shop. Our Phone and Fax contact is: 1-242-323-4380.


National Dance School Royal Academy of Dance Exam Results

The following are the results of the 2003 session of the Royal Academy of Dance Exams.

Tour: BAH01 / BAHAMAS GRADED Dates: 03/05/2003 / 07/05/2003
Centre: 22153 / National Dance School

Candidate
Standard
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8 - 15
Total
%age
Culmer, Lashay (805977)
Grade 1
6
5
5
5
4
5
4
34
85
Hall, Dawnia (805969)
Grade 1
3
3
3
2
1
1
3
16
40
Hall, Savannah (805956)
Grade 1
4
3
2
3
2
1
3
18
45
Johnson, Atarah (805955)
Grade 1
6
5
5
3
4
4
4
31
78
Johnson, Myrkeeva (805975)
Grade 1
9
5
4
5
5
5
4
37
93
Lockhart, Kadesha (805971)
Grade 1
6
3
3
5
2
1
3
23
58
Ramsay, Sasha (805959)
Grade 1
5
3
3
2
3
1
2
19
48
Roxbury, Trevanna (805967)
Grade 1
6
5
4
3
3
1
3
25
63
Wilson, Christy (805957)
Grade 1
3
3
3
2
2
1
2
16
40
Wilson, Georgie (805970)
Grade 1
3
3
2
3
2
1
3
17
43
Bowleg, Alexandria (805960)
Grade 2
5
5
4
4
3
3
5
29
73
Durham, Brittany (805974)
Grade 2
4
5
2
4
3
3
3
24
60
Forbes, Takeisha (805973)
Grade 2
7
5
4
4
3
4
3
30
75
Miller, Vestrinique (805962)
Grade 2
3
5
2
2
1
3
4
20
50
Poitier, Imani (805963)
Grade 2
4
5
3
2
1
3
4
22
55
Roxbury, Shaketra (805965)
Grade 2
6
5
2
4
3
3
4
27
68
Turnquest, Orlicka (805972)
Grade 2
5
5
3
4
3
3
3
26
65
Burrows, Cara (805984)
Grade 5
5
5
5
5
5
4
4
33
83
Gurrier, Sherina (805980)
Grade 5
5
5
5
3
5
4
5
32
80
Hutchinson, Admirah (805982)
Grade 5
6
5
5
2
2
2
2
24
60
Kemp, Shavonne (805978)
Grade 5
8
5
5
4
4
5
4
35
88
Candidates: 21

The following are the results of the 2002 session of the Royal Academy of Dance Exams. the grade levels are as follows: Pass, Merit, Commended, Distinction

LEVEL
NO. OF ENTRIES
STUDENTS / GRADE LEVEL
Primary
8
    08 - Distinction
5
Grade 1
14
    03 - Merit
    03 - Commended
    08 - Distinction
1
Grade 2
16
    05 - Pass
    04 - Merit
    04 - Commended
    03 - Distinction
1
Grade 4
4
    01 - Pass
    04 - Distinction

We are very proud of how well our students did. They all worked very hard and this is evidence of how important more than one classical ballet class a week is, especially for the older students. For most of this past term, all exam students were taking at least two ballet classes each week.