The Tribune

By ALESHA CADET

Tribune Features Reporter

acadet@tribunemedia.net

AFTER refining their dance and fitness skills, Eleutherans got the chance to showcase their enhanced abilities in a cultural workshop last week.

The week-long, cross cultural dance workshop was held under the direction of Kelvin Cooper, dance instructor at the Ailey Arts in Education and Community Programme in New York City.

Kelvin has performed with numerous dance theatre companies including Elizabeth Streps at the Joyce Theatre, Joan Peters and Roots of Brazil at Symphony space and two different projects for Douglas Dunn at St Marks Church, New York.

This year at the workshop, organisers switched it up a little as they incorporated a health and wellness aspect in the programme. Participants attended the Eleuthera Art and Cultural Centre (EACC) in Tarpum Bay to dance their cares away as well as learn more about the foods they intake on a daily basis.

“We incorporated healthy eating, fitness and exercises. We encouraged locals to eat healthy and we found out information such as persons complaining about the fact that it is expensive to eat healthy on a regular basis. We had a culinary artists that came in to do a workshop in the mornings and the dance and fitness classes would take place in the afternoon,” said Audrey Carey, executive director at the EACC.

There were three age groups: six to 10; 11-17, and 18 and older.

Last Friday, the culinary students showcased what they learned over the past two weeks in the form of a dinner entitled “The Hearty Food Fiesta”.
“It was held for 40 persons because we didn’t want to overwhelm them with having to prepare food for so many persons. The day after, we had the grand performance which was a combination of the culinary and dance aspect of the workshop,” sad Ms Carey.

“We wanted to show that you cannot do with one without the other. You cannot stay healthy if you only eat healthy, you also have to exercise. Two of them go together in order to have successful results.”

Every year, Ms Carey said participants develop more self-confidence and the programme continues to empower them to improve their standards of living.

“I have had parents call me and inquire on some of the things their kids learned while here. One lady made a joke about it, saying her daughter told her not to buy her any more chips to eat because it is not healthy. We are trying to get them from sitting in the front of the television and computers this summer to exercising and staying healthy. It is all about community building,” she said.