Impact

 Dance has been a part of my life for as long as i can remember.I started ballet and the Louise Woodvine Dance Academy at the age of 5. At the time dance to me was just something pretty and I can still remember trying to copy the girls on the American Dance Theatre posters and wishing I could be half as graceful or majestic.

 Over time, dance had become something to keep me busy and immersing myself in the art was becoming more and more difficult. Everywhere in society, dance is underestimated especially in Barbados because of the lack of opportunities available to live a “comfortable “ lifestyle.

Dance has had such a huge impact on my life. It has become a form of communication, expression and of release. Only after I had decided to attend school in Canada in 2015 did I realize that dance is bigger than all of us. The limitless possibilities are what allow us to create and collaborate things that we could never imagine and to even dive into the mind of the choreographer and know that what we’re portraying is art.

Despite all of this, following movement over mind is a hard process. This is where Barbados Dance Project helped me a lot. Meeting a community of so many different people helped me to get out of my mind and comfort zone. I think for me, rather than seeing posters capturing an image I got to watch people that could inspire me to be a lot stronger than I was before. This is what I want the people of Barbados to see, that dance can build you up and allow you to communicate with the audience in a way words never could because I think that allowing yourself to be vulnerable is the greatest strength you could ever have.

                                                                           -Adia Parris