Masters Of Music, Dance, Theatre, Fashion To Impart.
EXECUTIVE Producers of the Saint Lucia Jazz & Arts Festival, the Saint Lucia Tourist Board, is ensuring optimal prioritization of knowledge and skills transfer as an outcome of the hosting of the 25th anniversary of the Festival this year.
This year, the range of Master Classes booked is unprecedented, and will embrace students and aspirants in theatre, music, dance, fashion and performance poetry.
International jazz artistes Chris Standring, and piano prodigy 13 year old Joey Alexander facilitate a music master class and a music workshop respectively on May 5 and 6 respectively, at the Saint Lucia School of Music. Standring, who has developed a series of Master classes for a range of levels, hosts a two-hour class for Intermediate to advanced instrumentalists. He will also dedicate one-on-one time with one or two recommended advanced students, and as an incentive to the advanced students, promises to bring on one or two of the students to participate in his dinner set at Windjammer Landing. The one hour long Joey Alexander Workshop targets students of varying abilities in the nine-14 years age-range. This workshop will focus on concentration skills and Alexander will answer slightly more technical questions, share his experiences and perform for the students.
Two workshops are planned under the dance component. The first will be under the theme “Life as a professional dancer – Making Dance a Career” from April 27 – April 29, and targets dance students from various schools. The facilitators will be Shakeena President-Beckford, MicoleAubertin-Murray and Tania Isaac, who is an Assistant Teaching Professor at Drexel University, and a Pew Fellow (2011) and a MacDowell Fellow (2012).
The second dance workshop will be a full week of intensive training led by working professional dancers and teachers from Europe with the objective of providing participants with technical dance training in a range of styles leading to a final informal sharing with performances from both students and instructors. The project is aimed at exposing participants to the rigour of professional dance training while developing their performance and creative skills in a supportive environment. These workshops target secondary school students currently studying Theatre Arts/Dance, Theatre Arts Teachers with an interest in dance/movement, and local dancers. The two workshops run from April 25- 30, with performance and informal sharing on April 30 and or May1.
Under the Saint Lucia HOT Couture component, a free Creative Business Training Session is scheduled for May 5 from 10:00 a.m.-12:30. It will be facilitated by Romero Bryan, a lecturer at the London College of Fashion and Saint Martin’s School of Arts, and will deal with Concept and Fabric Research, Market Research and PR and Marketing. A second paid workshop on Design and Patternmaking will be facilitated by MyriamBelasse, designer and owner of Atlanta Sewing and Patternmaking Services, LLC. Belasse’s workshop will take a full morning from 9:30 a.m to 12 noon on May 6. The fashion related workshops will take place at the Blue Coral Conference Room.
Joseph Marcell, who will play the lead in Shakespeare Globe Theatre’s production of Derek Walcott’s OMEROS on May 3, is also expected to meet and engage Saint Lucian actors. An educational component is also being finalized for the Arts Village, and will be formally unveiled within the coming week.