“We want to produce people who can be writers and researchers, critical
and creative thinkers. In Trinidad and Tobago, our concept of dance
remains within the performing arena. I’m trying to get people to
understand that there is more than a practical component to dance. It’s
not just about body movement,” says Hazel Franco, full-time Instructor
in Dance at The University of the West Indies, Department of Creative
and Festival Arts.
The emphasis of the Dance degree is on providing a high level of
academic and technical training to prepare undergraduate students to
integrate into higher levels of tertiary education. The programme is
aimed at providing the local and regional dance industry with competent
practitioners having the capacity to deliver dance education material
to students in their national school systems.
Hazel Franco, Coordinator for the new BA, describes Dance as
“essential” to Caribbean identity: “Dance is non-verbal communication.
It is expression of life. In every arena, there is dance, there is
movement, some of it dramatic, some of it playful, some of it
political. Movement is the very basis of our being. If we don’t
understand why we move, how we move, then what kind of society are we?”
The programme is focused on all dance forms, with special emphasis on
the Folk Dances, and explores the dances associated with the national
cultural festivals of the Caribbean, such as Trinidad Carnival, Tobago
Heritage Festival, La Rose and La Marguerite in St Lucia, Carriacou’s
Maroon Festival, Barbadian Cropover.
“There are very few programmes of this nature in the region. Caribbean
people who have an interest in Dance have had to go abroad to pursue
development.”The programme, which aims to bring in world-class
practitioners along with local and regional experts, was designed
specifically for local and wider Caribbean needs. It is the first BA in
Dance degree programme in Trinidad and Tobago The intake is not likely
to exceed 30 students for the first cohort.
APPLICATION PROCEDURE: Online applications will continue to June 29th
2009. For application details, please visit
http://sta.uwi.edu/postgrad.apply.asp. Applicants must possess two
Advanced Level/CAPE subjects and pass a dance audition. Applicants with
a B average in the Dance and Dance Education Certificate Programme can
enter Level 1.
POSTGRAD OPTIONS: The University of the West Indies, Department of
Creative and Festival Arts offers a postgraduate diploma in Arts and
Cultural Enterprise Management (ACEM), and a Diploma in Education (Dip
Ed) in Visual and Performing Arts. For more information on courses
available at the UWI DCFA, please visit the official website at
http://sta.uwi.edu/fhe/ccfa.
ABOUT UWI: The University of the West Indies (UWI) is an international
university with over 40,000 students from over 40 countries and
collaborative links with over 60 universities around the world. Through
its seven Faculties, UWI offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree
options in Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical
Sciences, Pure & Applied Sciences, Science and Agriculture, and
Social Sciences. Today, UWI is the largest and most longstanding higher
education provider in the English-speaking Caribbean, with main
campuses in Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, and Centres in
Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, British Virgin
Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St Christopher
(St Kitts) & Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent & the Grenadines.
UWI recently launched its Open Campus, a virtual campus with over 50
physical site locations across the region, serving over 20 countries in
the English-speaking Caribbean.
ABOUT THE PROGRAMME LEADER: Hazel Franco graduated from York
University, Toronto, Canada, with MA in Dance Ethnology. She has over
30 years of experience as a performer and teacher in the local and
international dance industry. Currently, she is the full-time
Instructor in Dance at The University of the West Indies, Department of
Creative and Festival Arts. She is an active researcher of Trinidad and
Tobago Folk Dance History.
For more UWI news, please visit our official news website at http://sta.uwi.edu/news.
ABOUT UWI
Over the last six decades, The University of the West Indies (UWI) has
evolved from a fledgling college in Jamaica with 33 students to a
full-fledged University with over 40,000 students. Today, UWI is the
largest and most longstanding higher education provider in the
English-speaking Caribbean, with main campuses in Barbados, Jamaica and
Trinidad and Tobago, and Centres in Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda,
The Bahamas, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica,
Grenada, Montserrat, St Christopher (St Kitts) & Nevis, St Lucia,
and St Vincent & the Grenadines. UWI recently launched its Open
Campus, a virtual campus with over 50 physical site locations across
the region, serving over 20 countries in the English-speaking
Caribbean. UWI is an international university with faculty and students
from over 40 countries and collaborative links with over 60
universities around the world. Through its seven Faculties, UWI offers
undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Engineering,
Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Pure & Applied
Sciences, Science and Agriculture, and Social Sciences.
