Mélange Travel & Lifestyle Magazine July 2017 | Page 614

Ryesha
Higgs
shared with Mélange . . .
About the Ryesha Higgs Summer
Dance Intensive
My motivation for hosting the intensive stemmed
from the outstanding support that I have always
received from island community in the Turks &
Caicos. Looking into the faces of young girls and
boys, who look up to me for pursuing my love of
this art form, really impacted me and prompted
the development of my intensive. Essentially, my
intensive aims to provide training to all students
from all dance backgrounds; from beginner to
advanced, the needs of all students are addressed
as they partake in classes ranging from Ballet,
Horton and Jazz, to Hip Hop and Musical Theatre.
Growing up, I was provided with the incomparable
opportunity of travelling abroad to study dance
every Summer - Summer Intensives helped
me to strengthen my technique, build timeless
friendships and overall, grow as an individual. In
knowing how beneficial Summer programs like
these can be, I decided to host an Intensive to offer
the same opportunities to the young people of the
Turks & Caicos Islands.
The first Ryesha Higgs Summer Dance Intensive
was hosted in 2016, I received an incredible
response from the community in having almost
50 students ranging from ages 5-17. Teaching
approximately 40 hours of classes that week, I
was able to offer young dancers training in Ballet,
Horton, Jazz and Hip Hop and saw an immense
improvement in beginners and intermediate
dancers alike. As I aim to provide students with
the same quality of intensive as given abroad, the
program culminated in a Performance Showcase
which highlighted the talents and growth of all
dancers at the end of our training period.
The Ryesha Higgs Summer Dance Intensive
not only provides training in dance, but also
enrichment through education to parents,
students and dance instructors alike; as an
undergraduate student, I blend my knowledge of
anatomy, cellular and molecular biology, with my
experiences as a dancer, to conduct educational
seminars that offer insight into the professional
realm of dance and, that promote wellness,
injury prevention and holistic teaching practices.
Though the launch of the intensive began in
Providenciales, this year I am looking to travel to
the capital of the Turks & Caicos Islands, Grand
Turk, to offer the same training to students residing
there.
About the dance intensive’s
techniques and its relationship to the
traditional dance of the Turks & Caicos
Some of the techniques I offer during the intensive
are: Ballet, Horton, Graham-based Modern, Hip
Hop, Jazz and, this year at my 2017 intensive,
Musical Theatre. Though techniques like Ballet
originated from classical era renaissance courts of
countries like France and Russia, other techniques
such as Horton, Graham, Hip Hop and Jazz share
a common thread to the culture of dance in the
Turks & Caicos Islands, they have all been built on
sensitivity to rhythm, the use of percussion and
string instruments such as drums and guitars, and,
they all highlight partnership and collaborative
effort.