PHILIPSBURG:--- Almost 25 years to the date, when a group of seven St.Maarten dancers traveled to Jamaica to take part in what would be life transforming experience at the Cultural Training Center, and what gave seed to birth of the National Institute of Arts 22 years later, on the anniversary of that trip a new generation of St.Maarten dancers, some 30 students and teachers will once again journey to Jamaica in July 2016 for an intensive 1 month full immersion into the world of the visual and the performing arts at the Cultural Training Center now the highly revered Edna Manley College for Visual and the Performing Arts., the only one of its kind in the Caribbean.
Students on this journey are part of the pioneering group of students who are all embarking on the Dance CXC journey. As of this school year 2015 - 2016 NIA has been pivotal in the coordination of the CXC dance subject at St.Dominic High, Charlotte Brookson Academy for the Performance Art and St.Maarten Academy.
Lead by Teacher Arlene Halley students enrolled in dance as a CXC subject have been fully engaged in the introduced subject at the 3rd form level class. Travelling to Edna Manley College for Visual and the Performing Arts will give them an in-depth experience into the full scope of the subject. The students will be exposed to many field trips in to dance and culture of the Caribbean, experience dance history, as well as be exposed to many practical hours of dance in modern, Caribbean folk and much more.
The 30 people travelling include teachers of the National Institute of Arts, Rudolph Davis, Clifford Henry, Kimberly Milan, Peggy Oulerich, Silvia Carty and directors Arlene Halley and Clara Reyes. The one-month summer program is varied, offering dance, drama and visual arts to the students and the teachers.
Directors Arlene Halley and Clara Reyes travelled earlier in the year to Barbados, Jamaica and St.Kitts to fully explore the scope of the Subject and are most proud to be the pioneering agents in the collaboration with St.Dominic High, Charlotte Brookson Academy for the Performance Arts and St.Maarten Academy in expanding the CXC choices in St.Maarten.
National Institute of Arts coordinates CXC Dance Class excursion to Jamaica.
