The San Pedro Dance Academy joined dance companies from all over Belize, the USA and Indonesia onstage for the 4th annual Dance X “Dance from the Soul” organized by the National Institute of Culture & History (NICH) and the Institute for the Creative Arts at the Bliss Institute in Belize City last Saturday night, November 26
Shannon Nunez, Danielle Rodriguez, Joyce Martinez and Karissa Vasquez all of San Pedro High school, Alexandar Lausen of the Island Academy and Chelsea Valdez of New Horizon Academy had a blast as they glided across the stage in “Bailarines de salsa”, choreographed by their Dance Director Sherette Perrote. Miss Anna Lily and Irma Palma had chaperoned the girls on the trip from Isla Bonita to the city.
Miss Lily Nunez first established the group in 1998, with the help of Greg Vernon and the late Rosita Balthazar of the Belize National Dance Company, who offered artistic support and guidance.
Travel logistics and the dancers’ tender age precluded them joining the other artists on tour as NICH took Dance X countrywide for the first time this year. Other performers at the Bliss had also performed in San Ignacio on Friday night, where the show was originally planned for the open air area in front of the Visitors’ Center, but the weekend’s rains caused the show to move indoors to Hode’s Place. Dance X also performed at the Banquitas House of Culture in Orange Walk Town on Saturday night.
Other artists at Dance X included the Belize Elementary School Dance Academy, dancing “African Rhythms” choreographed by Diane Garcia; Dwayne Murillo doing a solo Indian dance, the Belize Dance Company performing “Avatar”, and the Precision & Style Group strutting their stuff in “Never Be like You”.
The Belize audience for the first time got to enjoy the very exotic Indonesian folk dancers from Indonesia’s embassy in Mexico City, who performed six dances from different regions of their 17,000 island archipelago. They performed dances from Bali, Sulawesi, Central Java, Jakarta, West Java and Sumatra.
Belizean Jamie Thompson, now dancing professionally in Dallas, Texas USA has collaborated with Dance X since its inception, and he brought his own dance company Ballet J Live Arts Project, to perform both nights.
The audience also enjoyed performances by Ugundani Dance Group of Dangriga, the Alex Howard trio, and UB student Jamir Borland.