– Amerindians diversifying into other cultures
“Moving to rhythm and dancing has always been a gift that I discovered and came to love as a child”, Guru Vandana choreographer, Kenrick Cheeks revealed. Cheeks is not a name new to society, since this family holds a number of talented members, from karate champions and Senseis to martial arts champions, even to the best kathak dancer in Guyana Kenrick Cheeks. 
Amazed by his will to dance and mesmerized by his body movement.  I sat in wonder as this dancer allowed me the opportunity to watch him as he blew my mind with his show of excellent work. 
The passion in his face drew my interest in to exploring his world so as to find out what it was like.  As we chatted the choreographer /dancer reminisced on his first moment when he discovered his passion for dance.
“It was when I was thirteen,” he disclosed.  “We had a school concert and I danced to an old filmy song called (Rambha Ho), and that was when I discovered my passion. The student and teachers were all amazed by my dances, and demanded that I participated in our concerts after that.” 
“ With the love for dance and the support of my family, I became a member of the National School of Dance at the age of 17. I was later rated as one of the best dancers in my class, after an amazing performance of Self Control by Laura Branigan in 1987.
“Back in those days dancing was pretty exciting for me and I can remember days of street dancing when a group of us would ride around with our pieces of cardboard to spread off on the road and dance to entertain the folk on the market area.
“Break-dancing was my thing,” Cheeks noted, “since many would gather around to see how my body moved. We spent hours in the market area and in clubs dancing to music of the 70’s and 80’s with a passion.
“Dancing was great until my job became a bit too demanding. I tried so many other ventures but my passion was there for dancing and that was a fact I could have not denied. One day a really good friend of mine said ‘look Cheeks, if the passion is there for dancing then you should explore it,’ and that was exactly what I did.
“In 1997 I went back to the National School of Dance and then to the Indian Cultural Center in 1998, where I was awarded a scholarship to one of the best Kathak Schools in India – the Kathak Kendra, which is a government institution, in September of 2001.
At Kathak Kendra I studied Kathak, as well as three years yoga from a seven-generation Guru, Shri Krishan Mohan Mishra, from whom I learnt many different dances, posture and speed that went with the dance form.
“After I graduated in 2006 with a diploma in Kathak Dance, I came home and started to teach dance in Regions 5 and 6.” Cheeks Stated. “In 2007, after the Swami of the Saraswati Vidya Niketa College introduced into his curriculum Kathak dancing, I was employed to teach dance.
“With my knowledge and passion for dance I taught these students the difference between Bollywood Filmy dance, folk and classical, by introducing a number of different moves from Latin dances, Hip pop and a number of other famous dances. “
Guru Vandana
With rumors of his amazing talent spreading across Guyana this Choreographer, with his already over-crowded classes, created an evening of pure talent that attracted a huge crowd from all over Guyana at his dance programme, Guru Vandana, which was held at the National Cultural Centre.
The programme was designed to showcase dances such as folk, filmy and classical dances, using a series of Latin, hip pop and other dances combined. Cheeks said it is his dream to open his own dance school sometime in the future.