– 26 years of classical and modern displays from ‘Let’s Dance, Dance Studio’

NADIA Jagan began her ballet training when she was just eight years old at the Newbert Ballet School in New York City. Undergoing extensive training and then sharing in teaching the art at prestigious institutions, Jagan decided to come home to start up what would be the country’s first trained ballet school.

Founded in 1995, the Let’s Dance, Dance Studio accepts students from ages 3+ to adults and specialises in classical ballet, along with modern, jazz, hip hop, Bollywood, and other styles.

It’s been over 26 years now, and Jagan is still very much continuing to keep ballet alive in Guyana. She has everything that it takes to be successful in the field: while in the performing arts overseas, she received fine academics, dance training and also attended music, staging, lighting, makeup and acting classes.

She was accepted in the Newbert Junior Ballet Company and began performing throughout Manhattan before auditioning for the famous High School of the Performing Arts. She was one out of 4,000 students selected to fill only 40 dance spaces!

Her most memorable achievement was being a member of a small group of dancers selected to represent America at the Spoleto Performing Arts Festival in Italy. Two years before her return to Guyana, she was teaching and choreographing Westminster Dance Studio in New Jersey and when she came back to Guyana, that was the beginning of ‘Let’s Dance.’

“At ‘Let’s Dance’, the art of dance develops the knowledge and skills required to create, perform and understand movement as a means of artistic communication. We exposure [sic] our dancers to history, cultures and movement theories that further enriches the dance experience and appreciation for dance,” Jagan told Pepperpot Magazine.

The school further encourages young dancers to bring forth their creativity and explore beyond traditional dance.

“As a school, we’ve accomplished so much over the years from the beginning,” Jagan observed, adding, “ ‘Let’s Dance’ has volunteered and provided a number of scholarships for dancers at our studio.”

Having attended the High School of Performing Arts and being awarded a scholarship to attend Alvin Ailey Dance School, Jagan was poised to start up her own school in Guyana.

Her dancers have had the opportunity to perform at many places across the country, including Berbice, Giftland Mall, the Prime Minister’s residence, and the National Culture Centre. The school has also done workshops with teachers from the USA and Cuba.

According to Jagan, the intention is for the school to expand its social and cultural interaction. “It is to provide an overall community feeling for all dancers across the country by applying a variety of approaches to the understanding and valuing of dancers and performing through collaboration despite the challenges of COVID0-19.”

Reflecting on her experience with renowned ballet dancer, Helen Tate, Jagan said: “She was trained in the UK and came back around the same time ‘Let’s Dance’ opened and came to two of our recitals. She even came backstage and commended us on a wonderful show, and she was happy that ballet was continuing in Guyana. This was an honour coming from her,” Jagan said.

‘Let’s Dance’ was also able to continue training dancers from the Depth Core while they stayed in Guyana. Dancers from Colombia, Jamaica, USA were able to receive training at the school on the same level or higher than in their home country.