Arts & Culture Focus Cultural heritage training restarts in September Sheria Brathwaite07/05/20240186 views There were several cultural performances by the ICH dancers at the BWU Labour Day event last week. In another three months, would-be performers will have another chance to join the National Cultural Foundation’s Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) programme’s next cohort starting in September. Since its inception in 2022, the ICH programme has been engaging the public in theatre and dance classes at various community centres across the island, catering to over 2 000 people thus far. NCF cultural officer for dance, Alicia Payne-Hurley said several people got involved in the programme as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She was speaking to Barbados TODAY following a production put on by the ICH group at the Barbados Workers’ Union family fun day and picnic at the National Botanical Gardens on Labour Day. “I think the programme is something that was needed. It came at a time when we were now coming back outside from the COVID-19 pandemic. People wanted to get out, they wanted to socialise again, they wanted to exercise, they wanted to destress, and so far it’s been quite a success and I just enjoy watching Barbadians having a good time,” she said. The dance programme’s third cohort saw the youngest participant ever at four years old, while the eldest was 77. Payne-Hurley said she was pleased about the level of public participation over the years and their enthusiasm towards learning the various styles of dance and movement. “From the time we started until now, we have been reaping great successes in terms of public participation and we had a lot of students returning. The programme is one of those things that the public has kind of grabbed hold of and made their own. “The purpose of ICH is to reintroduce to those who know and to introduce those who don’t know the different intangible cultural forms that Barbados holds dearly such as the Landship, sticklicking and stiltwalking. The choices, in terms of what we set out to teach, are very strategic. When you look into the history of Barbadian culture and what street dance is, when you describe it, most of our intangible cultural heritage can form or under some type of street dance style and for the newer forms like Afrobeat that comes from the African styles.” Registration for the fourth cohort begins in August. (SZB)