Dance moves . . . Vybe 25 offering free courses online

Model, businesswoman and dancer, Megghan Michael, has been dancing for her entire life and is now teaching free virtual sessions online.

The model and owner of Vybe 25, the island’s newest and hottest vibe for dancers, started dancing formally at Wesley Hall Junior School from age six but was on her toes from age three.

The 25-year-old’s official training in dance is with Dancin’ Africa in modern, jazz, ballet, folk and African. Through the years she performed in the National Independence Festival of Creative Arts (NIFCA) both as a choreographer and performer.

The dance class that her company, Vybe 25, held on weekends at the Errol Barrow Centre for Creative Imagination was the place to be for creatives. Megghan told Bajan Vibes that Vybe 25 is all about energy and experiencing the human body in movement in a space. Now, with the COVID-19 pandemic causing a national lockdown, there is a session online, but she said she will keep it unpaid.

“I believe sharing that experience in person is much more fulfilling. I look forward to the future and hopefully, everything goes back to normal. I hope to go back to the kids class and the adults class expanded and perhaps have another day. [I hope to] definitely in the near future, have a convention of dance for two days and have secondary schools speak about movement and dance as it relates to mental health and your physical body and appearance.”

Through the years, the talented dancer has performed at all the major Crop Over events like Cohobblopot and danced behind the major artists such as Lil Rick, TC and Biggie Irie and this is not her first time in the media’s limelight. She also travelled to Trinidad with Biggie Irie in 2014, 2015 and 2016 for the International Soca Monarch. Megghan also travelled with Dancin’ Africa to St Vincent and Trinidad and Tobago.

But dance is not all that the instructor is into; she has also been in pageants and represented Barbados (as Miss Barbados) in St. Kitts and Nevis at Miss Caribbean Culture after winning Miss Holetown in 2015. The pageant favourite has participated in at least five pageants and is a Cave Shepherd Ambassador and a Harmony Face. The model said she represents the community well.

Megghan, a former student of Christ Church Foundation, is also an optical stylist and sales assistant at IQ Barbados.

“I love both my jobs – teaching dancing and fashion with eye care. I am surrounded by very strong, intelligent, hard-working women and I see a different side of business when I am working there and I also love fashion and style.”

The eye care worker loves the dance industry but said that more work has to be done to provide better facilities for dancers. Most dance schools, she said, have their own facilities. Megghan pointed out that for people like herself, who simply want to teach classes, it is harder to find a space that is safe with correct flooring.

“I think that we do have several investors out there who can assist us but they don’t know that we need this help.”

But Megghan continues to have faith in the local dance community. “I think that Barbadian dancers are incredibly talented and we can’t limit ourselves to just here. We look forward to people coming from overseas to teach a dance class or to pick us to be a part of their thing but what if we go there and do workshops, regionally and internationally?”

The dancer believes that the art form can be marketed in a very special way. Unfortunately, dancers are the most limited in terms of exposure. But she is using Vybe 25 to open others to the world of dance.

The dance group which started as a birthday celebration on her 25th birthday last year was done so that people can feel what she experiences every time she does a staged performance.

“I wanted people to feel that because dance is a feeling other than what you see. There were almost 85 people there. I have been teaching class since then for just $10 for anyone who wants to come.”

Megghan, who danced at Mango Bay, Sandy Lane and Crystal Cove, realised after a while that she had been performing from very young and for very long.

“I forgot how dance made me feel. I kinda stopped performing for two years because it just became a chore. I hated that feeling of just performing and just getting paid. I wanted to be back in the studio to dance and I want people to feel that,” she said. And so she hopes to keep a convention of dance so others can have that amazing feeling.

“The convention would be about seeing different choreographers come into one space and teach movement. I hope to travel to do workshops in the region. I spoke to someone in Martinique about doing a collaboration from St Kitts. People in New York have been looking for a workshop so I hope to travel and spread good vibes and that Bajan energy.”

Dance, she said, is an amazing form of exercise and is great for mental health. “Vybe 25 is not only about dancing but also about your mental health. The last virtual class a lot of people loved it because they did not realize that they were working out.”

The way Megghan teaches her class is very high energy so you hardly get to stop. “You take that time for yourself, have fun, relax and listen to the music you love the most and you exercise -you get to break a sweat. The fact that you are not physically there with the person and you took the time to get up and do it is a great effort. It is showing that you really want to move.”

Vybe 25 caters to 25 kids currently and between 30-40 adults per class. “The mantra for Vybe 25 is Lose your mind and come to your senses and that basically means forget what is happening around you. Don’t think about class too much. Don’t think – I am not a good dancer. Forget about everything that is happening around you. Think about your movement and your dance, and come to your senses. Just be more confident, basically.”

Finally, Megghan encouraged dancers to keep focused and stick to their goals. “I know there will be lots of ups and downs in business and what you are doing but once you have a vision and you take the necessary steps broken down, you can do what you have to do.”

Three hundred and fifty people signed on and watched the video for her dance live on the Vybe 25 page. After taking up much time putting on a show for the virtual world, Megghan meditates to bring proper closure to life.

“I do a meditation after class where I repeat: I am powerful, I am beautiful, I am intelligent and I am enough. We hardly get to sit down in these times because of what is going on around us But the fact you can sit down with yourself and tell yourself that you are enough is enough to help you through these tough times. Dance is an amazing format for mental health and exercise, and more people should do it after this quarantine time,” she added.  (MR)