NCF gives over 100 dancers gift of ‘Baba’ Hinds’ masterclasses
The iconic dancer on the logo of the National Independence Festival of Creative Arts (NIFCA) was alive and in the flesh this week in masterclasses with the dance community as NIFCA marks its golden jubilee.
Danny Baba Hinds has become the symbol of Barbadian dance excellence in his own right. In a 48-year career, first dancing with the Yoruba Foundation and later teaching with the Barbados Dance Theatre and as a National Cultural Foundation dance officer, Hinds has become a master of Black dance.
Before emigrating to the United States, Hinds taught through dance with Haynesville Youth Club, Bim International Performing Arts Ensemble and the S.E.I.T.U Production School of Dance.
Now based in the midwestern state of Missouri, Hinds, who studied with the revered matriarch of Black dance, the late Katharine Dunham, conducted three free workshops with close to 125 participants, with dancers from ages 16 to 66, said the NCF. They included lecturers in dance from the University of the West Indies and the Barbados Community College.
The workshops involved West African Kuku and Sinte along with Afro-Caribbean Dance, as Hinds – using the traditional African of respect for an elder – taught correct posture, movements and sequences. He also introduced traditional movements as well as his choreography as he taught the history of each style of dance and their connection to Caribbean people.
Hinds, now a cultural arts director and teacher in the Kansas City, Missouri elementary school system, is the founder of Art In Motion Blkdance School of Dance in Kansas City, where he has sought to coin the term “Blkdance-tek” to encompass the style and ethos of Afro-Caribbean and West African dance.
“I truly respect the effort of those who provided me with this opportunity to share my Blkdance technical teachings with such a wide variety of participants in the dance arena,” said Hinds. “It brought joy to my heart to see how much I am appreciated and loved here in Barbados.”
NCF Dance Officer Alicia Payne-Hurdle said the workshops were a fitting gift to the dance community for NIFCA’s 50th anniversary from ‘Baba’ Hinds.
“I was extremely pleased but not surprised to see over 100 persons turn out for these workshops, which were free to the public. As a former Cultural Officer, Danny Hinds was known for these types of classes… which brought the community of both dancers and dance enthusiasts out in their numbers each week to dance.
“As we celebrate our 50th year in NIFCA, I can’t think of a more fitting way to start the season than with classes by this phenomenal son of the soil who has dedicated his life to community development through dance and who is also that iconic dancer on our NIFCA logo.”
Hinds’s work in the American midwest uses an extensive repertoire of African, Caribbean, Central, Southern, and Northern American music and dance from folk to salsa, dancehall, hip-hop and tap in multiple educational settings, including cultural education, complex movement studies, mental health and wellness.
A dance education teacher at Northwestern University and the University of Chicago in Illinois, Hinds was Assistant Director with Najwa Dance Corps, a Chicago-based company of professional dancers and musicians dedicated to preserving African-American dance heritage and experience. He has also worked as a Social Reform Arts Consultant with the Bobby E. Wright Mental Health Foundation, also in Chicago.
(PR/BT)
