Timeless Dance Festival harnesses young energy productively

by Nigel Telesford

Long before African slaves were allowed to speak to each other, their stories were shared via song and dance with dance rituals being learnt, performed, understood and shared among tribes and communities throughout the New World and of course, here in Trinidad. Over time the stories shared by the chantwell orators gained more prominence and the dancers became more supplementary and even complementary and were eventually just featured to enhance the musical presentations.

In 2024, Hamid Rahman and the Xtreme Dance Academy have commenced bringing dance back to the forefront with a captivating presentation entitled, "Timeless", which took centre-stage at Queen's Hall in St Ann's last weekend and showcased the awesome power of dance as the main expression and the main component.

"Dance is a powerful, expressive art form that has the potential to inspire change and make a difference in society," said Xtreme Dance Academy Director, Hamid Rahman following the event. "We are celebrating our Jubilee anniversary this year and decided to show all the different types and styles of dance, while also showcasing the artform as a different medium to express all the passion, creativity, color, love and light that T&T has grown and is growing by way of our young people."

Determined to be a positive influence on the next generations of artisans, Rahman has evolved from a dancer on the popular 90s TV series known as "Party Time" and a World Dance Champion with the group Ecclectic, to a much sought-after choreographer, company director, teacher and mentor.

"I was once one of those young people searching for an identity and a way to channel my energy and my passion," Rahman added, "so I would never give up on them, no matter what the statistics and the reports say - I believe that once we talk and listen to them, establish trust and then steer them in positive directions, that will build their confidence, teach them the value of discipline, hard work and perseverance, they will then be armed with the right information and be able to make positive and more productive choices going forward."

With a quarter of a century already under their belt and hundreds, if not thousands of lives influenced and affected positively through dance, the Xtreme Dance Academy promised and delivered an extraordinary experience of movement and music, effectively setting the stage for future excellence and groundbreaking dance productions. 

The original concept of "Timeless" was meant to be two-fold in nature with part one having occurred last Saturday and comprising the Indoor Auditorium Event open to all ages, but the second half of "Timeless" was more inclusive, but was postponed. Raham explained:

"It's a tough season and some sponsors only came on board late, but above all else, we felt that the dancers were not ready to execute it the way it needs to be executed and needed more time to prepare. It's a grand idea to feature the singers the way they usually feature their dancers, but it need to be tight - meaning it has to be well rehearsed and executed to perfection and given the short season and state of uncertainty surrounding this Carnival, it seems more prudent to wait and execute the grand idea at Easter time instead of rushing it when it's not ready to be seen and experienced!"