BAJAN SUN MAGAZINE
DEC 2014
MEGGHAN MICHAEL - DANCER / ENTREPRENEUR continued
I was a seasonal dancer for Soka Kartel in 2013 and
seasonal dancer for The Energy Band in 2014. I was
given an enormous opportunity this year (2014) to
Perform for Biggie
Irie
at
the
International Soca
Monarch
in
Trinidad.
The
Nation
Cultural
Foundation (NCF)
has also selected
me in 2012 and
2013 to participate
in the NCF Dance
Internship over the
summer where I
performed
for
several NCF events of the Crop Over Season.
Outside of my dance experience it has also opened
another door where I work as a Promotion Rep aka
“promo girl” for Digicel Barbados under the
management of DL. Smith Productions.
IS DANCE AS AN OCCUPATION?
In Barbados the Arts or to be more exact the
performing arts has little to no market or economic
capital where one can make a living from. This
therefore forces our young Barbadian artist to travel
overseas to pursue what they love as a craft and
monetary labor. Being a student of the West Indies
Cave Hill Campus studying Sociology and
Psychology has driven me to pursue my goals
making money as a dancer mainly because as a
student my tuition fees has to be paid and by doing
so the only way is to make an occupation out of what
i love.
As they say "kill two birds in one stone;" acquire the
basic academic knowledge required while creating a
strong brand for yourself, where your outside talents
and crafts help your educational growth
interchangeably.
IS OUR OCCUPATION APPRECIATED?
"We are starving artist"
This can be easily explained where artist do not
appreciate each other's craft enough. For example
backup dancers' standard fee. As a backup dancer for
some of our calypso artist in Barbados I have
experienced a serious level of over worked and under
payed treatment mainly because our craft, time and
effort is not valued to the fullest extent. Some
dancers may only dance to get into the event where
others take their work very seriously. Which dancer
do you think the artist will choose? Therefore the
quality of work produced on our stages as dancers
are not as it's best quality because Singers cannot
afford that quality which is expected.
MOTIVATING FORCES
My mother has been my motivating factor from day
one because there would be days I go home pining
about how I do not want to dance anymore and she
would find all the positives in my despair. Moreover
she pushed me to grab every single opportunity there
is out there as a dancer and an entertainer. My other
motivating personalities or people I look up to are
Toni Thorne and Aisha Commisiong because they
are both dancers of origin but they have found ways
to mold and create their craft in different, fun and
effective ways where the public easily gravitates
toward what they do.
INTERNET AS A CONNECT
In the world today I believe technology is a major
channel for the diffusion of our culture and crafts
because life is becoming more virtual than actual.
Especially in the entertainment business most or
every single thing that needs to be promoted goes out
on social media to capture audiences of all ages. As a
dancer and the person I am who loves to take pictures
or use pictures and a means of documentation, people
love to see the places I dance or the time and effort I
put into all of my rehearsals and therefore technology
as an instrument for social media creates a brand for
myself and what I do.
It should be stated that if there is progression in the
dance community physical dance technology needs
to be upgraded, modified or changed, meaning that
we need more dance studios, more professional
dance work shops or a different way of pushing the
arts as a "serious occupation."
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