12519: Pupil now a teacher (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Pupil now a teacher

By Merle Augustin
Staff Writer
Posted July 7 2002

DELRAY BEACH · She fell in love with dance watching her relatives perform
the traditional steps of Haitian folkloric dances in her native Gonaives,
Haiti.

Beginning at age 6, Martine Joseph began to take dance lessons and
eventually joined a children's group. When she moved to Palm Beach County at
age 12, she continued her training -- including ballet and jazz -- and even
taught some of her classmates and teachers at Carver Middle School and
Atlantic High School.

She became an amateur choreographer in middle school and later joined the
Eagelettes -- a competitive dance team that also cheers for the football
team.

Now, 21, Joseph has formed her own dance group. She is teaching the
centuries-old Haitian beat of the Congo, banda, rada and preta -- passed
down from Africa -- to the children of Haitian immigrants and others, while
she pursues a hospitality management degree.

The group, which also will do modern dance, made its debut at the
Caribbean-American Festival in May.

"We first had shows to see how it would go," said Joseph, who hopes to have
the dancers perform at other events and in Haitian music videos. "People
came to me and said we should have been doing this a long time ago."

Gilberte Jules, a member of the Haitian Cultural Society of the Palm
Beaches, which organized the Caribbean-American Festival, said, "I think
it's wonderful. It gives the young kids in the community something to keep
them busy and keeps the culture alive."

Joseph also works at the Milagro Center, an arts integrated educational and
cultural center in Delray Beach, where she teaches folklore, jazz and modern
dance to children and adults.

For those interested in folklore, Joseph describes the dances, where every
step is centered on the beat of the drum. In the Congo, for example, the
drum starts slowly, then speeds up as the dancer, on his or her toes, moves
toward the drummer. The banda, which has a much faster beat, involves a lot
of hand gestures and jumps, and can even be done with the dancer laying flat
on his or her stomach.

Misoule Georges, 20, just joined the dance group after moving here from
Haiti two years ago.

"It's an important part of Haitian life," Georges said. "The folklore, it's
like it's us. It's part of our being, who we are, our soul."

For more information, call Martine Joseph at the Milagro Center,
561-279-2970.






_________________________________________________________________
MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos:
http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx