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ACES Dance Academy Brings Mental Health to Centre Stage with ‘Behind The Smile’

World Mental Health Day Premiere Uses Powerful Choreography to Spotlight the Urgent Challenges Facing Trinidad and Tobago’s Youth

ACES’s senior dancer, Samantha Johnson, is captured in a striking moment from Ripples, a piece featured in the academy’s 2023 production, You Should Be Dancing. Photo courtesy Elliot Francois Fotography on behalf of ACES Dance Academy.

October 5, 2025 – Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago… ACES Dance Academy (ACES) will lift the curtain on a pastiche of thought-provoking compositions in its 2025 dance season, Behind The Smile. Timely and relevant, the production coincides with World Mental Health Day to spotlight the pressing mental-health issues confronting Trinidad and Tobago’s young people. Directed by ACES’s co-founder, artistic director and choreographer, Akeisha Byng-Danzell, the performances run on Friday, October 10, at 7:00 p.m. and Saturday, October 11, at 6:30 p.m. at Queen's Hall.

From left to right: Anasofia Crouch, Samantha Johnson and Sahara Byng in a touching scene from Ripples during ACES’s 2023 dance season, You Should Be Dancing. Photo courtesy Elliot Francois Fotography on behalf of ACES Dance Academy.

A 2020 Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) report underscores the urgency of Trinidad and Tobago’s growing mental-health crisis. Among children aged five to 15, conduct disorders, anxiety and headaches account for 17% of the mental health burden. By age 20, anxiety, depression and self-harm rise to 48%, with suicide representing one quarter of the burden among 20- to 35-year-olds.

Tiny troublemakers on the big stage! These Naughty Mice steal the spotlight in ACES’s 2023 dance season, You Should Be Dancing. Photo courtesy Elliot Francois Fotography on behalf of ACES Dance Academy.

ACES’s Christmas Angels display poised elegance on stage during the 2023 presentation, You Should Be Dancing. Photo courtesy Elliot Francois Fotography on behalf of ACES Dance Academy.

Against this backdrop, Behind The Smile debuts at a pivotal moment. Byng-Danzell and her choreographic team urge audiences to reflect by using the language of dance to raise awareness and spark national dialogue on challenges affecting youth. “I am driven to encourage young people to be kind, empathetic, compassionate and grateful. We must listen to, support and lift each other,” Byng-Danzell said. “At ACES, we strive to create a safe space where our students can express themselves, and develop resilience and coping strategies.”

With dynamic intensity, Samantha Johnson soars through Evergreen electrifying audiences in ACES’s 2023 dance production, You Should Be Dancing. Photo courtesy Elliot Francois Fotography on behalf of ACES Dance Academy.

Through choreography, music and expression, ACES seeks to explore what lies “behind the smile,” addressing issues of bullying, depression and suicide, and fusing classical, indigenous and urban dance genres into modern lyrical, jazz contemporary, Hip-Hop, Indian, ballet and folk compositions. The diverse musical score features soca-fusion star Nailah Blackman and jazz trumpeter/composer Etienne Charles.

Counter clockwise from left to right: Senior dancers, Sahara Byng, Mckayla Sealey, Chloe Claxton, Kristen Low and Sian Ramsay, bring emotion and storytelling to life in ACES’s 2023 dance season, You Should Be Dancing. Photo courtesy Elliot Francois Fotography on behalf of ACES Dance Academy.

At each performance, patrons will have access to free mental-health screenings provided by Serenitas Mental Health Services, along with the chance to win a voucher for three psychotherapy sessions, valued at $1,200, with clinical therapist, Donika Byng-Jeffrey, MSW, CSW. Tickets for Behind The Smile are $250 and available at the school at #3 Longden Street, Port of Spain, and at the Queen’s Hall box office. For more information, connect with ACES on Instagram and Facebook (@acesdanceacademy), email acesdanceacademy@gmail.com or call (868) 276-3422.

Niemah Caseman captivates in the powerful performance, Morena Osha, for ACES’s 2023 dance production, You Should Be Dancing. Photo courtesy Elliot Francois Fotography on behalf of ACES Dance Academy.

Founded in 2014, ACES Dance Academy offers training in ballet, modern, contemporary, folk and Hip-Hop for students as young as four years old. With family and community at its core, ACES fosters resilience, discipline, confidence and self-expression in its students. Akeisha Byng-Danzell, certified as an Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD) instructor, leads the faculty alongside Janeal James, Whitneyann Baptiste, Matthew McClean and Marissa Johnson, who together bring a wealth of experience and creativity to nurture well-rounded, technically proficient and artistically expressive dancers prepared for both stage and life.

The glorious choreography of the piece, Morena Osha, performed by senior dancer, Niemah Caseman, in ACE’s 2023 presentation, You Should Be Dancing. Photo courtesy Elliot Francois Fotography on behalf of ACES Dance Academy.

WHAT: Behind The Smile

WHO: ACES Dance Academy

WHEN: Friday, October 10, at 7:00 p.m.

Saturday, October 11, at 6:30 p.m.

WHERE: Queen’s Hall, St. Anns, Port of Spain

TICKETS: General admission - $250

ACES Dance Academy, #3 Longden Street, Port of Spain -

(868) 276-3422

Queen’s Hall box office – (868) 624-1284

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For media inquiries, please contact:

Liza Miller, Managing Director

estuary PR Limited

m: +1 (868) 367-5295

e: liza@estuaryPR.com

NDDCI’s 30^th Anniversary Celebrations Continue With “Threshold”

September 29, 2015 – Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago… As a continuation to its 30^th anniversary celebrations, the Noble Douglas Dance Company Inc. (NDDCI) will present its 2015 dance season, Threshold. The weekend production opens on Saturday October 17 at Queen’s Hall featuring new and classic choreographic works by Noble Douglas, Allan Balfour, Penelope Kalloo, Arlene Frank, Delton Frank and Megan Navarro.

Trinidad and Tobago’s foremost modern contemporary dance company earned another accolade when it launched its 30^th anniversary celebrations with its 2014 season, TEETH. This momentous milestone celebrates the contributions of the seminal dance company to the cultural landscape of Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean. Founded in 1985 with a vision to use the body for the expression of a Caribbean aesthetic in modern contemporary dance, the NDDCI has toured locally, regionally and internationally on stages in the United States, Southern Africa and the Caribbean.

In 2005, Douglas’ commitment to the development of the arts and culture received national recognition when she was bestowed with Trinidad and Tobago’s second highest award, the prestigious Hummingbird Medal – Gold. She was also the recipient of the Cacique Award for best choreography in the Trinidad Theatre Workshop’s 2005 production of Derek Walcott’s musical, STEEL and a Vanguard Cacique Award for her work with Lilliput Children’s Theatre. She has continued to revolutionise dance expression in the region as she fuses the principles of contemporary modern dance with the instinctive and familiar movements of her Caribbean landscape.

As a dancer, choreographer and teacher, Douglas has shone as an icon of the arts in Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean region. The co-founder of the country’s foremost children’s theatre company, Lilliput Children’s Theatre, and founder of the NDDCI, Douglas has stood strong with an unyielding commitment to her vision to use the performing arts as a medium to stimulate young people’s creative energy and to build character, self-confidence and self-esteem.

This celebration of dance marks the threshold of a new decade of dance for the NDDCI. Tickets cost $160.00 and are available at Crosby’s Music Centre, from members of the NDDCI and from October 13, 2015, at the Queen’s Hall box office. For more information, join the Threshold Facebook (FB) event page at http://x2t.com/THRESHOLD or connect with NDDCI on FB at www.facebook.com/nddci or on Twitter @NDLFA or send email to liza@estuaryPR.com.

WHAT: Threshold

WHO: Noble Douglas Dance Company Inc.

WHEN: Saturday October 17, 2015 at 7:30 p.m.

Sunday October 18, 2015 at 5:30 p.m.

WHERE: Queen’s Hall, St. Ann’s, Port of Spain

TICKETS: Regular $160.00 (including programme)

Crosby’s Music Centre, St. James – (868) 622-SOCA(7622)

Members of the NDDCI

From Tuesday October 13, 2015 at Queen’s Hall box office – (868) 624-1284

Photo captions and credits:

All photos courtesy Maria Nunes.

NDDCI 1

The layered choreography of Noble Douglas and post-modernist, Reggie Wilson, marries folk, modern and post-modern genres in this 1998 collaborative work, Rum & Salvation. Here the piece is remounted during the NDDCI’s 2013 collaborative dance season, Vecinos…we are Neighbours.

NDDCI 2

Terry Springer shines in Allan Balfour’s iconic 1987 choreography, Red Clay, which was re-staged during the NDDCI’s 2013 collaborative season with leading Venezuelan dance company, Fundación Coreoarte.

NDDCI 3

A moment of intense energy from Allan Balfour’s three-part piece, Ties, which he began choreographing in 2011 and completed in 2012.

NDDCI 4

The company’s alumni and seasoned dancers perform this three-part retrospective piece, Older More, which was created by Dave Williams for NDDCI’s 2014 30^th anniversary season, TEETH.

NDDCI 5

Kwasi Romero is intently poised in Arlene Frank’s choreography, Near To One’s Heart, during NDDCI’s 2014 30^th anniversary season, TEETH.

NDDCI 6

NDDCI’s company members and apprentices perform Noble Douglas’ classic piece, Passage, during Lilliput Children’s Theatre’s 2015 40^th anniversary production, BIG.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Liza Miller, Managing Director

estuary PR Limited

Phone: (868) 367-5295

Email: liza@estuaryPR.com