FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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
