Saint Lucian dance practitioners are now better equipped to tell stories through their art form following the Tallawah Sent Lisi (TSL) dance camp. This initiative, held on September 28, was presented by Tallawah Caribe, a regional movement for healing and creative expression, under the direction of artisans Jamaal MOX Bruce and Khaja J. It forms part of a broader “cultural and wellness” project for the Caribbean, as indicated by its directors.

The programme takes its name from the Jamaican Creole word “tallawah,” meaning powerful. The group’s founders noted this embodies the programme’s core intention: the empowerment of practitioners through wellness, movement, storytelling, and overall creative expression.

Photo Credit: McAllister Hunt

On the day of the dance camp, St. Lucia Times spoke with the two directors to gain further insight into their goals. Khaja J, a talented multidisciplinary practitioner of Jamaican origin, told our news team that this rare event was designed to advance the Saint Lucian dance community through a meaningful exercise.

“The dance camp features excellent choreographers, excellent dancers; myself and [Jamaal Bruce] are among them,” said Khaja, who also serves as a life coach. “We’re doing different dance classes. We’re here to inspire the dance community in Saint Lucia as a whole. These events don’t happen often. So we found the solution to create it and this is the first of many.”

When asked why she chose Saint Lucia as a destination and Jamaal Bruce as a collaborator, Khaja responded:

“I just see that there’s so much talent and it’s just not tapped into. Also with the talent, we don’t have the resources in all these places. So I’m a resource. He, Jamaal, is a resource. To bring all the resources together to help to break the barriers in the community so that we’re not as far as it might seem and we can help each other be great and succeed.”

Bruce, co-founder and director of the initiative on the island, has been a professional in the creative space for over a decade. He expressed excitement about the opportunity to collaborate with Khaja in what he considers an initiative aligned with his goals as a creative director.

“It is a blessing for me to work with international choreographers especially at this point of my career,” Bruce noted. “I’ve been doing this for about 13 years professionally and it’s always been part of my mission to bring people here and to show them how much talent that Saint Lucia has. On top of the fact that we have been doing our best in really trying to display an international standard and international quality of performance, showcasing really all that we have and showcasing our culture too.”

Photo credit: McAllister Hunt

Bruce believes the arts can serve as a means for individuals to cope with mental health challenges. He believes programmes like these contribute meaningfully in that regard.

“As an individual who has been doing this independently for as long as I can remember, I’ve used art and my passion for it as a means of elevating myself through mental rest through mental health issues in my life and with time and through my hard work obviously I’ve been able to make a career out of it, where I earn a living off of it,” he revealed. 

“I’ve collaborated with different organisations, different artists on the island to make something out of it and I know that … people are searching for ways to get themselves out there. To try and put themselves, whether it be out of poverty or out of whichever ill climate that they can get out of, and I feel like art is not just one of the ways but it’s one of the purest ways to do that, especially through the performing arts where it is expressed and it’s displaying something that words cannot express.”

Tallawah Caribe’s work on the island is far from over. Mental health remains embedded in their programming, and the group will soon host a mental health convention titled Breaking the Stigma: Stronger Minds, Stronger Communities. The ultimate goal of the organisers is to help attendees communicate more effectively through artistry and expression.