Eugene Joseph is one of T&T’s dance icons.
The 72-year-old is known for his Eugene Joseph Dance School where many ordinary people learnt to do ballroom dancing. Ballroom dancing was once a key component of “finishing” for young women and gentlemen, and in Trinidad, it was made popular during the 70s and 80s by television programmes like Holly’s Ballroom Dance, hosted by the late Holly Betaudier.
Ballroom dancing fell out of fashion for a while, but Eugene Joseph’s classes were still sought after by those who wanted to do Latin and hip hop dance. Since 2005, when US TV network ABC started Dancing With The Stars, a glitzy dance competition which features celebrities, sports stars, actors and other famous people mastering the waltz, foxtrot and the pasa doble, the popularity of ballroom dancing has once again soared.
On Saturday evening, Eugene Joseph presented a show called For The Love Of Dance at Naparima Bowl, San Fernando. He said in an interview. “For the Love of Dance is a show of which I think people will be pleasantly surprised by—to see what is possible with people who are taking dance to develop social graces. I am fascinated today to see what people can do when considering the challenges facing us.”
Joseph, a lifelong learner, completed an MA in Carnival Studies at the UTT in 2012 and is now doing more courses with the American Dance Therapy Association in New York. “I have one more year, then internship. I am now into dance movement therapy and my intention is introduce ballroom dancing as a therapy across the spectrum, to people with all types of challenges, like Parkinsons.
“Ballroom and dance movement therapy are a compatible type of social form. The dance movement therapy aspect of it forms a foundation for the elderly in our population. It will also aid out patients and bedridden people.
“My goal is to use dance as a catalyst for transformation of human beings.”