CULTURAL DANCE OF WEST INDIES

Responding to the lack of Caribbean culture and arts programming in Harford despite its rapidly growing West Indian/Caribbean community, Valencia Coleman founded the Cultural Dance Troupe of the West Indies, Inc. (the Dance Troupe) in the spring of 1982. Recruiting children from inner city Hartford, the Dance Troupe began rehearsals in traditional Caribbean folk forms. 42 years later, the Dance Troupe has become a staple performing arts company in the Hartford region with emphasis on teaching disadvantaged youths about Caribbean traditions and culture.

As the population of people of West Indian heritage living in Greater Hartford area continually increases. The Dance Troupe addresses the need to perpetuate Caribbean traditional arts and cultures that are not being met by other organizations. The diversity of the organization has also expanded to include the Hispanic community, which has fused with Hartford's African American/Caribbean and Caribbean/West Indian communities. The Dance Troupe has accordingly developed a multi - disciplined repertoire of music and dance addressing the diverse population of Hartford's melting pot.