Barbara Requa (nee Grant) has been involved in Dance for more than fifty years. As a Physical Education student at Dartford College, England in the 1950’s she had the good fortune to study with Valerie Preston-Dunlop, noted dance educator and author and a former student of renowned educator Rudolf Laban; this resulted in her introduction to Laban’s Principles and techniques for dance in education. She returned to Jamaica where she held posts as head of the Physical Education departments at two leading institutions over the next twelve (12) years - the St Andrew High School for Girls and the Mico College. In the 1960’s she opened a private school for children and in 1976 this school became part of the Jamaica School of Dance when the Cultural Training Centre, now the Edna Manley College, was launched. Mrs. Requa has a history of involvement in ‘new beginnings’. She is a founding member of the internationally acclaimed National Dance Theatre Co. of Jamaica (NDTC), a co-founder of the School of Dance, Edna Manley College of the Visual & Performing Arts, and a founding member of Dance & the Child International (daCi), having attended the first Conference in Canada where she co-presented a paper which looked at dance for children in Jamaica. Other professional activities include: • Delivery of Workshops and Seminars on Dance Education and Composition in Jamaica, throughout the Caribbean, in the USA and Europe. • Panelist and advisor for the development of the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) programme in Theatre Arts – Dance, and the development of a BFA Degree in the Visual & Performing Arts for the University Council of Jamaica (UCJ). • Chairperson - Dance Committee and Chief Adjudicator for the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) since the 1980’s. • Co-writer and coordinator for the Curriculum Development and piloting of the first Primary Teachers Integrated Arts Programme – Ministry of Education & Culture, Jamaica. • National Representative (1982-2002) and member of the Executive Committee (2002-2005) for Dance and the Child International (daCi). • Lecturer – Dance in Primary Education, Faculty of Humanities & Education, University of the West Indies, Mona, 20003 – 2010. Mrs. Requa has held a number of academic posts at the Edna Manley College of the Visual & Performing Arts since its inception; formerly Director of the School of Dance, she was appointed Dean of the Schools of the Performing Arts from 1995 to 2004 and acted in the post of Principal from September 2002 to December 2003, prior to her retirement in 2004. She is the recipient of a number of awards that include the Silver Musgrave Medal (1995) from the prestigious Institute of Jamaica for work in Dance Education, the Life Achievement Award by the National Dance Theatre Co. of Jamaica NDTC (1997), the Golden Torch Award by the Jamaica Teachers Association (1999), the National Order of Distinction, Officer (2004)) by the Government of Jamaica and more recently the 50th Anniversary Award from the NDTC (1962-2012) in recognition of a distinguished and sustained contribution to the development of Dance in Jamaica. /December 2012
