The Tribune

By ALESHA CADET

Tribune Features Reporter

acadet@tribunemedia.net

THERE is no limit to Julien Thompson’s dream of encouraging people to believe in themselves. The musician, along with his Believe Network, are inviting all dance enthusiasts to the inaugural “Believe In Yourself” dance battle.

The event to be held at the Kendall G L Issacs Gym on Friday from 3:30 pm to 11 pm, will showcase dancers from throughout the country. They will compete for cash prizes and awards.

There will also be the EpicfoRealz local celebrity basketball game featuring street ball entertainers from the Bahamas and the United States. Potcake, the Nassau “Street Philosopher,” will referee the basketball session.

In an interview with Tribune Entertainment, Julien said the dance categories include Junkanoo dance, liturgical dance, an open category, and an inter-school teams competition.

“We have so much talent when it comes to dancers in the Bahamas and this is just to put the spotlight on them. Other than Junkanoo there is really no platform for it,” said Julien.

With the success of his well known Caribbean Slide song and dance, Julien said he wanted to use the opportunity to bridge the gap and create a platform for dancers.

“I don’t think we give the dancers the credit they deserve and this is just my team and I doing that. Let us all look at it together and let’s see who is the best,” said Julien.

Julien and the Caribbean Slide team will also be shooting a music video and offering people the opportunity to be apart of the video at the end of the night.

For Julien, he said the event is much more than a dance show. He said he is really pushing it to encourage people to believe that they can do great things.

“I feel like there are not enough people being told I believe in you. Just by looking at what is taking place in our country now, I feel like we have lost hope. We don’t know what to believe in and we don’t know how to believe in something that we cannot see,” said Julien.

“I realise as a young male, I have a responsibility for all the other young men and women out there coming up. I have a platform that I want to use as a resource and inspiration to help others to become better versions of who they are. The Believe Team, we see the crime and things getting out of control and to us that is something that I feel we as a society have to play our part,” he said.

Even though there is a cash prize for the dancers, Julien said he does not want the money to be the main reason for participating in the event.

“The theme of believing in yourself, we just want to give people a good incentive of coming out and investing their time. The groups have an idea of what the cash prize may be, but there wasn’t an official number given.

“If you have watched the dance movie ‘You Got Served,’ people stand in a circle onlooking the dance groups and you will see where there is a huge pot with a large 
sum of cash where the winners carry the money at the end,” said Julien.