PHILIPSBURG:--- Bianca Dijkhoffz spoke on Wednesday, January 17th, 2017 about her journey as a dancer in the music entertainment industry to students of the Charlotte Brookson Academy of the Performing Arts (CBA).
“The invitation to Bianca to visit CBA, during which time she gave a motivational talk to our 5th and 6th form students, was to serve at least two purposes,” said Nzinga Lake, CBA’s Performing Arts Director.
“Firstly, there was the opportunity for students to get concrete ideas from a professional St. Maarten dancer about the career possibilities that they could have as artists. Secondly, there’s the example for CBA students to see the various ways that we can, as a community, recognize and honor the amazing talented young artists that we have in St. Maarten,” said Lake.
Bianca told students that she was “told many times that dance was not a career” but also had the support of important people in her life. This to date still remains a challenge throughout our community as Dance is still not as recognized as a professional career as much as the traditional career choices in Academia such as Doctor, Lawyer, Teacher, Biologist, Scientist, Engineer, etc.
Bianca also said that she continued to practice and focus on her dreams because dance was her way to express herself. She told the students that, “as a dancer you must be focused, disciplined and committed in both your performing arts and academically.”
“Don’t give up, be yourself and don’t let anyone define you,” said Bianca to the attentive students. The students also appeared intrigued by the 20-year-old dancer’s descriptions of her travels and work in New York, Los Angeles, and most recently Japan.
Bianca emphasized that in her field success is directly linked to “having a strong work ethic, future aspirations, time management, and keeping up to date with the latest dance and music trends,” said Lake.
CBA Press Release