One of the Cayman Islands’ top dancers, will be one of the main presenters at the Young Entrepreneurs Symposium (YES 2006) scheduled to take place at the Sonesta Maho Beach Resort & Casino from May 24 to 27 in St. Maarten.

Susan Barnes Pereira of Barnes Dance Academy and a founding member of the Cayman Islands National Dance Company – Dance Unlimited will make a presentation on using Visual Media to Facilitate Dance Expression.

“As our area of focus this year is Technology and The Arts we wanted to provide speakers who are merging these two sectors to create new ways of interpreting our Caribbean identity and also developing new opportunities for income-generating businesses,” explained Conference Organizer, Nerissa Golden.

Mrs Barnes Pereira will also facilitate a Me Inc. workshop for aspiring dancers and other artisans to look at key ways that individuals must develop themselves, their art and business acumen to have a successful enterprise in the creative Arts.

Mrs Barnes Pereira trained with Lorna Reid of Dance Unlimited, Jamaica School of Dance, Alvin Ailey American Dance Centre, Susan Taylor at the University of Tampa and holds a Master’s Degree in Dance Education form New York University.

She brings with her a wide national and internal performance experience as well as a range of teaching experience including Creative Movement to children and teaching dance for the special child.  Mrs. Barnes Pereira’s most recent performance was collaboration with a popular local visual artist and the Cayman Islands National Gallery where she used her performance art to interpret the visual arts in “Red Dawn.”

“Movement is the purest form of communication and it is a gift for which I am grateful, a means of self expression, a means of understanding my environment and the way that I choose to communicate with the world,” said Mrs Barnes Pereira.

Ms Golden said the conference had sought out people from the region who could impart the true realities of owning a business.

“One of our goals was to find Caribbean-nationals who are themselves entrepreneurs to speak to aspiring business owners, as they have the experience and also know the realities and challenges of starting an enterprise with limited resources,” she explained.

“We are pleased that Mrs. Barnes Pereira has agreed to come and share her knowledge with our entrepreneurs.”

YES 06 is a four-day event bringing together entrepreneurs from around the Caribbean to participate in workshops, one-on-one training programs and business promotion events. Highlights of the symposium include the Me Inc. workshops for persons interested in dance, music, television and film production, the Caribbean Showcase which will offer participants the opportunity to perform and show their computer-generated, video or film productions and the YES Awards ceremony to recognize local and regional Outstanding Entrepreneurs.