NIFCA LIGHTS — Saluting our stars, celebrating our story! 

Celebrating some of the artists, groups, and cultural champions whose talent, creativity, and dedication have shaped NIFCA’s 53-year legacy of Barbadian excellence! 

Shama Harding: Growing Generations Through NIFCA 

NIFCA has been a constant throughout the lifelong journey of Shama Harding, dancer, choreographer, teacher, mentor and adjudicator. Since making her debut as a first-form student at Combermere School in 1986, she has witnessed the festival’s growth while helping to nurture the next generation of Barbadian dancers. 

Shama Harding

Harding first entered NIFCA in drama under the guidance of theatre practitioner Icil Phillips. Her dance journey soon took flight when teacher Granville “Salty” Garner recognised her potential and encouraged her to audition for a scholarship at the Barbados Dance Theatre. She joined the junior corps, where teachers including Garner, Sheron Trotman and the late Gene Carson Cumberbatch helped shape her development. NIFCA became an annual opportunity to showcase her progress and explore her creativity. 

“NIFCA is where I grew as a performer,” she recalls, describing how the festival allowed young dancers to experiment with choreography, music and their own artistic voices. 

Her involvement expanded during her university years when, as a founding member and president of the University of the West Indies Dance Society, she ensured that the group participated in NIFCA, earning silver awards. After completing a Diploma in Dance Education at Jamaica’s Edna Manley College, Harding returned home and entered as a professional dancer in 2001 and 2011, winning bronze and silver awards. For her, NIFCA provided an important outlet to continue performing while pursuing a career in teaching. 

It is in developing others, however, that Harding’s contribution to the festival has been especially significant. Through her work at Praise Academy of Dance, the National Cultural Foundation’s Dance in Schools and Dance in Communities programmes, and the Barbados Community College (BCC), she has encouraged countless young dancers to participate. As a teacher and choreographer, she has helped prepare performers and create award-winning work, strengthening the pipeline of talent entering NIFCA. 

At BCC, where she coordinates the dance programme, Harding encourages students to take promising pieces from their end-of-term Portfolio productions to the festival. NIFCA gives them a wider audience, opportunities for critical feedback and the chance to compete for awards and scholarships. Some students have gone on to receive Prime Minister’s Scholarships through work developed from these early explorations. 

Her service to NIFCA also includes years of adjudication. A member of the judging panel from 2003, she served as chief judge of the Dance Competition from 2016 to 2019. She has also advocated for greater recognition of different levels of dance practice, including the introduction of a semi-professional category.  

With a Diploma in Dance Education, a Master of Arts in Dance Studies and ongoing doctoral studies, Harding combines academic knowledge with practical experience. Yet she remains passionate about NIFCA’s power to inspire audiences and sustain a cycle in which dancers become teachers, mentors and coaches who introduce new generations to the arts. 

“We have a lot of talent on the island, and over the years I have seen that talent continue to grow and grow,” she says. 

From her first performance to her work as an educator and adjudicator, Harding’s relationship with NIFCA reflects the festival’s enduring importance: not only as a national stage for showcasing talent, but as a space where artistic voices are developed, careers are nurtured and the future of Barbadian dance is sustained. 

“I’m grateful and happy to have the opportunity to be able to positively shape the future of dance in Barbados,” she affirms.