Bermudian professional dancer, choreographer and intensive director Eric Bean, Jr. has a busy summer ahead of him when he again returns home to conduct a series of dance intensives: two at the Jackson School of the Performing Arts, and another at the National Dance Foundation of Bermuda's DanceBermuda.

There will be three intensives, collectively entitled 'Styles of 2', at Jackson. One will provide two weeks of training for pre-professional dancers aged 12 to 21, and the other one week of Latin dance for beginning adults aged 22 and up.

Defining the meaning of 'summer intensive', Mr. Bean said it is "basically a concentrated form of schooling fitted into a shorter time frame".

"It allows us to really explore different styles of movement, and this year we are focusing on jazz dance, particularly commercial and contemporary jazz, and also Latin dance salsa on one, and salsa on two, from two different outlooks. Some countries do it on the downbeat of the one, and others on the downbeat of the two, so we will get a chance to play around with that."

One of Mr. Bean's best friends, Roberto Rodrigues Garcia, is also coming to the Island to do a guest demonstration and offer information on traditional Latin dancing, which he performs and choreographs worldwide.

"I will be teaching jazz and portions of the Latin dancing, and I am really excited," Mr. Bean said.

This is the second year the Bermudian professional dancer/choreographer has conducted summer intensives at Jackson, and he is hoping for a larger enrollment this time around.

"Last year we had nine solid students, and we had a great experience working with them, but this year we are hoping we can at least double that number, and try to empower the youth of Bermuda to experience things out of their boxes. With all of these TV shows - 'So You Think You Can Dance', 'America's Best Dance Crew', and so on one of our goals is to try and expose them to the styles they are seeing on TV."

The official deadline for registration at Jackson is June 30, although Mr. Bean says they will take students up to the time classes begin.

"We are trying to get people to register by June 30 so we can have our numbers before we start, but we are also willing to take registrations all the way up to the first day of the intensive," he said.

All classes will be from 6 p.m to 9 p.m. to accommodate participants who are working regular or summer jobs.

"This way they can still have something in the evening to keep themselves in shape, especially if they want to become professional dancers," Mr. Bean said.

In terms of fees, he assures that they are "very, very reasonable".

Looking to the future, one of the goals is to be able to create something along the lines of Jacob's Pillow.

"Hopefully, in the next five to ten years we will be able to start bringing in some powerhouses in the dance world to train our young dancers, and expose them to all of the artists who are out there.

"In fact, some of my friends who are doing big things, dancing in Hollywood, and with major companies in Europe and on the US east coast, like Alvin Ailey, have asked me when they will get a chance to come to Bermuda and teach. This is only my second year teaching intensives so I told them to give me time to build up the rapport of the dancers, get them ready, and offer what I can."

As a professional Bermudian male dancer who successfully pursued his dreams and now tours and performs internationally, Mr. Bean knows only too well how few young males take classes here, and that is something he wants to change this summer.

"We really want to encourage the males," he said. "I know a lot of people look at dance as a females' activity, but at the end of the day every woman who dances needs a male counterpart who is strong, and someone to rely on. Dance is like a marriage. You want to be able to have that graceful, strong person, so men are equally important to dance as women are."

Returning home is always a pleasure for this talented 'Mujan most recently to participate in a special National Dance Foundation of Bermuda production at City Hall and Mr. Bean pays tribute to "the outpouring of love that I have received from the local dance community, people like Lizz Pimentel of In Motion, Mrs. Jeanne Legere at Jackson, and my former dance teacher and mentor Suzette Harvey of United Dance Productions".

"Every time I want to come home and work with Suzette's students, she is more than willing to bring me in," he said. "Dance gives these students an avenue to develop as young artists. I try to offer them the perspective from what I have received through being in the United States what is happening now."

For further information/enrollment in the Jackson School intensives telephone 295-5815 or e-mail jacksons@northrock.bm

At DanceBermuda Mr. Bean will be teaching jazz funk a jazz technique incorporating movements from different genres, such as hip hop, funk and disco.

For further information see website www.dancebermuda.orghttp://www.dancebermuda.org, telephone 236-3319 or e-mail cathy@dancebermuda.org