If Du-Wayne Hinds was the type of individual to be easily swayed by the judgement or opinions of others, today we might be asking: “Du–Wayne who?”
Luckily, anyone who knows this young man would boldly agree that Du-Wayne is by no means that type of person. In fact, he may be a polar opposite. Hinds described himself as the type of person who lives his life according to his own script.
And the script was written that this aspiring artiste from a small village in Bank Hall, St Michael would be destined to take Barbados, and the world, by storm in the realm of the arts.
Hinds recently earned two scholarships to read for a bachelor’s degree in fine arts at the American Music and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) at its Los Angeles Campus, the singer, dancer and actor requires further assistance to finance the four-year degree which costs an estimated US$45 000 annually.
Speaking in an interview with The WEEKEND BUZZ at his fundraiser Barbados To Broadway last Saturday night at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, Hinds was adamant that all he wished to do in life was to be a part of the arts.
“Music, dance, acting – that is what keeps my soul at peace. Music relaxes me, dancing helps me to free myself, the acting helps me to understand myself. I think Du–Wayne as a person is very loving,” the youngster said.
Scene one in “The Story of Du-Wayne” began at the tender age of six when his parents David and Deborah Hinds enrolled him in ballet class at the Barbados Dance Theatre. Then he moved on to African dance with Tyrone Trotman for about five years. Later it was ballroom dance while a student at the Wesley Hall Primary School and hip hop at Praise Academy of Dance.
At the age of 12 and a pupil of the Christ Church Foundation School, the proverbial light bulb went off and Hinds knew “this was the life for me”.
“There was never a day that I got up and said maybe I should be involved in the arts. I was just always involved in the arts in some form. For some reason, at first I wanted to be a doctor. I don’t know if it was because of society saying you must do this, you must do that or you won’t succeed but when I really took the risk and said I want to be a performer and I want it to be my career, I knew it was the right thing for me.
“I think what happened was before I used to think I would never make any money and there were no opportunities here for me . . . but I was motivated by my teachers like Yvonne Weekes, Michelle Hinkson, Yvette Simmons-Jemmott — they helped me in believing this is something I could do and that is when I started to see the opportunities. We did NIFCA, different performances around the school and I just felt in my heart this is something I wanted to do,” he stated.
When he enrolled in the Barbados Community College’s theatre arts programme his decision proved to be successful as he was able to hone all aspects of his craft. One notable performance that included his acting, singing and dancing abilities was the BCC production earlier this year of Mark Jason Welch’s Love: The Province Of The Brave, in which he was lead actor.
The occasional comedian said that even to get to the initial audition at AMDA in January this year proved to be a challenge but he never folded.
Hinds recounted that several obstacles arose when he left the island and headed to New York.
“It was one hell of a trip. I was supposed to be staying by a family friend but when I was leaving [Barbados] she said she couldn’t accommodate me anymore. Then when I reached New York and found out who I was staying by, they were no help to me because they had their own responsibilities. So here am I in New York, don’t know where I am, for the first time travelling alone and I had to fend for myself. I just had to take the risk. There were times I didn’t even know how to get back home, couldn’t find the house . . . .
“That experience thought me that you have to take risks. You can’t be afraid. And you have to continuously fight for what you want – don’t ever give up. Even now I am having a lot of setbacks with finances before I go off to study. Imagine if I was to just give up, what would happen? All that I have done over the years would have gone to waste, so why stop? Sometimes things are worth fighting for because then you treasure it even more. It is about sacrifice. Sacrifice is a beautiful word, a beautiful thing and a beautiful action. It is a doing thing and you can’t just sit back and say you are sacrificing this, you have to,” Hinds said.
Though the fundraiser was productive, Hinds still has a way to go to raise the funds needed to pursue his degree.
“. . . . I don’t see myself as an individual, I see myself representing other artistes. So if I say come support, I mean support all artistes in Barbados. People think that performing is so easy. We make it seem that way but the process to a performance is so much more difficult than it seems. Miss Weekes always said two minutes of a performance is ten hours of rehearsals.
“All I want to do is sing, act and dance and after I have accomplished my goals I definitely want to return to teach. I don’t believe in achieving so much knowledge and keep it to myself. I know how many people have poured knowledge into my life and it is a cycle and one that I want to keep going,” Hinds added. (SDB Media)
