Kelvin Cooper Uses his Dance/Theater Background to Help BCC Community Members Grow Personally and Professionally

  Update   •

Kelvin CooperThrough a series of non-traditional classes and workshops, Chair of the Health, Physical Education & Recreation Department Kelvin Cooper has been on a mission to help BCC students, faculty and staff grow in their self-love and connection to others. Drawing on his life experiences, he is emphasizing the importance of developing voice, choice and personal narrative. 

Cooper grew up as the youngest of 12 children in the Bahamas. Unlike his siblings, who during his childhood excelled academically, Cooper turned to games and physical activity as a way to cope. Inspired by his behavioral observations of the complexities around his family, the community and the challenges of having his own voice heard, Cooper uses game activities in his restorative wellness work at BCC to foster a strong sense of belonging and assist others in developing interpersonal skills. 

“My childhood and adult experiences dealing with various forms of injustice and cultural insensitivity placed me on this humanitarian journey. Throughout my childhood in the Bahamas, I observed how others were marginalized in a caste system such as the poor (Haitian and Jamaican immigrants), people of darker skin, and in essence people with little to no power who lacked voice and choice,” Cooper said in a published piece in Dance Education.  

“It is critical to consider what our students need to feel respected and safe for a sense of inclusion, engagement, and retention. And our faculty and staff must also feel they are being valued.” 

The premise of Cooper’s work is based on the importance of promoting self-care. At BCC, he has taught a range of classes from Fitness for Life, Jazz, and Afro-Caribbean Dance, to Stress Management, and yoga.  

“Coming to this country, there were so many new things that were triggering. People in authority often didn’t look like me,” Cooper said. One of the things Cooper loves most about BCC is its extraordinary diversity within the campus community as a result of so many different cultures coming together. BCC students hail from nearly 120 countries. “I like to think of the work I do as ‘humanitarian work’ that embraces everyone as opposed to excluding different groups.” 

“There are deep-rooted socio-cultural obstacles that students face in the pursuit of academic success,” he said. “My restorative wellness methodology is focused on practices pertaining to students’ mental, physical, nutritional, cultural, and social well-being.”  

Recently, during election time, his Restorative Playground series became even more relevant among the BCC community. Throughout his work, Cooper has incorporated practices from his travels to many diverse countries, including Ghana, Uganda, Singapore, Ecuador, Mexico, Netherlands, Surinam, Haiti/Dominican Republic, and China.  

Cooper’s email signature includes the African proverb, “If you want to go fast, go alone.  If you want to go far, go together.”  He looks forward to planning campus events and activities for spring 2025 centered around the theme of belonging.  

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