When life got tough, she danced to cope with the pain. Now, Khaja J wants others to take advantage of what she says is the intrinsic link between art and a healthy mind.
Along with her co-founder, dancer, and choreographer Jamaal MOX Bruce, Khaja launched Tallawah Caribe in early 2025 — an organisation with a mission to help people connect, develop emotional fortitude, and understand the mind-aiding benefits of movement and art.
She’s toured the United States since 2019 sharing this message and, as a Jamaican-American choreographer, director, producer and life coach, recently brought her methods to the Caribbean–first in Trinidad & Tobago and now Saint Lucia, where the brand launched its first local initiative, the A More Positive You (AMPYOU) Mental Health School Tour.
“It gives individuals practical tools to work on their mental health, live a freer life and gives space to be vulnerable… while not being judged,” Khaja told St. Lucia Times.
From November 14 to December 4 2025, the AMPYOU tour visited the Castries Comprehensive Secondary, Corinth Secondary, Babonneau Secondary, St. Mary’s College, TVET School of Innovation and Technology, TVET School of Sustainable Agriculture and Culinary Arts, Beanefield Comprehensive Secondary, and Soufrière Comprehensive Secondary schools.
Starting in February 2026, the AMPYOU Tour will return to schools across Saint Lucia. “We’re adding teachers this time around,” said Khaja.
Teachers’ participation in the programme won’t be the only new addition, an increased focus will also be placed on creative expression. “This time we also want to bring partners on board to provide support in the form of arts, painting or theatre classes,” Khaja explained, revealing that the change was inspired by her own experience overcoming hardship using dance. “If you can’t express how you’re feeling vocally, you can create something that helps share a part of you and what you’re experiencing.”
“The tour also gives us the chance to speak to the students, get them more familiar with the idea of emotional intelligence and more ways they can build authenticity with their peers, within their households or just in their day-to-day life,” added Bruce, who’s been a part of the local art scene for years.
Having been able to collaborate with the Ministry of Education, Youth Development, Sports and Digital Transformation, Khaja says participating schools can expect a programme that features group discussion, trivia games, Q&A, creative activities, and exercise.
Outside of their work in Saint Lucia, Tallawah Caribe has plans to bring its programmes to other Caribbean countries, in the words of Khaja, as long as they’re aligned: “We plan to visit countries throughout the Caribbean to do similar events and impact everybody in the same way.”
