NDTC’s 61st season offers high quality dance theatre
Published:Wednesday | July 26, 2023 | 12:10 AMMichael Reckord/Gleaner Writer
In his short Message from the Artistic Director, Marlon Simms refers several times to wanting the 61st season of the National Dance Theatre Company (NDTC) to engage emotionally with the audience. He writes of taking us “on a journey of movement and emotion…” to “ethereal realms…” and of “soul-stirring choreography,” and “transformative experiences through dance…”.
(He probably didn’t mean through “dance” only, but also through the other forms of artistic expression the show provides – beautiful costumes, superb singing, powerful instrumental music and sensitive, mood-enhancing lighting.)
Simms’ focus on emotions is appropriate; that’s what dance theatre is about. An online article about dance theatre in America states that the creators of the form were “inspired by the early 20th century German Expressionism movement in painting which sought to emphasise inner feelings and ideas over replications of reality.” It goes on to speak of “European dance theatre with its amalgamation of dance and theatre, spoken word, theatrical vignettes and the use of the body as a locus of expression”.
Not surprisingly then, Rex Nettleford’s Spirits at a Gathering (1995) was the first dance of the NDTC’s 2023 season, which runs until August 13 at The Little Theatre, Tom Redcam Drive. The dance speaks to our emotions “of sister-friendships, brother-bondings and the acceptance of differences. Of love, of faith and mutual caring – all in a life which is ‘our gathering’.”
The spirits of this dance are cheerful, hopeful creatures who run, leap, twirl and group and regroup continually to fast, driving drumming. They end in a close grouping, arms raised heavenward. All is right with their world.
The work showed the Company’s dancers on Friday night to be fit, supple, energetic and enthusiastic. Arlene Richards’ orange and green costumes for the women gently suggest that our main political parties should show each other love and faith and mutual caring. But what are we to make of her backdrop showing monkeys looking down at the humans from trees in the forest?
The second item was by the Company’s other important component, the NDTC Singers. Their suite of songs, arranged by Musical Director Dr Kathy Brown in a Tribute to Jimmy Cliff (2023), was as delightful as any of the dances. Their voices were rich and textured, their near-continuous movement around the stage lent further variety to the presentation, and the many Cliff songs showed his musical genius.
The songs, among Cliff’s most popular, were Reggae Night, Sitting in Limbo, The Harder They Come, Many Rivers to Cross, I Can See Clearly Now, You Can Get it if You Really Want, We All Are One and Wonderful World Beautiful People. Kevin Moore was assisted with the movement for the performers by Patrick Earle.
The final two dances of the show’s first half were both by Simms. Studies in contrast, they are examples of the choreographer’s versatility. Introspection is a solo, danced on Friday by rising star Dwauntea Chambers portraying a tortured soul.
In the half-dark, we see a man writhing on the floor. He moves around, apparently in agony, for quite a while and the sound of rain bring him to his feet. If there is relief, it is temporary, for he continues to contract and contort his body as heavy drums play and lights flash around him. They fade as the dance ends and the dancer shows us his open palms, pointing downwards.
His hands are clean, it seems. But what was his sin, or crime?
Montage takes us in the opposite direction. To a merry version of the popular folk song Linstead Market, several prettily dressed young women prance about and chat together. They disperse when a sophisticated woman dressed in full white glides on. Elegantly, she dances to a more solemn tune.
True to its name, the dance keeps changing moods. Bob Marley’s Could You be Loved ushers the original merrymakers and their friends back in. Simms and Kerry-Ann Henry lead the essentially light-hearted groups.
During the intermission, The Friends of Hope honoured two doctors, Professor Gillian Warfe and Dr Dingle Spence, with speeches and citations. Part Two opened with a new dance, Circa 2K choreographed by Orville McFarlane.
Its three movements – Video Light, Possee and Bruk Out – call on the dancers, led by Henry, to perform breathtakingly fast gymnastics. An abstract piece with no storyline, it’s meant to dazzle. The name of the final movement aptly describes the climax.
The amazingly agile Mark Phinn then brought back an NDTC favourite, Don’t Leave Me (choreographed in 2013 by Jamie J. Thompson). The dancer’s strength, enabling him to hover over a bench, legs spread wide, his weight entirely on his toes, never ceases to amaze.
This year, the Company chose to end the programme with the ever-green Kumina (Nettleford, 1972. It’s either that or another Nettleford masterpiece, Gerreh Benta.) The programme notes on Kumina are as follows:
“Based on the Jamaican Afro-cult lo be found largely in the parish of St Thomas. The rites are held for a variety of occasions – for mourning, tombing, thanksgiving and even when help is needed to win a court case of for winning a lover. Included is a dance combat called Warrick (stick play). Danced by the Company, with Marlon Simms as King and Keita-Marie Chamberlain as Queen.”
Judging by the final applause and cheering, Friday’s audience left happy. The only new work we missed was Renee McDonald’s Queen, a solo work to be danced by Henry, Keita-Marie Chamberlain Clarke or Tamara Noel.