By Tanya Batson, Staff Reporter 
Tamara's love for dance can be easily noticed when she describes why she admires the dancer, Arlene Richards of the National Dance Theatre Company. "When she's on-stage, she's very powerful..." That is the kind of dancer that Tamara hopes to be -- one who commands attention. - Contributed
ONE OF the dreams of some little girls, right up there with fairy tale princess and Prime Minister, is being a dancer. However, for most it is nothing but a dream. For Tamara Noel however, this is a dream she began pursuing from the oh so tender age of two years. Tamara Noel is a 17-year-old student at St. Jago High School. She is in upper sixth form (she is also the head girl) and is preparing for exams in Geography, History, Sociology and Caribbean Studies at the GCE advanced level and CAPE. While this is impressive enough, her talent is even more so.
She points out that her plan at present is to earn a bachelor's degree in Geography, although she doesn't know where that will lead. However, what she would really like to do is study dancing and become a choreographer.
Tamara is not simply sitting down on this dream, as not only is she an active dancer, but should she study at the local level, she also wishes to attend classes at the Edna Manley College for the Visual and Performing Arts as well.
At present, Tamara dances with both the Jamaica School of Dance as well as St. Jago's dance society, which provide two very different experiences. She points out that this is because the focus of both groups are so different.
With the St. Jago dance troupe, the major focus is the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission's (JCDC) festival competition. Thus, particular dance pieces are practiced. Tamara is proud to point out that the troupe has done very well in the competitions thus far.
Through her experiences with the Jamaica School of Dance on the other hand, she gets much more practice in the different techniques involved in dancing.
Tamara expresses a genuine love for this art form, all aspects of it. "Right now I love dancing," she says with an almost beatific smile in place. " At first it was 'this is where I have to be every Saturday.' Yes, you meet your friends and have fun, but it's where your parents sent you. Now I want to be there every Saturday because I love it and there is a future in it."
Furthermore, she has had some practice in choreography. She was very proud to point out that a piece she choreographed won the award for best modern dance in last year's JCDC competition.
Additionally, while she thinks that there is more than adequate training available locally, Tamara would like to attend either Juilliard or Brockfort, both performing arts schools in the United States. She also thinks that Cuba might be an interesting option as she has known persons who tried that route and are very good dancers.
It is also easy to see that much of Tamara's confidence in her artform may lie in the encouragement she gets from her parents. She points out that both are quite excited by the idea of her future as a choreographer.
She points out that while not a fairy tale one, she has a very good relationship with her parents. "We're really close," she says. "The majority of the time I'm really thankful that I have them, because there are a lot of kids who don't have parents or have parents or rather mothers and fathers who aren't parents."
Tamara has also represented the island on more than one occasion. In 2000 she entered the Carifesta competition in St. Kitts. She also participated in the Dance The Child International conference, going to Finland in 1997 and Canada in 2000.
Dancing is not the only art form in which Tamara expresses herself, however. She also sketches, "Just for fun," she explains. "My father thinks they're nice and then he says 'you should have done art'," she says, laughing.
Poetry is another art form in which Tamara dabbles. She has only entered one competition however. She explains that a few years ago she wrote a poem for her grandmother, who had just died, and then entered it into the competition. She won a bronze medal for it. While she has entered no other competitions, her poems have made their way into her mother's (Dorothy Noel) English Language texts.
Her parents are even more instrumental in the exploration of her talents and tastes. Tamara sings with the Santiago Singers which is based at St. Jago. The group mainly sings Caribbean folk music and is headed by her father, Mr. Keith Noel, a great lover of folk music. Furthermore, he has also exposed her to jazz, which has become her favourite musical form, with Ella Fitzgerald being her favourite jazz musician.
Tamara's love for dance can be easily noticed when she describes why she admires the dancer, Arlene Richards of the National Dance Theatre Company. "When she's on-stage, she's very powerful. All you see is Arlene." That is the kind of dancer that Tamara hopes to be -- one who commands attention.
