Dancers from the E. Gywnn Dance Company demonstrate the freeing power of religion. - Dennis Coke /Staff Photographer THE WEATHER is no respecter of art, as was once again proven on Tuesday evening. As a part of the international exchange programme in which the University of Technology is involved, members of the public were invited to see students from The E. Gwynn Dance Company perform. The event was originally slated to take place in The Caribbean Sculpture Park, but had to be moved to the auditorium when it began to rain.
The group of dancers from North Carolina A&T State University are directed by Dr. Eleanor Gwynn. Dr. Gwynn also choreographed all but two of the dances. Fourteen of the 27 students in the troupe came on the trip to Jamaica. The group, which had to raise its own money for the trip, is not made up of dance majors. Instead, the students come from the departments of communications, engineering and graphic arts.
Dr. Gwynn revealed that the group elected to come to Jamaica because of the country's cultural vibrancy. "We came to Jamaica because I feel that the culture is very rich," she explained. "I feel that it is richer than in some parts of Africa." The other reason Jamaica was selected as a part of the troupe's learning exercise was that the country has dance institutions.
The group performed seven pieces, including a Kumina and a dancehall piece. The Kumina piece seemed to quite adequately capture much of the essence of the Kumina ritual. However, the dancehall interpretation was not so successful. While their costumes were colourful, they were certainly not reflective of dancehall dress. Simply wearing jeans and T-shirts would have been far more effective. Additionally the dancers, though they were definitely energetic, lacked the bravado attitude that is essential to dancehall moves. Only one of the dancers seemed to have caught on to this factor.
Nonetheless, it was a varied and interesting evening. The themes of the dances ranged from slavery to religion to dance. The dances looked at the African and African Diaspora spectrum, taking dances from West Africa, the United States and the Caribbean.
While they were evidently an amateur group, the audience gathered in the auditorium seemed to be sufficiently moved to give a standing ovation at the end of the performance. This might have been in part due to the fact that the final dance, 'Mandiani', was the best piece of the lot. During this dance, taken from Ghana, the dancers and drummers had very infectious energy which certainly stirred the audience.
Unfortunately, the thank you from the University came in the form of an overly enthusiastic version of R. Kelly's I Believe I Can Fly, performed by 'Mr. UTech'. What this serenade clearly demonstrated is that sometimes, simply saying 'thank you' is more than enough. Nonetheless, it had been a pleasant way to pass time.
