At left, NDTC dancers in the prologues of 'Cave's End' inspired by the music of reggae superstar Jimmy Cliff. At Right, 'Folktales' with Keita Marie Chamberlain and Jermaine Rowe.
YURIKO, THE former legendary lead dancer of the world-renowned Martha Graham Company, visited the National Dance Theatre Company backstage at the Brooklyn Centre for the Performing Arts last Sunday and thanked the Jamaican company for what she described as "the gift of soul". She was commenting on the performance she had just seen and which she welcomed because it did not seek to "sell" its wares but rather to communicate with its audience on the basis of "belief" in what they were doing and with great spirituality and sincerity. She found this a welcome contrast to what she felt was the tendency among dance companies in New York to indulge 'hype' and 'over-sell'.
As it turned out, some 16 dance companies were appearing in New York over the past weekend and the New York Times invited each to comment on their work. NDTC's artistic director was quoted as acknowledging the links with Martha Graham, an NDTC founding patron, who gave several scholarships back in the 1960s to people like Eddy Thomas, Clive Thompson (both of whom danced with the Graham Company), Bert Rose, Barry Moncrieffe, and Derek Williams.
The NDTC played to sold-out houses in the Whitman Hall Theatre on the campus of Brooklyn College where the NDTC enjoys the status of 'Artist-in-Residence'. It also played to some 6000 school children many of Caribbean descent in four morning performances emceed by musical director Marjorie Whylie (herself a senior lecturer in music at the University of the West Indies at Mona).
Apart from works presented by established choreographers Rex Nettleford and Clive Thompson, two new NDTC creators Marlon Simms Millennial Beings and Chris Walker Fragile were introduced to much audience acclaim. Folk Tales (by Thompson) to Jamaican folksongs arranged by Paulette Bellamy and Gerrehbenta one of the ancestral pieces to traditional music specially arranged by Marjorie Whylie and sung by the NDTC Singers were audience favourites as were Nettleford's dance-drama Tintinabulum and his Cave's End inspired by the music of ace composer Jimmy Cliff, and the short solo Cry of the Spirit created by Gene Carson for Arlene Richards who brought the house down with an inspired performance on Saturday night.
SENSITIVELY CRAFTED
Also, on the New York programmes were the sensitively crafted Incantation by the Haitian choreographer Jean-Guy Saintus, Labess by the Jamaican-American dancer David Brown, the son of the late Arthur Brown and The Beloved choreographed in 1942 by the famous American choreographer Lester Horton. The two casts performing it were Arlene Richards and Kevin Moore, and Natasha Abrahams and Arsenio Andrade. The NDTC Singers, long-time favourites with the New York audiences, presented a suite of Lord Flea songs and another of traditional ring play tunes arranged by Marjorie Whylie.
Speaking to The Sunday Gleaner, Artistic Director of the NDTC, Professor Rex Nettleford regards the statement made by Yuriko as important for the company. He particularly enjoyed the performances for children whom he describes as, 'fantastic', they usually go back to school and write reviews about what they have seen."
The company returned by Air Jamaica on Monday, April 19, to start performing for the 43rd season of dance in July. This is the third tour by the company since the start of the year, the others being to Belize and Florida.
