THE 21ST ANNIVERSARY season of the L'Antoinette Stines-led L'Acadco dance movement, which opened in Montego Bay last weekend, failed to measure up to expectations, especially the Sunday performance at the Half Moon Conference Centre.
Instead of a flurry of elegant dance moves, the event, which was staged under the theme 'Building Bridges Through Art', was lacking in excitement and as a consequence some patrons started leaving before the curtain came down.
Despite its shortcomings, the dances presented reflected the company's aim to "approach dance from a spiritual space" and this may have been accomplished to some extent, especially through pieces such as 'Satta' and 'Stolen Verses', which captured the sensuous qualities of the Egypto-Yoruba women and explored the ancestral philosophy we embrace.
The showcase was generally a fusion of the various elements, which creates the Caribbean way of life. Age-old and contemporary themes were explored and ranged from the plight of a woman who wants more than one man, depicted in 'All of Three or None' and 'Killing me Softly', exploring a story of a promiscuous heterosexual married man whose affairs brings home AIDS to his wife.
If there was any area in which the group stood out, it was definitely in the area of costuming and lost points were recaptured. 'Stolen Verses' and 'To Haiti and Concerto' hit the mark.
