L'Acadco, A United Caribbean Dance Force, 'Building Bridges Through the Arts',
performs at its 21st Anniversary Season of Dance, held at the Ward Theatre, North Parade, downtown Kingston, last Sunday.
-Winston Sill phooto
L'ACADO, A UNITED Caribbean Dance Force is currently celebrating its ascension into adulthood, with 21 years under its belt. The dance troupe is currently staging its anniversary season at the Ward Theatre, downtown Kingston. It is a celebration that shows choreography as its strength, but the dancers waver.
L'Antoinette Stines, founder and artistic director, choreographed eight of the dances presented on Sunday evening at the Ward. The season takes place under the theme 'Building Bridges Through the Arts' and was launched November 27 at the Half Moon Hotel, Rose Hall, Montego Bay.
In keeping with this theme the season surrounds much of the connections between African and Caribbean dance, explores both cultures and also looks at the Caribbean in the present.
As such, the show retains Stines' technique of fusing modern dance techniques with African and Caribbean dance vocabulary, which often creates some intriguingly unique choreography.
Stines continues to deal with issues relevant to regional development. This time around she tackles AIDS and Haiti. The issue of AIDS is artistically depicted in 'Killing Me Softly'. The dance portrays how unsafe sexual promiscuity continues the spread of AIDS. In the background are two dancers safely in the cocoon of a condom. 'Killing Me Softly' also highlights Stines choreographing of popular dance with street credibility, while weaving it into a larger meaningful choreography.
SLAVERY
'To Haiti', in this the 200th year of Haiti's independence, explored the physical and sexual abuse of slavery. The dance takes place in a cane field and was one of the pieces to integrate Jean Binta Breeze's poetry into the performance. Breeze was also integrated into 'Zinc Fence'
Of course, in the 21 years of their existence the dancers have changed many times. In this season, there are quite a few who still need development. In some of the pieces the dancers seemed unsure of their movement, as in 'Bosom of Babylon', while in others the technique was grasped but the performance level was weak. As such, though the choreography was generally strong, the dancers often lacked the strength to maximise their potential.
Along with Stines' work, Sunday's performance included 'Out of the Box' choreographed by Shelley-Ann Maxwell and 'Bosom of Babylon' choreographed by Natalie Wilmott. Both dances displayed great skill and vision in the choreography.
DRUMMING MASTER
The drummers, apparently, were fuelled by the group's musical director and drumming master Aaron Obaofun Vereen, who displays as much passion and skill for his chosen art form. One can usually expect vibrant drum suites from L'Acadco and they easily delivered. In conjunction with Stines, Vereen also restaged the Ghanian war dance Agbekor. The dance was dedicated to Rita Marley, who had facilitated Vereen's study of African drumming in Ghana.
In terms of its strength as a visionary dance troupe which explored modern Caribbean culture, tapping into the history and depicting the contemporary, L'Acadco A United Caribbean Dance Force has presented a 21st anniversary season of which to be very proud. However, the performance lacked the consistent strength to truly mark the skills and growth of the troupe.
Tanya Batson-Savage
