Tanya Batson-Savage, Freelance Writer
The NDTC Singers put feeling into their songs during the company's current 43rd season. - PHOTOS BY IAN ALLEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
LAST FRIDAY'S performance of the National Dance Theatre Company's (NDTC) 2005 season was a night of icons as three of them - Professor Rex Nettleford, Marcus Garvey and Bob Marley - were allowed to parade the stage in various forms.
Nettleford's talent is a usual part of the NDTC season. He is the company's artistic director and each season, often features either current choreography, revivals or both.
However, for many, Nettleford the dancer is a memory or never before seen. Yet, as a part of this season, he has returned to the stage as the King of Kumina in the revival of his work Kumina.
He was accompanied in the lead by Pansy Hassan as queen. Together, the two danced with stately grace that belied their respective ages.
TRIBUTE TO GARVEY
Friday's performance may also have left Marcus Garvey smiling in his grave. That smile would have been brought about by Garvey Lives, one of eight dances in the 2005 repertoire.
Garvey Lives is a fabulous dance with movement crafted in the Jamaican aesthetic.
The dance moves through the high expectancy and excitement brought about by news of the Black Star Liner and the eventual disappointment when the journey back to Africa did not materialise.
From then, it stepped through a period of chaos, economic depression and despondency before swinging back to the positive impact of Garvey's philosophy in his teachings of black empowerment.
Marley may also have been left smiling as he was twice celebrated, first in music and later in dance. Ode, choreographed by Clive Thompson, featured Marley the lover, as the dancers wove tales of longing, lust and true love to interpretations of Marley taken from the album Time Heals. The dance moved from the sweet to the steamy.
MARLEY SONGS
The NDTC Singers also delivered a suite of Marley songs, performing Jammin', Waiting in Vain, Coming in from the Cold and One Love.
With the exception of Jammin', in which there was simply too much soprano, they were beautiful versions of the originals. The Singers were also stunningly garbed in Afrocentric robes of gold, rich, iridescent colours and black.
Oneil Pryce's Certain Todays/ Unborn Tomorrows was another good addition to the repertoire. The energetic, riveting piece features the kind of movement that makes us mere mortals look at dancers with awe. It was fabulously choreographed and well executed, with a simple backdrop that echoed the simple costumes and unified the entire dance.
Pryce's dance beautifully complemented Arsenio Andrade-Calderon's Dimensions.
Though both pieces featured breathtaking choreography, Dimensions is a wonderfully stark piece. The dancers hardly moved from front and centrestage and the costumes, which left them near naked, provided no distractions while the semi-lit stage softened their features, allowing only their movement to come into play. It was a good depiction of the idea of man and woman being complementary dimensions of each other.
The dancers were generally impressive, with Tamara Noel and Oneil Pryce continuing to make great strides in their skill. Shelley-Ann Maxwell also makes a great addition to the company, both as a choreographer - Garvey Lives - and a dancer.
CHANGING OF THE GUARD
Indeed, Friday's performance may well have signalled a changing of the guard at the NDTC.
First, Nettleford's performance hinted of goodbye, a kind of last hurrah. In much the same vein, Marlon Simms' remounting of the Nettleford piece Spirits at a Gathering, which opened the show, suggested that the company is brimming with young choreographers ready and able to take Nettleford's place.
The works of Andrade-Calderon, Pryce and Maxwell confirmed this.
