Michael Reckord, Contributor
Dancers from The Company Dance Theatre presents its 17th Anniver-sary Season of Dance, held at the Little Theatre, Tom Redcam Avenue on Saturday night. - WINSTON SILL/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
THE NAME of the star of the 17th dance season of The Company Dance Theatre got left out of the credits of the printed programme. As a result, this statement appeared on a flyer in the programme: "We proudly acknowledge Shelly Ann Maxwell as one of our guest choreographers and apologise for the omission of her name from the programme."
Her name was not entirely omitted though. It appeared inside the programme beside her dance, 'Fusion'.
I was leaning back in my seat in the Little Theatre on Saturday night, unimpressed with the show until 'Fusion' was staged. It is, among other things, colourful, imaginative, humorous, and fresh, and it made me sit up.
Not that the previous dances - 'Streams' (Tony Wilson), 'Introspections' (Oneil Pryce) and 'Who-So-Ever-Will' (Barbara McDaniel) - were without fine qualities, but they certainly were not fresh. Over the decades that I've been watching dance in Jamaica, I've seen their like time and again.
What 'Streams' has to recommend is its energy and colour. The members of the troupe are young, fit, flexible, good looking and full of vitality and they gave fully on Saturday.
EXCELLENT DESIGNER
Wilson is an excellent designer and the look of the dance with its lovely and varied costumes and the underwater-like backdrop were pleasing.
Unfortunately, watching the dance was much like watching an array of unlinked, disparate items floating down a stream.
Individually the numerous items making up the dance were okay. Collectively, despite the too-loud music and the hurry, they seemed to be going nowhere.
'Introspection' does develop, moving logically from one stage to another. For example, the sad, deliberately listless solo of the beginning progresses to group dances in a similar mood. The marionette-like movements of one, then three, make a statement amplified later by six girls.
Even the anti-climactic, listless end is satisfactory - though anti-climaxes are not usually so - because of the dance's clear theme. But 'Introspections' is a small work, a consciously minor poem.
'Who-So-Ever-Will' begins interestingly in a church space with two benches upstage. Shirtless young men perform a dance of praise to dancehall gospel music. Because of the apparently contradictory elements in the type of music, and the men's costumes and their intention, an intriguing tension develops and one wonders what statement the choreographer is trying to make.
Unfortunately, the second movement, which features a lack-lustre solo by Alando Terrelonge, lowered the interest a notch. But what really spoilt the dance for me was the third movement, which sees the women in the church dancing with wild abandon to rock 'n roll music. With this, the dance becomes an unintentional satire on Pentecostal church services.
MULTI-TALENTED
The generally better second half began with 'Fusions', with choreography, costumes and decor by Maxwell, a young woman who for years has been developing as a multi-talented artiste/producer. With this dance, she uses swathes of red, white and blue cloth to conceal various parts of the dancers' bodies and distort their appearance.
With the assistance of U-V light, at one instance, some dancers appear to float in space. Dynamic lifts take place, and floor patterns are shaped in this clever, abstract dance. The applause of the audience suggested that they were as pleased about the work.
'Phoenix' (Arsenio Andrade), about a bird rising from the ashes in which it was burnt, has a strong, steady build in intensity from the opening image of two girls in red leotards to the final picture of them frozen, standing in the light. Sandwiched between those two scenes were several interesting episodes, all linked organically.
'Calabash' (Wilson), the final dance, was more coherent than Wilson's first. It is set in Africa at a festival. The Lion King tune He Lives in You is the accompaniment for a dance of celebration by the villages.
