Tanya Batson, Freelance Writer
Members of the National Dance Theatre Company's and singers present their annual Morning of Movement and Music at the Little Theatre on Easter Sunday, yesterday. The presentation celebrated the spirituality of the religious expressions of sacrifice, resurrection and atonement and was dedicated to the memory of Patsy Hassan, a founding member and former principal dancer. - RICARDO MAKYN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
THE NATIONAL Dance Theatre Company's (NDTC) Easter Sunday A Morning of Movement and Music tradition continued yesterday at the Little Theatre on Tom Redcam Avenue. The morning featured choreography by Rex Nettleford, Monika Lawrence, Leni Williams, and Jean-Guy Saintus.
The show was dedicated to the late Pansy Hassan. Additionally, the morning's movement was geared toward praise and sometimes it highlighted the intense spiritual passion. This was satisfactorily depicted in the excerpt of Monika Lawrence's Selah (Jerusalem) which highlighted how music, movement and costuming can combine to add deeper meaning.
The dances Sweet in the Morning and Incantation were also quite successful. The former is choreographed by Leni Williams and was directed using a Labanotion Score by Marlon Simms, who was also the dance's soloist. As the dancer moves about a bench which is so beautifully integrated into the movement that it is a decided piece of the dance, the motions highlight the similarities between sexual and spiritual ecstasy and was simply riveting.
Incantation was particularly intriguing in its first movement, which presented a more visceral take on praise and spirituality while the additional movement delved into more Christianised rituals.
The morning's performance presented a commendable integration of both arms of the NDTC: the dancers and singers. The show went without break and so not only did the singers flow smoothly between dance pieces but they were sometimes woven in by providing music.
REPERTOIRE
Unfortunately, though in the last season the singers had shown some sense of renewed vitality, in Sunday's show they stumbled, especially on pieces like When You Believe where it seemed more rehearsal had been needed. The singers repertoire included Alleluia, a West Indian suite (featuring One Day, Prepare My Soul, and Come Dung to All O'We), Franz Shubert's composition of The Lord is My Shepherd and Marjorie Whylie's Our Father.
The main problem with the morning was that it could too easily have been described as nice. It neither began nor ended with pieces that could leave the theatre in the minds of the audience. Although technically sound in choreography and execution, the pieces generally failed to incite passion of either the ecclesiastical or other variety.
