 Nicole Bain Our resident expert on all things dance, Nicole Bain, recently interviewed dancer, choreographer, teacher and founder of the Maxwell Dance Project, Shelley-Ann Maxwell.  Shelley-Ann Maxwell performing in Oniel Pryce's Barre Talk, NDTC A Jamaican dancer who now resides in the United Kingdom, Ms. Maxwell was recently in Kingston to conduct two dance workshops and was kind enough to chat with Cultural Jamaica about her passion for the art form.
CJ: How long have you been dancing Shelley? SM: I started dancing when I was at Wolmer's Prep in their after-school dance programme. We used to enter Festival a lot so it was more from a performance perspective. I was under Adrian Fletcher for the first two years, and then Barbara McDaniel came to Wolmer's so I was under her for the rest of the time I was in prep school. We did mainly all the Jamaican Folk, Traditional Folk dances, and Cari-Modern-type things, but not uber-technical stuff. It was mainly about performance, unlike abroad where they do it in reverse with the technical training first and then adding the performance to it. But (our way) works out well in that you get rid of all the issues of stage fright and so on. As a kid I was very active. I was a major tomboy, loved running up and down playing football and cricket, riding my bicycle, climbing trees. Anything active and outside was me. CJ: Yes, I think I once read an interview where you said that at one point you were trying to decide whether to become a dancer or a footballer... SM: Well not so much. I think it was more a matter of getting a little more logical as I got older. My brother was playing Manning Cup football at the time. I used to play with him and his friends on Saturdays and Sundays, and because of the level I was playing at they stopped looking at me as a girl. So I was getting the 'licks', getting the 'drops', but also by then I was in high school and Wolmer's had established its annual season, so I was taking classes there and at the School of Dance. So I realised that if I was playing football and it was affecting the dancing, something had to give. CJ: From your days at Wolmer's you transitioned to Dance Theatre Xaymaca. Talk to me a little about that. Well the way that DTX was formed was that the people who started out as the juniors in the Wolmer’s dance troupe had grown up and started University, and we were dancing alongside five to ten-year-olds. And we were like “this is not making sense anymore, we need to make the next step”. So we pushed Barbara McDaniel to form a senior company, and because of the number of us that wanted it to happen she decided she would try it for a year. DTX was a great experience for me. It was there that I was able to hone my choreographic skills because Barbara gave me freedom to explore my artistic ideas. And while I was there I was also their rehearsal director. And I like to push, I like to go for 100%, I like to clean dances and have people functioning like a machine, a unit. Individualism is good in dance but you have to remember that it's a team scenario, there are no “stars” shining onstage. I'm all about the team effort, because aesthetically when you go to a show if everyone is strong it makes for a better production. So that's where I was coming from as the rehearsal director. CJ: So your discipline was inborn and not something that you acquired when you went to Cuba to study later on? SM: Yes, I would say it was inborn. I have always been just as serious about dance as anything else. It was a hobby, but I always knew it wasn't – if that makes sense. Because I wanted to reach a particular level of excellence, I approached dance with the same level of seriousness and structure as I approached my schoolwork. Cuba was a by-product of being driven. I had started at UWI doing Actuarial Science and when I was there I joined the UWI Dance Society and got to work with fantastic people such as Patsy Ricketts, the late Howard Daley and L'Antoinette Stines, and I was like a little sponge, just soaking up all the knowledge they had to impart. By the end of my first year I was like “Actuarial Science or Dance?” To be honest it wasn't a difficult decision for me. By this time (Cuban dancers) Arsenio Andrade and “Toki” Gonzales had come to Jamaica to dance with the NDTC and they were known for being technicians and fantastic dance artistes and it was just a testimony to their training in Cuba. In addition to that, I had a friend named Dwayne Barnaby who used to be with Little People. He had gone over to Cuba and when he came back after three years of training he had gone from being a talented dancer to being an exceptional dancer! And so between conversations with him and Arsenio who taught me, and the financial logistics of studying there versus America or Europe it became a no-brainer. The training and experience of the culture were a big part of my development as a dancer and as a person. 1 Comment The Jag Mehta Exhibition 10/31/2011
Mutual Gallery, a small space on the edge of New Kingston, recently opened an exhibition of Jag Mehta's ceramics. Mehta, who is always attired in white, eschews the pottery wheel and makes his ceramics using the hand coiled method. The exhibition, titled Imperfect but Perfect, runs until November 19, 2011.  Click on image to see larger version. Last Call, A Musical Glance Backwards 08/15/2011
 Cecil (Maurice Bryan), Rose (Rishille Bellamy),, Joseph (Shayne Powell) and Clarence (Andrew Lawrence) discuss love and life in Last Call. Ever heard of Myrtle Bank Hotel? In the golden era of downtown Kingston, from the late 19th century to perhaps the mid 20th century, it was THE hotel. It was known for luxury and prestige. Lorna Goodison, well-known Jamaican poet, writes of how awed she was when as a youngster her older sister, Barbara Gloudon, then a cub reporter, took her to the hotel. In Keiran King's musical, Last Call, the oppulent hotel becomes the setting for a tale of love lost and rediscovered. Written by Keiran King with direction from King and Mike Daley, the plot follows four high school friends who reunite by design and coincidence at Myrtle Bank Hotel in 1949. The play features musical direction by Karen Armstrong and choreography by Paula Shaw. Perhaps one of the most interesting features of the play is the live band, including the obligatory ultra cool bass player, which plays the accompaniment to the musical numbers sung by the talented cast. With respect to singing ability, Andrew Lawrence must be giving special mention as he is particularly talented. This weekend (August 18 - 21) is the play's last. It will run from Thursday to Sunday at 8 pm, with matinees at 5 pm on Saturday and Sundays, at the Phillip Sherlock Centre of the Creative Arts at the University of the West Indies, Mona. The play, with its heavy air of nostalgia, offers a means of looking back to a more golden era and a much more optimistic time in our history. Ir is well-worth attending.  L-R: Rose (Rishille Bellamy),Cecil (Maurice Bryan), Daphne (Sakina Deer) & Joseph (Shayne Powell) in a group song.  From L to R, Rose (Rishille Bellamy) and Daphne (Sakina Deer) catch up in Last Call.  Sakina Deer plays Dphne, the sultry cabaret singer at Myrtle Bank Hotel. Oniel Pryce: Journey Through Dance 08/07/2011
 Dancer/writer Nicole Bain speaks with Oniel Pryce, Jamaican choreographer. (Dance photos courtesy of Danceworks, photographer: Albert Blackwood.) Dancer, choreographer and Edna Manley College lecturer Oniel Pryce mounted two works in Danceworks’ 2011 season, ‘Transcendance’ Danceworks is the performing corps of the School of Dance, Edna Manley College. Cultural Jamaica sat down with him to discuss his work and his journey in the world of dance. NB: First of all, thanks for agreeing to do this interview. I wanted to find out from you how you got started in dance. Can you tell me a little bit about your journey as a dancer? OP: I became a dancer by accident really. It was just after high school (Wolmer’s High). I really wanted to be an accountant or a doctor, but towards the end of my final year in school I found myself becoming a little bit bored with regular academics and was searching for a different avenue to express myself, because at that time I was also very introverted, and I didn’t like to talk much. I wanted a different way to talk basically, so I started to search and the Edna Manley College School of Dance sparked my interest and I just decided to apply. Accidentally I got in... NB (interrupts): Accidentally? OP (laughing): Yeah, well I say that because I had absolutely no experience. So I applied and I came and was like, “I don’t know what I’m getting myself into!” But that was where the real dance journey started in terms of training.  Choreographer, Oniel Pryce NB: What was it like?
OP: Well, the first year was very rough because I was coming in as an inexperienced person and at that time they didn’t have a PQ (Preliminary Qualifying year), so I went straight into first year. And most of the people that I came in with had lots of experience! So it was very difficult for the first year and a lot of people were very negative about me being here and didn’t give me enough encouragement. So, after the first year I decided to prove to myself that I could do it, kind of take it as a challenge to myself. And I improved over the three years - I was doing a Diploma in Education at that time. In my final year, I think it was, I did a show with Neila Ebanks and two other persons. At the time we called ourselves "Four Poor Dancers", and our show was entitled Destination Self, and Professor Nettleford came to the show and asked who I was, and he invited me to work with the NDTC. Before that, I had done a stint with L’Acadco. So I went on to work with the NDTC around 2001, and around 2003 I became interested in doing an exchange programme at Brockport and I was shortlisted and got the opportunity to go and do it for a year and transfer my credits to complete a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance. NB: What made you choose the education track at EMC and how did that segue into a love of choreography? OP: To be honest, I cannot recall exactly why I chose education, but in terms of the segue into choreography - again because I was introverted - I wanted a kind of expression that was not me. I wanted to put my ideas onto other bodies. I’ve always considered my dancers the canvas on which I am creating a kind of artwork. To be honest, I do not know exactly when the actual choreographic spark started, I don’t know which piece it started with really, because I’m sure the first few pieces I did were absolute rubbish, but as Jerome Robbins says, in order to make one good piece of choreography you probably have to make 10 bad ones (laughs). It was trial and error in terms of figuring out what kind of process I wanted to engage in and what kind of work I wanted to make. And even now it’s still a difficult process for me because I’m constantly being asked what kind of choreographer I am. But I cannot define myself as a particular kind of choreographer. I prefer to be known as someone who choreographs, because if I say that I’m a certain kind of choreographer it’s as though I’ve set a limit on myself. I do however like to work with physical theatre, post-modern, experimental dance which I don’t think necessarily fits into a Contemporary box. I’m also interested in fusion and I think the kind of work that I make is also influenced by the space that I’m in. Laura-Anne Fung: Young Jamaican Artist 01/13/2011
 Laura-Anne Fung (right) explaining her work. Visual art is one form of creative expression that absolutely has the power to confound. Discussions regarding what is good, or how much art is really worth, can bounce back and forth without going anywhere. At a recent Laura-Anne Fung exhibition, which I attended with a tour group, the discussion turned on the question of value. Fung’s work, though not the most expensive, is definitely not the cheapest. Some thought it outrageous for her, at 18, to even contemplate charging as much as established artists who had been around for decades. The backdrop for our discussion was the recent launch of her exhibition at Grosvenor Galleries. The work on display was bold, exhibiting bright brush strokes; but perhaps equally impressive was the launch itself. The conservative gallery had been tricked out by the addition of a wine bar, a food station with aromatic scents, streams of white cloth accented by tiny disco lights, and a disc jockey. Pretty spectacular for a Jamaican art launch! The decor, the pricing, and the art itself all hinted at a personality worth learning more about. The portrait that emerged of Fung was quite intriguing.
Jamaica, Farewell opens to the strains of the Harry Belafonte sung “Jamaica Farewell”, a song that for many conjures up an old Jamaica, an island paradise fair and gentle. The one-woman show written and performed by Debra Ehrhardt was not so gentle in its reminiscing on Jamaica. The play focuses on the story of Debra, a Jamaican born woman who from early childhood entertained the dream of migrating to the United States. The play, which runs for 85 minutes without intermission, is a comical look at her attempts to obtain a visa and her eventual success in leaving Jamaica behind through a series of death defying escapades with the aim of arriving at the wonderful and apparently milk and honey overflowing shores of Miami. Debra Ehrhardt was convincing, the staging of the play was effective, the material was funny enough, even the politics – a clear anti-Manley perspective – was admirable. But, but. Why this obsession with migrating to the United States? Why this devotion to Americana? Loyal Jamaicans may find the play uncomfortable to watch or maybe even objectionable.  Ms. Ehrhardt after Thursday's performance NDTC Review: Rex would have been proud! 08/09/2010
 On August 1, Jamaica celebrated Emancipation Day. On August 6 we celebrated Independence Day. The National Dance Theatre Company performances are part of that celebratory season. Dancer/writer Nicole Bain reviews the Emancipation Day performance. (Photos contributed by NDTC.)  Dancer Chris Walker The National Dance Theatre Company (NDTC) continues its season of dance with a suite of offerings from various choreographers including Patrick Earle, Arsenio Andrade-Calderon, Christina Gonzalez and, importantly, former Artistic Director, the late Professor the Honourable Rex Nettleford. The programme performed on August 1 was aptly chosen by Barry Moncrieffe - NDTC icon and Nettleford's successor - to reflect the Emancipation and Independence celebrations. It featured various aspects of the Jamaican historical experience focusing primarily on religion. On Emancipation Day the show opened with Form in Fusion, created by company member Patrick Earle and danced by the company. The new work which explored the traditional folk form Kumina was a wonderful blend of simple movement and intricate floor patterns and shapes which were best seen from the balcony. The female dancers demonstrated a regal beauty as they inched forward, hips swaying almost imperceptibly. Three of them in particular demonstrated great control and concentration as they successfully executed a series of movements including a full split while balancing oil lamps on their heads. At times the company members displayed a trance-like intensity as they moved to the traditional music of the NDTC drummers and singers. For the most part their movement was subtle, dignified and controlled. And then suddenly, with only the slightest musical warning, they would twirl around ecstatically, only to catch themselves and continue on in solemn procession. The costumes were a beautiful addition to this well-crafted piece whose only flaw was that it needed greater synchronicity. A solo excerpt from Professor Nettleford's Islands followed. This was danced by Kevin Moore, clad in full black with a red cloth wrapped around his body which would later become a prop. Mr. Moore possesses the assets of strength and natural flexibility, and danced with a great deal of commitment to the piece; however his execution felt heavy and disjointed in places. As such the solo fell short of its potential. The motivation for the piece was also hard to glean because of its lack of inclusion in the written programme.  L-R: Alaine Grant, Keita-Marie Chamberlain, Natalie Chung, Deborah Powell-Valentino, and Kerry-Ann Henry  L-R: David Blake, Marlon Simms, Marc Hall and Chris Walker | Quote"We refuse to be what you wanted us to be, we are what we are, that's the way it's going to be." - Robert Nesta Marley, 1945 - 1981 ArchivesMay 2012 CategoriesAll |
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