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Dancer and writer Nicole Bain shares her experience of being a part of a Kingston on the Edge skill swap dance session on June 26, 2010.
It was designed to merely whet the appetite, but by the time “Fresh Breezes” was over, many of the participants had received more than a bellyful. The workshop, a collaboration between Kingston On The Edge,  eNKompan.E and Safi Harriot, featured the instruction of Michael Holgate, Lisa Wilson, O'nielPryce, Safi Harriot, and Tamara Thomas. The inclement weather, initially of concern to the organisers, was no deterrent to the participants who turned up in their numbers at the School of Dance, Edna Manley College for the Visual and Performing Arts. They came for various reasons, some to broaden their dance skills, others out of sheer curiosity, most to take advantage of a class that promised first-rate instruction for little more than the cost of a patty! They came with various levels of training - and in some cases no training at all - but all were embraced. School of Dance lecturer and workshop facilitator Neila Ebanks expressed great pleasure at the turn-out, noting that the workshop was designed to explore the “process” of dance rather than the finished product.
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The participants keep pace in Michael Holgate's Caribbean Folk session
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Drummer Chris gets the dancers' blood pumping
Caribbean folk

The workshop was broken up into five 35-minute segments and ran “tag-team” style, with breaks just long enough for people to catch their breath. But the participants weren't complaining.

First up on the roster was author, actor, part-time lecturer and Artistic Director of Ashe Caribbean Performing Arts Company, Michael Holgate. After a deceptively simple warm-up, he put the group through its paces with non-stop, high-energy movement, matched by equally spirited live drumming. The pace was lively, the movements free, expressive and liberating. One of the main challenges of the morning was just keeping up with Holgate who was clearly in his element! But even if his energy and stamina were not contagious, his enthusiasm was definitely caught by the group.

All that jazz!

The energy continued with Lisa Wilson, Assistant Director of the School of Dance and founder of Arts Streams. She introduced the group to some basic jazz steps and taught them a short, fun combination. The vocabulary, drawn largely from the style of jazz made popular by famed Broadway choreographer Bob Fosse, involved steps that required coordination and rhythmicality. Indeed sharpness, syncopation, and huge doses of sass were the order of the day in this segment. By the time Wilson was finished each participant felt like he/she could audition for Broadway – well, almost.
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KOTE founders Carolyn Lazarus (left) and Beatriz Pozueta (centre) join in the fun with dance facilitator Safi Harriot.
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Presenter O'niel Pryce gets comfy with the barre
5 Comments
 
 
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Greetings all massive and crew. What were you all up to last week? Watching the de-wigging of Mr. Coke maybe? Yes, I made up that word. No apologies. We absolutely need a new vocabulary to describe Jamaica’s state of affairs  but we will prevail so stop shaking your heads! While I read of Dudus’s capture and reasoned (Jamaicanism: reason, verb meaning to discuss in order to gain great insight) about it with others, I also attended Kingston on the Edge (KOTE). June 18 to 26 saw the staging of the fourth annual KOTE, an urban arts festival which is based in Kingston. The concept is quite simply brilliant and one of those where you think to yourself, I wish I had come up with that one. At the same time it’s obvious too. The best ideas are like that. Obvious because Kingston, and admittedly I’m biased given that this is my town, is one place that is not at all short of artistic expression. We just talented is a shame! Much of that talent was on display for KOTE, themed this year as “Love, Art, Liberation”.

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Part of the KOTE Graffiti Board
The festival represents a diversity of arts including painting, dance (and funnily enough there was pilates and yoga mixed up in this category somehow), theatre, music, and film. Events were kicked off at the lovely opening show on June 18 at Red Bones Blues Cafe. There was striking art on display and notable among these were the sculpted pieces by Keith Anthony Cousins, carvings by Abol Mason, jewellery pieces by Inansi, and paintings by Chandis of Core Insight Group. Well, notable to me as these were artists I had not been exposed to before. Believe me people, this is the fun in it: discovering new art, being touched in a different way. Heady stuff. The atmosphere was relaxed with folks chatting, wandering around viewing art and drinking. There was also a very brief fashion show displaying the jewellery of Empress Abiola. The evening ended with the music of Mojahrock and the strong and passionate singing of Phebe-Ann Henry and Germaine Blake. 


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