Jamaica Cultural Enterprises - Tours, Culture, Discovery - HAPPENINGS - NEWS, REVIEWS

The JCE Jamaican Market is now open!

Sat, 12 May 2012 05:42:37 -0800

Having lived abroad, I know how terrible the pangs of homesickness can be. Care packages filled with the Jamaican foods and items that I loved were truly a treasure. Now you can create your own care package with items from our Jamaican Market.

You can now order:

1. Authentic Blue Mountain coffee (ground or beans)
2. Jamaican Tamarind Balls, Grater Cake, and Gizzadas
3. Scrapbook cards created in Jamaica as well as Postcards
4. Dozens of beautiful photos from Jamaican life on DVD

Also, if you want something that is not on the list? Tell us and we'll try to get it for you.

So, until you can get back, order one of our products and remember.

Blessings,
Karen @ JCE

Shelley-Ann Maxwell: Passion, Discipline, Dancer

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:17:00 -0800

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.

In the musical production 'Fela'

CJ: I think it would be fair to say you've accomplished a lot in your short life. You've been with Dance Theatre Xaymaca, climbed the ranks of the NDTC in a relatively short space of time and become one of the first young choreographers within that company to have your work mounted in its annual season. You've gone on to work in London in the West End productions of 'The Lion King' and 'Fela' , as well as working with the African Contemporary dance company Tavaziva Dance. Most dancers would have been satisfied with any one of those experiences! What keeps you driven?

SM: I think humility plays a big part. When you list all these things it sounds good, but in my head I still think “Have I really done enough? What more could I do?”. The things I've done could be considered achievements but I view them also as learning experiences, and because of what I've gotten from each experience I want more. I don't yearn for fame, what I really want to do is to be learning more and furthering myself in dance.

CJ: You dance, you teach, you choreograph. Which one of those three do you feel strongest about?

SM: Wow, that's a difficult question because all three feed me in a different way. I am most content when all three are being satisfied. If there is one that's suffering I don't feel whole. (Laughs) I don't know what's going to happen when retirement hits me in terms of the performance side, or when choreographically I will feel finished. Maybe at that point one will become dominant. And at that point I will still be happy because that one thing would be the dominant thing.

CJ: How would you describe your choreographic style, both in terms of your approach as well as the genre you like to work in?

SM: When I first started out I tried my hand at every style. Now it's very hard to classify my style because I still like to do different things. In London the last piece I did was a Cuban Contemporary piece but before that it was an Afro-Contemporary one. The latest piece I am working on is a Reggae-Contemporary piece. So I think it's fair to say I like the Contemporary vocabulary that's found in Europe but I like to give it a Caribbean flavour. My inspiration doesn't always have to be topical like 'Garvey Lives', which was the first piece I choreographed for NDTC. It could be a piece of music that grabs me, or a movement style that I want to explore. So I haven't really pigeon-holed myself into a particular thing because I think if I did that it would just be too restrictive and I'd go mad.

Shelley-Ann Maxwell in the West End cast of the Lion King

CJ: You mentioned infusing Caribbean flavour into what you do. Do you think that we truly appreciate our own dance culture as something that we can export and share with the world? Do we own our own unique way of moving or are we simply aspiring to be like every other trained dancer in the world?

SM: I think that there are dance practitioners in Jamaica who recognise the importance of our traditional forms – people like L'Antoinette Stines, Robertha Daley and Nicholeen Degrasse-Johnson. The problem I think lies in the up-and-coming dancers. We've become quite Westernized in Jamaica with the access to programmes like “So You Think You Can Dance”, etc. And whereas they are showing us a new side to dance that we were not exposed to before, as a result it's changed the mentality of dancers to believe that this is then what they must strive to look like. So Jamaican dancers are striving for this Western ideal, which is not a bad goal per se, but what's going to happen is that you will have born Jamaicans who become “American” dancers. When you look at the bios of the dancers on Broadway, the West End, in companies or on “So You Think You Can Dance” , a lot of them are from the Caribbean, born and grown in Trinidad, or in Guyana, and many of them have that Caribbean aesthetic which was embedded in their bodies before they then went on to other things. So my thing is do not negate what Jamaican dance can give you. It can give you good 'groundedness', it can give you good rhythm. It shows you how to move to polyrhythmic structures that people who have not had this Caribbean experience find hard to do. Yes you need your classical training, you need your Modern, but there's nothing wrong with diving into (your own culture). When you're at a dance and they're calling out the various dance moves, start to investigate what your body is doing. How is it making that inward circle or that corkscrew? How am I doing one movement with my foot while my shoulder is doing something else and my pelvis is also doing a different thing? Those are lessons that you cannot get across to people who have not had our Caribbean experience. So if you train yourself in the other disciplines but you still hold on to Caribbean aesthetics then you are ahead of the person that didn't have your experience.

CJ: Tell me a little about the recently formed Maxwell Dance Project.

SM: Well basically from the time I came back from Cuba, people have been on my case about starting my own dance company. But nothing before its time. After doing Tavaziva, 'Lion King', and 'Fela', I felt it was time to branch out and do what I truly wanted to do which was working on my own choreography, finding bodies that I can work with, developing a style that's uniquely mine. I decided to call it the Maxwell Dance Project rather than Company because I wanted it to be project-based. I didn't want to work within the confines of having to do certain things, like working 12 months a year and having an annual season just because we are a company. I wanted it to be smooth-running, perhaps focusing on two or three projects this year for example, and then the next year focusing on maybe one major project...And that way I can just pull in collaborators for different things. So it will always be kind of fresh and new, and I don't have to use the same group of dancers, because one group of dancers who are good for this project may not be good for the next. And that's not a poor reflection on them, but I think finding specialist dancers for specialist projects works well for them as well because when they go on stage they look fantastic doing what they do best.

CJ: You were recently in Jamaica for about a week and a half conducting dance workshops. As you think about the different groups you worked with, what is it that you would want Jamaican dancers to know about themselves that they don't already know?

SM: I would say the thing I would want Jamaican dancers to know about themselves is this: we are special and we have natural fire. And this is based on me travelling to Europe and seeing dancers on that continent who are fantastic and beautifully framed, but many of whom are missing fire, passion. They're missing that kind of emotive quality behind the movement that really defines the movement when you see it on stage. When you go to a dance concert and you see a group like Tivoli Dance Troupe onstage, they are giving you 152%! The excitement is pouring out of their skin and it's coming out of their hearts. There's no question in your head that they are enjoying what they are doing. And it's not just with Tivoli, it's with most of the Jamaican dancers here. They have this big passion that's just coming through and it makes the movement so much better. Jamaicans are born performers.

As a member of the African Contemporary company Tavaziva Dance

If you're interested in attending a dance performance in Jamaica, let us know! We're happy to help.

Email info@jaculture.com
Call 876 540 8570/374 6370

Marley Legacy

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 13:00:50 -0800

Nicole Bain, writer and dancer writes about the enduring legacy of the King of Reggae, Bob Marley.

It has been 31 years since the passing of Reggae icon Robert (Bob) Nesta Marley but his musical light shows no signs of dimming. What is it about this man of humble beginnings that continues to evoke the interest and admiration of fans the world over? There seems to be no single answer to that question, but rather a number of contributing factors. For some music lovers, Marley’s genius lies in his amazing way with words. He seemed somehow to be connected to the listeners for whom he wrote. Says Kayann, “I think, Bob is popular for the same reason the Psalms are frequently read. He gave a voice to the turmoil and desires of our heart, and then tried to offer hope for a better tomorrow.”

But do his lyrics still have currency among a generation of young people far removed from the time in which he lived and wrote? Respected Jamaican music producer Mikie Bennett seems to think so. “I remember saying to my daughter a few years back that Bob Marley’s songs were going to affect everybody at some stage in their lives because as a songwriter I think Bob Marley was channelling a higher intelligence. I think he just prepared himself to channel the messages he got. His messages spoke to a lot of situations, physically and metaphysically.”

Mikie Bennett (L) chatting with guests at Grafton Studio.

Even those who would not consider themselves great fans of Bob Marley will admit that there was something unique and special about him. “What makes Bob so "great" is that he was seen as a prophet”, opines Kadia. “He spoke not just about social issues...but about matters of the heart. Love, freedom, "godliness" if I dare say so. He was a ‘Messiah’ of sorts.”

And this ability to speak a universal language seems to have transcended the confines of culture, class, race and time.

But to what extent has Marley’s phenomenal success been solely his own making? For while it is his name that has achieved legendary status, Bob was arguably not a true solo act in the way that a Whitney Houston or an Elvis Presley were. There are persons who have argued that Marley wasn’t as prolific a songwriter as he is often made out to be. Says Keisha, “A good bit of Marley's lyrics are part and parcel, if not the whole, of the teachings of Marcus Garvey. I think that has a lot to do with his popularity”. Others cite the lifting of the UN speech of Emperor Haile Selassie I for the anthem “War” as another example. Could he have survived on his own without the raw passion of Peter Tosh (who wrote many of the Wailers hits) or Bunny Wailer, the soulful harmonies of the I Threes or the genius musicianship of band members such as Carlton and Aston “Family Man” Barrett or Earl Lindo? Or was he lucky to have had the heavyweight support of Island Records President Chris Blackwell behind him? Mikie Bennett believes that marketing had a lot to do with Marley’s commercial success but doesn’t see this as a bad thing per se. “It is impossible to market a bad product for long. If you don’t have the product or the substance to back it up (it won’t last)”, he says. “Without a doubt Bob was a genius, but I think because he understood the importance of the message he surrounded himself with some of the best musicians Jamaica had to offer and he also allowed himself to be managed properly and “branded” to the world.”

So 31 years later, is there any Jamaican reggae artiste who has the potential to come up to or surpass Marley’s greatness? On this issue there seems to be more of a general consensus - he is a tough act to follow, although his son Damian certainly seems to be in the running. “There's a bit of him in many people”, says Samora. “Sham's Ghetto Story, Tarrus's She's Royal, Queen Ifrica's Daddy, Beres' Preacher Man, Tony Rebel's I Can't Recall, all capture some aspect of Bob but he seemed to have had all those elements in one person, which was pretty amazing.” Mikie Bennett is more willing to stick his neck out. “I had a wonderful moment at Jazz (Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival) by the small stage watching Raging Fiyah. And as I watched them, in my mind I was remembering the first time I saw Bob Marley. The same youthfulness and energy was there, the music felt the same way and the lead singer was up there but it was like he was being used by the spirit and the music. There are other genres and within those genres there are artistes who people revere, but based on the whole Marley template it could happen with this particular band. I have a feeling that 10 years from now if we have a similar conversation I would say 'Yeah man, I predicted it.'"

In the words of the legend himself, “Time will tell”.

To find out more about Bob Marley's life and legacy, take a tour with JCE and see the impact he has had on Jamaican music and culture.

The Jag Mehta Exhibition

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 05:01:58 -0800

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.

Jamaican National Anthem

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 16:25:02 -0800

Jamaica, Land We Love.

The video below for the Jamaican National Anthem is so beautiful, that even though it is dated, I wanted to share it with you. Yes, it is sentimental and designed to pull at the patriotic heart strings, but. But, it reminds me of everything I love about Jamaica, about the vision that we need to move towards. Watch it. It's really special.

Kudos to the production team.

Last Call, A Musical Glance Backwards

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 19:21:39 -0800

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

Sun, 07 Aug 2011 11:55:30 -0800

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.

Dancer Kerry-Ann Lawrence

NB: You recently came back from studying at Trinity Laban in London. How has that influenced you as a choreographer?

OP: Since doing my Masters at Laban I have different roads in terms of where I’m going, in terms of pulling all my different experiences together, but I constantly find myself making more experimental stuff, stuff that doesn’t quite fit into the Jamaican landscape. Jamaicans like stories, I don’t like that. I don’t like narratives, I like things that make you think, that kind of shock you, that make you not know what it is initially so you have to go home and think about it. So I try not to have people scream or clap during my work. I want them to think about it. Because sometimes you scream and clap but then I don’t know if you’ve internalised what is happening and what it’s about.

NB: What is your work process like?

OP: I kind of work in what I call the process of the present, basically trying not to pre-plan. So everything that happens happens fresh within the space. And every time a piece has been done, like Stained Soul which has been done five times, it has never been repeated the same way. Even though the text may be the same and some of the movement vocabulary may be the same, it never quite comes out the same. It is influenced by what it was but I’m interested in fresh possibilities. Although eventually it will just become one thing. Right now I’m trying not to make fifty million pieces, but to explore all the possibilities within a piece, remount it over and over and over, and then eventually I get to the point, not of perfection, but where I’ve really exhausted this piece, and I’m ready to move on to another kind of experience and experiment. I think its important to find all the possibilities within the work because that working process is very time-consuming. You put so much of yourself in it, so why not continue? When you are in it the first time you’re so immersed you cannot see what it is that you want. You’re just trying to make and create and you’re so involved in it. But once you’ve given it over to the bodies you can kind of look at it with an outside eye and say, okay this can go there, or I can eliminate that. So you become more objective to the work. So I think the first make for me now is to try and release whatever it is that I’m trying to say and then the second make is releasing the last bit of it and if I do it a third time it's from the perspective of having gotten over this but I can use it on a different level now and the work can now exist as art as opposed to being personal.

NB: Going back to London, what was it like in terms of the differences in culture, and the dance culture in particular?

OP: The first thing is that it is a completely different culture when you go there, in terms of the number of races, the kinds of houses, et cetera. In terms of dance, what I found with Laban is that their process is more cerebral in terms of how they approach work. You are always expected to be in the studio working but you’re never expected to present your work physically, it is more about the processes you’ve been engaging in. So it was difficult coming out of this culture where sometimes we put everything out there physically and don’t necessarily think about it and know what it is that you’re trying to say. So during the nine months I was there, I was only allowed to choreograph once. Most of the time was spent in research and development and thesis writing, and at the end was the final product. The process was good but limiting in the sense that most of the time people who leave the institution go out to create work and other people are not really interested in their process. One plus though is that being process-oriented gives you lots of time to find the different possibilities within a work. When you have a short span of time you tend to work with what you already know, whereas if you have a long span of time you have more time to explore, as opposed to just throwing everything in, including the kitchen sink. So that lengthy process is important. Also, one of the biggest things was, which doesn’t happen a lot in our culture, they believe the choreographer is a director. They believe in giving the dancers all these tasks, so they do all the work and then the choreographer assembles it and that becomes theirs. So you’ll notice that my Danceworks piece says “...in collaboration with the dancers”. And dancers will largely perform a work better if they are engaged not just physically but emotionally and mentally in the process of creating it.

Dancers In Regarding the Pain of Others. From left Paul Newman, Jessica Lynch, Sophia McKain, Renee Harris, (back) Kerry-Ann Lawrence

NB: Talk a little about the pieces you created - Regarding the Pain of Others, and Traces.

OP: The title Regarding the Pain of Others is not an original one. It comes from a book of the same name by an author called Susan Sontag. And in it she has a lot of still images of war and she explores how we can become numb to the suffering around us. I wanted to take it a step further and explore the possibility, or impossibility, of trying to live in somebody else’s pain. And really the only way you can live in it is based on the kind of emotion that it triggers in you. So for the dance, instead of starting from the movement, we started from the place of the emotion which then translated into movement. And it gives the movement a different feel, it becomes more meaningful. As I mentioned I’ve been collaborating with the dancers here since I got back. In Traces of Home, which is now called Traces and which I actually brought back from London, they got tonnes of tasks like retrograding (reversing) the movement, transposing the arm movements to the legs or the legs to the arms, performing a standing movement on the floor or a floor movement standing, just trying to find and explore all these “impossible” ideas. In a way it takes the movement to something else, cause it’s the same movement but out of one movement concept you can get several layers of stuff and then the possibilities become endless.

NB: You’ve said you don’t like stories and imposing characters on your dancers and in Traces you can get away with it because, while you’re exploring the idea of what home is, the dance is abstract. But you do have loose characters in Regarding the Pain, for example you have soldiers...

OP: Yeah. For Regarding it is an abstract work in four movements but working with literal things which were the inspiration. But it’s not a logical story where you can say “Movement One is about this and Movement Two is about this” and so on. There’s a lot of overlap and blurring of ideas that happens.

NB: The piece is a very emotive one and the inspiration for it is pretty obvious, with the help of the projected images of the Haiti earthquake. Some people might wonder why you are choosing to tackle it at this time, a year later. How has it managed to stay fresh in your mind?

OP: Well the earthquake is only one of the inspirations. In the beginning of the piece there are some other images projected. Those are actually from Iraq, in terms of what happens to the civilians and the soldiers. And other references exist in the body of the work, such as the transnational criminal gang, MS-13, that are not projected. The Haiti video became most dominant because it is closest to home. I actually did a piece when I was in London on the subject but it was nothing like this one. It’s not a matter of whether you explore something now, or a year or ten years later, it’s when the time is right. And I think that coming back here and teaching the course gave me the ability and time to explore in a way that would not have happened in a regular rehearsal process. So this was the best place and time for it to be made really...

NB: Who would you say are your sources of inspiration - those persons who have helped you on your artistic journey - whether they know it or not?

OP: Without being specific, I think everyone that I have trained with, and those who I create on all have directly or indirectly inspired me. One of my greatest sources of inspiration has been my personal stories or the stories of the world.

NB: As you said earlier, your work is always evolving. What is it then that you would want to leave of yourself for generations to come?

OP: I would like to leave of myself the notion that the possibilities within a single artistic output, choreographic work, are endless and it’s important to explore and exhaust all those possibilities to get the best out of the work. I have come to realise that the first time may not always be the best version of a work, so it’s important to look at it again with new eyes.

Dancer Renee Harris

Stefanie Thomas on Choreography, Professor Nettleford and Other Influences

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 15:15:50 -0800

Dancer/writer Nicole Bain interviews Jamaican choreographer and dancer Stefanie Thomas.

Last week the National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica (NDTC), along with the general communities of dance and academia, paused to celebrate the life and legacy of Professor, the Honourable Ralston "Rex" Nettleford. One of the mantras for which the Professor was known was “Renewal and Continuity”, and one of the ideas he implemented in this vein was the Young Choreographers workshop/showcase. Formed several years ago to give a voice to budding dance composers within the NDTC, the showcase is held once every two years in December and has become a well-supported undertaking - anticipated by patrons as much as the company’s regular season. Some of the pieces coming out of the workshops have gone on to be included in the company’s repertoire. The 2010 showcase featured choreography from company dancers Marlon Simms, Kerry-Ann Henry, Kevin Moore, Tovah-Marie Bembridge, Tamara Thomas, Natalie Chung, Terry Ann Dennison, Benton Morris and Stefanie Thomas. Cultural Jamaica Magazine sat down with Stefanie recently to reflect on her journey as a young dancer and choreographer.

Dancer, choreographer Stefanie Thomas (photo contributed)

CULTURAL JAMAICA: How long have you been a dancer and how did you end up dancing with the NDTC?

STEFANIE THOMAS: I started ballet as a bee buzzing across Ward Theatre’s stage at 3 years old with Norma Spence at the Ballet Centre and continued ballet until my teenage years. I took my first modern class with Barry Moncrieffe as a teenager at the Jamaica School of Dance (Edna Manley). After taking a few years’ break from formal dancing I rediscovered a love for it with modern dance teacher Jane Schwartz at Colgate University, my alma mater. After graduation from Colgate and while pursuing further studies at the University of the West Indies, I started taking classes at the Edna Manley School of Dance, and in November of 2005 Arsenio Andrade invited me to take a class with the NDTC, whereafter Professor Nettleford encouraged me to continue taking classes with the company.

CJ: Dancing is a part-time occupation for you, as it is for most dancers in Jamaica. What is your “day job”?

ST: I’m a Project Development Consultant.

CJ: Not every dancer makes the foray into choreography. What motivated you to do so?

ST: I don’t remember the initial motivation but I think it may have been an exploration generally of using dance to communicate and connect with others.

CJ: Describe your choreographic process. What inspires you?

ST: I’m inspired by Music, Conflict, the Abstract, and Art. My choreographic process is evolving, but for sure, it starts with an idea or inspiration point, and is influenced by choice of music, dancers, and personal connection to the subject matter. I tend to develop a movement theme early in the process which serves as a motif for the development of the piece.

Dancer, choreographer Stefanie Thomas (photo contributed)

CJ: What are some of the pieces you have worked on in the recent past?

ST: I choreographed Analogue X in 2009, Caprice, Jus’ Cause There’s Always a New Day and IN DEH in 2010. And I’m currently working on a piece for Campion College’s Dance Drama for their upcoming season in March.

CJ: You choreographed IN DEH and Jus’ Cause... for the NDTC Young Choreographers show. Tell me a little bit about them.

ST: IN DEH was dedicated to women of war who have fought various battles historically on the front-line. The dancers were Alicia Glasgow, Kerry-Ann Henry and myself with each of us fighting our individual battle, but gaining collective strength from the mutual understanding of the struggle and the need for support.

Jus’ Cause was inspired by the music and it’s simply a ‘feel good’ piece about always needing that hope for a new day. Danced to Nina Simone’s A New Day, it had a jazzy motif and vocabulary. The dancers were the same as for IN DEH.

Kerry-Ann Henry dancing in IN DEH, piece choreographed by Thomas (photo: Ryan Esson)

CJ: Was it your first time choreographing for the show?

ST: It was actually my second time choreographing for Young Choreographers.

CJ: How did you feel going into it? Was there ever any pressure to live up to the expectations of those who might have been watching just a little more intently to see what Professor’s young protegees had learnt from him?

ST: Displaying a piece always makes me a little nervous, though I was really looking forward to learning from the ensuing critique, especially of the older generation of NDTC dancers and choreographers. It helped that I felt very connected to the music and the subject matter of the pieces and connected to my fellow cast members Kerry-Ann Henry and Alicia Glasgow, both dancers whom I admire.

CJ: What was the response to your work?

ST: The response was energising, especially for IN DEH. I received a lot of positive feedback as the work seemed to connect on varying levels to members of the audience. There were those also who expressed appreciation for the use of the traditional NTDC style in its movement motif.

CJ: Yes that’s right. I know that for me, although your impetus was women in literal wartime situations, the piece also spoke on the level of Woman in the daily struggles of her life, raising children, “fighting” to make a living etc. And yes I did see a little bit of the Professor’s influence in there.

Anybody can string movements together to make a dance. Not everyone can choreograph, if you understand what I mean. What in your opinion makes the difference?

ST: (laughs) One of the choreographers who serves as an inspiration to me, Geraldine Armstrong a Grenadian-French choreographer, told me that all she does is string movement together and that she is not really a “choreographer”, and yet to me her pieces seem to contain the most inspirational and intuitive choreography.

CJ: Hmmm... Okay, so then what is it about a piece of choreography that speaks to you when you watch it? What are the elements that make it "work"?

ST: For me choreography should evoke some form of emotion for the viewer. Professor Nettleford in Spirits at a Gathering, one of my favourites of his masterpieces, takes audience members on an intimate journey with the two "virgins" as he explores community interactions during their journey of self realisation. This to me is what choreography is about. But of course each choreographer has a different method and process.

Alcia Glasgow dances in Jus Cause, choreographed by Thomas (photo: Ryan Esson)

CJ: Who, apart from the Professor, are the choreographers who inspire you and why?

ST: Oh dear, this list is quite exhaustive. Well, Bejart was a part of revolutionizing Modern Ballet with his edgy and new interpretations of the centuries old tradition. Then there is Jean Guy Saintus. His pieces connect with me spiritually. One of my favourite pieces in the NDTC repertoire is Incantation. David Dorfman is also on the list. I love the energy of his choreography and the engagement of his dancers within his choreography, also the ability of his company to portray some very complex and touché subject matters effectively. Geraldine Armstrong, of course. Her style is eclectic and transcends one genre. She is able to take African, Caribbean, Ballet, Modern and Jazz and make it her own with very effective and powerful results. With Clive Thompson I love the lines and interesting shapes that often emerge from his masterpieces. And there is Arsenio Andrade who inspires me because of his rehearsal work ethic and the passion with which he choreographs.

CJ: I couldn’t let you go without asking you this. It’s been a year since the Professor’s death. How did he impact you in life and how do you see yourself and the other dancers carrying on the mantra “Renewal and Continuity”

ST: I still feel Professor Nettleford’s presence in the NDTC dance space. His philosophies continue to challenge me daily and his encouragement and compassion lingers. At times, when feelings of doubt creep in I always think of Professor and his unique expectation of excellence and commitment and it gives me energy to continue. Professor has set the proverbial stage and we continue to dance within the paradigms and also to make new ones that generations to come will also challenge.

Dancer, choreographer Stefanie Thomas (photo contributed)

Bob Marley: Rastafarian, Musical Genius, Jamaican

Wed, 09 Feb 2011 10:21:56 -0800

Bob Marley is perhaps the most well-known Jamaican that there is and people come from all around the globe to visit his homes and his burial site in Jamaica. His music is legendary. Had he been alive, this year he would have celebrated his 66th birthday. As it was we celebrated it for him in his absence.

February 6 saw us in Trench Town listening to his sons Damian and Stephen Marley and a whole slew of acts from and around the community. Trench Town has a character all its own which I am just now uncovering. It is certainly worth a visit even if it is just to see where Bob spent many of his formative years and to check out the source of the inspiration of many of his songs. Some of his lines are so poignant they evoke tears, others just so descriptive that you get the clearest picture. I remember reading somewhere (it may have been in Kwame Dawes' Bob Marley: Lyrical Genius) that no less a person than Derek Walcott was envious that he was not the one to write the line "my feet is my only carriage" in No Woman, Nuh Cry. I have several favourite Bob Marley songs. When I was a child, not quite ten, I would sit and play my father's records and I loved Redemption Song. The music was hypnotic and although I may not have understood the full import of the words I new without a doubt they were important and meaningful. Today, many years later, my favourite line may be the one to the right from Babylon System. For me personally as I close out my 3os, rebelling is an important concept as it becomes an even more fearful thing. Also the notion of Jamaica as a rebellious country that somehow in 2011 is not rebelling enough is frustrating and scary. It makes me wonder if we are all waiting to see what will be the spark that will set everything ablaze in this Babylon Sytem.

In addition to being able to write lyrics like those in Babylon System which give you pause, Marley is also perhaps the most famous Rastafarian there is, notwithstanding his conversion to the Ethiopian Orthodox faith before he died (http://www.jamaicans.com/culture/rasta/interview_AbundaYesehaq.shtml). A great deal of his music was about the teachings of Rasta. His music in fact that went a long way towards spreading the message of Rastafarianism and in the long run, giving it a sort of cool, maybe even some respectability, that it lacked when the movement first surfaced in the 1930s.

Rastafarianism began in Jamaican in a time of great economic difficulties for many of the country's people. The religion of Rasta, although it has many African and Christian features, is a genuinely Jamaican product. Like Mr. Marley himself. He was born of a white man and a black woman at once reflecting the tensions in Jamaican society between the ruling class and the masses. He represents rural Jamaica as well as urban Jamaica. In his lifetime he was depressingly poor and relatively rich. Bob Marley may have had dreams of Africa but he was definitely one of ours.

To Bob: a complicated, brilliant Jamaican. Happy birthday!

Jamaica Cultural Enterprises provides cultural tours which include stops relating to Bob Marley and his music. For more information email info@jaculture.com

That Damned Cake Soap

Wed, 09 Feb 2011 09:03:54 -0800

Vybz Kartel (photo courtesy of FB page)

Adijah “Vybz Kartel” Palmer, one of Jamaica’s most popular dancehall artistes announced last year that he plans to launch a line of cake soap for the skin, apparently called Vybz Kartel Cake Soap. For those unfamiliar, cake soap is a solid, cheap, blue, almost brick looking detergent that is used by the majority of households in Jamaica, if not the Caribbean, to wash clothes by hand. So it is a little hilarious. Cake soap for the face? (A suitable North American parallel might be frothing your skin with All or Tide.) It seems like a gag product, the dancehall equivalent of fuzzy stuffed snakes springing out of the peanut brittle can. You almost feel as though Kartel is at home sniggering to himself as the collective blood pressure of Jamaicans rises.

Vybz Kartel (photo courtesy of FB page)

It is also a little sad. Why? Because on the surface at least it seems as if the French got it right: “plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose” (the more things change, the more they stay the same). Not only has Kartel launched his own cake soap, he has also admitted (sort of) to bleaching. Bleaching is the act of deliberately lightening skin. This seems to have come as a shock to many across the world, and his comparing his skin lightening to a white person darkening their skin by tanning has many aghast (see youtube video below - approx. minute 3). This admission of intentionally striving for a fairer complexion brought again to the forefront the whole issue of identity, race, and class in Jamaica, issues that have the power to get us hot under the collar. It may be difficult to comprehend the depth of feeling around the issues being ventilated so here is my attempt at breaking it down.

Vybz Kartel’s Sort of Admission

One reason the situation seems infused with hilarity is because it’s been a little bit of a game trying to figure out what exactly Kartel has been doing to his skin. He has definitely become fairer. In an interview on Television of Jamaica’s Entertainment Report (ER) in September 2010 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtFCaAWOrAM), Vybz Kartel responded to direct questions regarding his bleaching. His answer was that he was not using bleaching creams but he was however washing his face with cake soap and this had led to a fairer complexion. Thus, that and the fact that he was constantly in a cool, Air Conditioned environment had caused him to not be as dark as before. (Oh and by the way, nobody was buying that piece of tripe.) Fast forward to an interview in December 2010 on Ragashanti’s radio programme where he jokingly invoked his right not to answer the same question (minute 21 of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y-tPmqNP0Q&NR=1). In December 2010 Kartel did another interview on ER, again stating that his skin was being lightened by cake soap but admitting that he was doing this intentionally to get a new, fairer complexion, a new look (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZ8xgQ33LyE). He has consistently stated that he has no problem if any man or woman wishes to bleach their skin as it is a free society and people have the choice to do as they wish. On a radio interview with Dionne Jackson-Miller on Beyond the Headlines he said that Jamaica has bigger things to worry about than persons bleaching.

The whole “I wash my face with cake soap and now I’m five shades lighter” story (alibi?) by Kartel becomes even stranger (as if it weren’t strange enough) when you add to the mix that a manufacturer of cake soap has stated it is impossible for cake soap to cause the skin to change complexion in this way (http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business/Cake-soap-company-lightens-Kartel-s-claim_8283170).

Sugar in a Plum but Red is Corruption

The business of actively trying to lighten one’s skin is a part of historic Jamaica. According to Colin G. Clarke in Kingston Jamaica: Urban Development and Social Change 1692 – 2002, black and mixed race Jamaicans were trying to lighten their complexions through their reproductive and sexual practices from as far back as slavery. Says Clarke:

In addition to white bias, there was a legal incentive to improving the colour. For although free mulattoes, quadroons, and mustees were denied full civil rights, all who were ‘three degrees removed in lineal descent from the negro ancestor were permitted to vote in elections and enjoy all the privileges and immunities of his majesty’s white sjubects int he island’. The Jews could achieve mobility through conversion but for the non-white population opportunities for improving the colour were vitally important: to the slaves who hoped to obtain their freedom or their children’s freedom through the intercession of a white father; and especially to the free people of colour who hoped to improve their social standing and provide their children or their children’s children with an almost European appearance.

According to Clarke, it was the free bi-racial population in particular, which occupied the middle tier in the society between the plantocracy and the slaves, who were greatly invested in skin lightening through “mating” practices. The women almost exclusively had relations with white men.

Yet separate and apart from producing fairer offspring there have historically been other, more direct ways of trying to lighten skin colour. Bleaching products have been available on the island from as least as far back as the 1920s. It is reported that Marcus Garvey would not allow advertising from hair straightening and skin bleaching companies in the various publications of the United Negro Improvement Association, an organisation established to raise the self esteem of black persons across the globe (http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43/152.html). As a child growing up in the 1970s and 1980s I remember a popular advertisement on television for Nadinola Bleaching Cream featuring Marie Clare Delapenha, an upper class derived beauty queen. Home-made concoctions have included tooth paste, curry powder, powdered milk, household bleach, aloe vera and cornmeal (http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20091115/news/news3.html). Cake soap seems to be relatively new on the scene as a skin lightening agent.

What is often forgotten in the discussions is that Jamaicans are not homogenous in their attitude towards “brown” skin. Alongside the childhood ring game which tells us the brown girl “looks like a sugar in a plum”, “red is corruption” is another childhood taunt. The latter was a popular expression to refer to the idea that the co-mingling of white and black blood produced something disastrous. According to Jamaican writer and sociologist Erna Brodber who was born in Woodside, St. Mary in 1946, being brown in her community was not a good thing, persons were happy to be black. Perhaps this came as a result of the disdain with which the brown middle class throughout Jamaica’s period of slavery and colonialism is said by Colin Clarke to have viewed the black masses.

There are scant statistics on how widespread is the use of skin bleaching agents. The discussion however tends to focus on their use among lower income Kingston residents and several video reports have focused on the sale of bleaching agents in downtown Kingston, a place mostly frequented by lower income Jamaicans. So the conversation on bleaching becomes loaded with an underlying class issue.

The Music

The discussion started afresh in Jamaican with the now famous line in a Kartel song “cool like me wash mi face wid di cake soap”. Vybz Kartel is not the first Jamaican artiste to sing about bleaching or skin lightening. The trend has been to condemn the act of bleaching as evidenced by ‘Dem a Bleach’ sung by Nardo Ranks in the 80s. Moving to the 1990s another song which mentions bleaching and reduces it to a freaky act done by men behaving like women is “Bad Man Nuh Dress Like Girl”. Queen Ifrica’s “Mi Nah Rub” in the 2000s was another memorable one which again dealt with bleaching directly and condemned it wholeheartedly. Lisa Hyper (formerly Lisa Hype) was perhaps the first artiste to openly sing about bleaching in a laudatory fashion with her two songs “Proud a My Bleaching” and “Bleaching Fit Mi” in 2008. Interestingly enough, Kartel himself sang a song kind of against bleaching “Weh di Bleaching Fah?”.

So with the increased focus on Kartel and his own bleaching, there are a new crop of songs. “Straight Jeans and Fitted” started it off it seems with the hook “cool like mi wash mi face wid di cake soap”. “Caan Get Brown” was a rejoinder by Kiprich seeking to dispel the idea that a black person’s complexion could be lightened with cake soap. Kartel came out with “Cake Soap” which was essentially a chest thumping song (all the men are jealous, all the girls want him). Finally “Black and Proud/Me Nah Bleach” was done by Vegas and is an update of ‘Dem a Bleach’ by Nardo Ranks in the 1980s.

The Discussion

The emotions surrounding Vybz Kartel’s open admission must be seen in the context of Jamaica’s discussions regarding class, race and skin shade. It is a fact that slavery and colonialism were oppressive machineries that actively sought to deny Africans their humanity. The life’s work of Marcus Garvey, one of Jamaica’s national heroes, dealt with the issues surrounding feelings of inferiority present in black people throughout the globe as a result of slavery and colonialism. Thus Vybz Kartel’s parallel between tanning and bleaching is not easily swallowed. In fact, it is seen by many as proof of the continued notion of the superiority of fairer skin and the inferiority of a dark complexion. This creates a sense of disappointment perhaps, maybe anger, directed towards a figure who is popular and very influential among Jamaican youth.

Others like commentator Annie Paul (http://anniepaulose.wordpress.com/2011/01/12/the-bleaching-of-the-nation/) have gone further in the discussion insisting that bleaching is just one of the symptoms of self hatred among black Jamaicans. Hatred of the Jamaican language (patois) and the widespread straightening of hair by women is seen as further evidence of lack of racial pride.

So What?

What is kind of interesting is Kartel’s determination to lay his skin lightening at the feet of cake soap use which all experts, from dermatologists to cake soap producers to Bounty Killer (hah!) claim to be impossible. Why not just admit openly as Lisa Hyper has done that he is using a bleaching cream or pill or injection or whatever? Why the need for secrecy when he has already admitted to working to in effect bleach? Why does it have to be bleaching by cake soap and nothing else? Is this a well-thought out plan aimed at selling cake soap to the gullible? Is there a tinge of shame? Or is it simply Kartel stirring up controversy, getting a great deal of publicity and having a big laugh to boot? Does it matter really?

It would be impossible to say, never having met him, that Kartel suffers from self hatred. It is however very disturbing in the saddest way that centuries later many Jamaicans seem to have drunk the kool-aid resulting in this malaise of the spirit evidenced by this fairer skin. Because you really have to ask, why is the dark skin not good enough? While one can accept that yes, everyone is free to do as they wish with their life, if bleaching is seen as something admirable and acceptable by a growing percentage of Jamaican society, it must be acknowledged that something is off. It is not enough for one group to condemn another group for low self esteem as though high esteem were something that everyone has. It is not. In fact, one of the reasons I believe that persons need to bleach is because there is such division in Jamaica. So, one side of society is constantly looking for something to criticise about the other side. In this bleaching discussion, it’s the bleachers (maybe poor, black, maybe not so educated) against the non-bleachers (a heterogeneous group but loudly represented by the intelligentsia) again underscoring division.

Bleaching will stop when there are enough opportunities to succeed for the bottom rung of society. An education which is geared towards a positive reflection of the young student who reads about the success of others who look like her may help over time but perhaps the most important thing is for the society to lose it’s triangular shape and become flatter. And importantly too, it can’t simply be that those at the bottom believe that they are worthy, those at the top and those at the middle need to believe that of them too.

We’ve got a long, long way to go.