- ContributedArsenio Calderon and Arlene Richards, NDTC principals, in a duet created by Bert Rose, choreographer and designer.
JAMAICA'S HIGHLY ACCLAIMED National Dance Theatre Company (NDTC) opens its 38th Season of Dance next Friday with a feast of premieres and favourite masterworks, some of which have since last Season attracted capacity audiences in Canada (Ottawa and Toronto), New York (at the Brooklyn Center for Performing Arts), Grand Cayman and at the Gusman Arts Center in Miami, Florida.
Next weekend the group will unveil at the Little Theatre some three of its five new works from choreographers Clive Thompson, Monica Lawrence and artistic director Rex Nettleford.
In addition there will be a debut by Christopher Walker, entitled 'Of A Passage'. Walker is one of those young NDTC scholars who studied at the Jamaica School of Dance and is articulating at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Brockport at end of Season.
The new dance-works range from the imaging of the African diaspora, through a parable on the troubled contemporary world, to thoughts on identity and the rites of passage in a person's life. But Arlene Richards has revised and remounted her 'Earth Crisis' a dance-work on the environment, while Rex Nettleford's 'Spirits At A Gathering' which explores the theme of spirituality, now common among Jamaicans and worldwide, has been revised under the direction of Barry Moncrieffe.
In this vein are also Milton Sterling's 'He Watcheth' and Bert Rose's 'Steal Away' as well as Clive Thompson's solo 'Journey Through The Labyrinth'. Richards's 1999 work 'Azure' and Nettleford's 'River' (to music by Monty Alexander) from that same Season will again be shown as will the duos 'Side By Side' and the Cuban 'Unidos'. The Buju Banton-inspired 'Bujurama' returns, as well, this Season.
Marjorie Whylie, musical director has prepared three suites of songs for the NDTC Singers targetting bush medicines, dancing tunes from 19th century Jamaica and a set of Caribbean songs native to Belize, Barbados, Haiti and Trinidad.
Lighting director Rufus McDonald is busy designing lights for the new works, while stage manager Tony Locke and co-directors on sound Tony Holness and Steve Locke are preparing for the technical demands by choreographers. Barbara Kaufmann the wardrobe mistress is collaborating with Pansy Hassan and costume designer Arlene Richards to ensure that the individual dance works and the singers are appropriately 'dressed'.
The season will feature a talented crew of such emerging frontline dancers as Stacie-Lee Fowles, Natalie Chong, Kerry-Ann Henry, Andrea Lloyd, Christopher Walker, among others, complementing the proven prowess of principals Arlene Richards, Alaine Grant, Arsenio Calderon and Abeldo Gonzales, Monica Lawrence, Alison Symes and Carole Orane who returns to the boards after a year's leave of absence.
The season will run from July 21 to August 20 and will dedicate a number of its performances to charities including PALS.
