By Avia Ustanny , Outlook Writer 
SEATED QUIETLY, Jermaine Rowe appears quite ordinary unremarkable even. Then, he smiles and rises. In movement he exudes that special, signature charisma that says he is a man used to dancing.
Jermaine was born to move.
Standing five feet and 11 inches on bare feet, even a single stride across the room displays muscles that subtly tell his story.
But, now a performer with the National Dance Theatre Company (NDTC), dance was not always his manifest destiny. To those who know him well, the coin of fate could have rolled in any direction.
All-rounder
Jermaine is what is commonly called an all-rounder, excelling in many things. In high school, he was a champion debater, also sitting on a winning Schools Challenge Team.
A past head boy of St. Catherine High School, he is also fluent in Spanish. He also reads Japanese. Currently, he is a second-year radio student at the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication (CARIMAC), at the University of the West Indies.
But, with all his skills, Jermaine chose dancing as a career. He did this, despite its limitations on the local scene. He is not going to make a lot of money out of it, especially if he stays here, and he will almost certainly have to pursue another profession in order to support it.
But, already at age 21, he has made it among the creme de la creme. Though he still has some ways to go as a dancer, technically, his selection among Rex Nettleford's NDTC troupe is no mean feat. There, he performs with academics, doctors, lawyers and other professionals who see the dance as a life purpose to be accomplished.
In 2003, Jermaine Rowe was awarded the University's Certificate of Excellence in Culture. This year, he did it again and also collected the coveted UWI Premier Joint Award for Excellence in Culture.
Considering that he only started dancing at age 16, in a short while he has come a long way, so unpredictably.Jermaine is the son of Angela Ellis, a tailor. With one sister, they were raised by their mother in Spanish Town, St. Catherine. She told them, he said, that, not because she had been unable to do many things, did this mean that he and his sister should feel limited.Jermaine has done what she demanded, and even more than this woman expected. So has his sister, who now teaches.
At St. Catherine High School he was into everything, including drama. Entering the festival of the Performing Arts as a student, he won many awards as male soloist. Oh, did we forget to mention that he could sing?RepresentationIn upper sixth (form), he represented Jamaica at Panafest, one of the biggest cultural celebrations in Africa that is staged every two years.
Panafest is much like Jamaica's Reggae Sumfest. However, it lasts for 10 days and is run both day and night at two locations.
It was in 1998, when dancing at a production party among cast members, that a tutor, Oneil Mundle, said that he should seriously consider taking on dancing.
The next year, at another school production, he was noticed by a professional dancer and invited to the Movement Dance Theatre Company where he received his first dance training. Later, at university, he was introduced to Professor Rex Nettleford, Vice Chancellor and director of the NDTC, auditioned and was admitted. He has been with them for three years.
The group recently returned from a tour of Belize, Miami and New York. Most recently, he was accepted for an intensive summer programme at the Alvin Haley School of Modern dance in the United States.Though the funds (US$2000) have not yet been found the dancer feels honoured and is determined to go. "I hope to bring back to the NDTC the techniques I learn," he says. He plans to be with this group "for a long time".
Projecting the path of the rest of his life, he is confident that he will be able to mix the dance with a life in radio. Journalism is another passion. Aside from his excellent voice, he has also been praised for his writing.
He also has, he says, a deep interest in news. Language skillsHe is not ruling out living abroad for a while, especially has he plans to continue improving his language skills. "I should be able to go anywhere in the world and be a journalist," he told Outlook.
"In journalism, there is always something new and interesting happening."Jermaine is basically happy with his choices as, according to him, he has never been a 9-5 person. Dance and news, he says, offer great flexibility. The future is not yet here, but it is promising. It is all that his mother had wished for him.
