Franklene Frater, Contributor
Students at the Liberty Learning Centre celebrate International Day on May 5 in Buff Bay.
HOW OFTEN does a school of merely 140 students display such excellence that, having entered five pieces in the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission dance festival, it has found itself with four gold medals and one silver? Well Liberty Learning Centre in Buff Bay, Portland, is an experiment in excellence which has paid just these dividends.
On its recent International Day, one had the opportunity to meet a talented, enthusiastic and justifiably confident group of students from age four to 11, all members of the Liberty Learning Centre family.
This institution, headed by Karen Brent-Harris and Olivette Nicholson, started originally to answer the needs of special students for specific periods of time. These students would then be returned to their schools. But according to Mrs. Nicholson, the institution had no choice but to become a full-fledged school, creating well-rounded individuals capable of succeeding not only intellectually, but in the areas of the arts. So committed are they that one of the school's directors Mrs Brent-Harris, makes the daily commute between Ocho Rios and Buff Bay to ensure that dreams are realised. This school, still in its infancy (being only four years old) has been granted the festival movement's highest honour being invited to perform in the national Season of Excellence and Mello-go-Roun, both of which feature the pick of the festival movement's pieces a signal honour.
But what type of dance do they do? One would have thought pop surely and yes, it is included but the area is popular for certain ethnic traditions which include kumina, pokumina, and dinki mini. According to school director Nicholson, the area is known for mento and other dances, but they have seen the dance come full circle as current dance tutor, Peter Coburn, was the protégé of traditional stalwart Ada Barrett, former vice-principal of Buff Bay All-Age school.
Coburn, who has been dancing since the age of seven is steeped in the dance forms of dinki mini, jonkunnu, kumina and pokumina, and it is these forms that he concentrates primarily on with his students. Coburn is quick to point out that many current dances are based on the traditional forms, the popular 'Willie Bounce' being an example. Not surprisingly there has come a fusion with these forms which both Coburn and his students refer to as Jonkumina. The students love it.
INTEGRAL PART OF
THE COMMUNITY
According to the school's director, Mrs Nicholson, the school has become an integral part of the community and students have a busy performance schedule as they are on the entertainment calendar for many community events. They perform at church and civic events on a regular basis, and they are supported by the community whose members assist 'Auntie Faithie' in the making of costumes, give regular feedback on how performances may be improved, help costume students before performances and generally show their appreciation for and interest in what is being presented.
Their tutors have also striven to ensure that students, despite their delevopment in the arts, are also stimulated intellectually and the community is only too happy to oblige. When for example students are studying the 'eye' they are taken to the local butcher who shows them the eye of an animal. Hence, the lesson more real and unforgettable.
Such a positive aura surrounds the dance that younger members of the community, male and female, all want to become involved at some level with the group, and those who are in it wish to remain so. Dance students, Tray Gavin, Carron Clarke, Jevon Able, Hannif Brown, Justin Gavin, Davia Roper, Chanelle Miller, Molay West, Natasha Bradshaw, Jimeika Beckford and Davia Walters are all confident group members who see dance as integral to their future, whether part-time or full-time. Students are neither intimidated by anything they are being taught nor by the rigorous daily rehearsals. They love all dance forms from traditional to reggae and hip hop, and thoroughly enjoy where it has taken them.
