Tanya Batson-Savage, Freelance Writer
Left: A scene from the opening of National Dance Theatre Company Season of Dance. Right: Struggle and pain soon turn into hope and redemption: A dancer speaks through form during a scene from the opening of National Dance Theatre Company Season of Dance, playing at the Little Theatre, Tom Redcam Drive, on Friday, July 21. - photos by Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer
The 2006 National Dance Theatre Company repertoire includes 19 dances of which six are new works. Sunday evening's staging featured five of the dances, including three of the new dances.
Interestingly, five of these new works are choreographed by the group's younger set of choreographers, while the sixth, Katrina, is choreographed by Rex Nettleford, NDTC's artistic director.
Katrina, promised to be a rather exciting piece of dance theatre, but it never quite got up to the full dramatic potential where it could blow one away. Based on the devastation faced by New Orleans under the powerful might of Hurricane Katrina, the dance moves through seven movements taking the city from a time of revelry to the storm, to loss, and eventually to hope.
The Barry Moncrieffe and Denise Francis-Robinson-created costumes quite enhance the dance, as does the lighting, especially in the storm movement. Where 'Katrina' is never able to take one to the height of the storm's impact is in its first movement which failed to fully depict the revelry associated with New Orleans. The first movement was more representative of a generic 1920s America, rather than New Orleans in particular.
Lament and hope
A declaration of hope and celebration. dancers work in a scene from the opening of National Dance Theatre Company Season of Dance, playing at the Little Theatre, Tom Redcam Drive.
Furthermore, the true impact of the devastation was also unrealised. Nonetheless, movements expressing lament and hope were quite well choreographed and executed, providing the highlights of the dance.
Chris Walker's 'Variation A Ska' and Shelley-Ann Maxwell's 'Beneath My Skin' were the two additional new dances included in Sunday's performance. 'Variation A Ska' first made its appearance late last year and has been undergoing some metamorphosis to tighten its use of the ska vocabulary for expressing Jamaican movement. The dance remains intriguing work and will be pivotal to the continued excavation of Jamaican forms of expression.
'Beneath My Skin' attempts to speak to woman, as she exists beneath the skin, taking in issues of strength, passion and sisterhood. The dance is effected with amazing simplicity. The stage is shrouded in darkness, which helps to contain the use of space and allows it to feel quite intimate a portrayal. Yet, 'Beneath My Skin' works on an interesting paradox. In an attempt to bring a deeper view, the dance opens and closes with the dancers (all female) topless.
While this movement symbolises the attempt to look beyond the surface, it simultaneously calls attention to all that bared skin, which seems to work against the choreographer's attempt to focus attention on what lies beneath. An interesting thoughtful dance, overall, Maxwell manages to create this portrayal and avoid titillation. Even so, it also has a fantastic finish.
Sunday's performance ended with Walker's restaging of Nettleford's interesting portrayal of Gerreh and Dinki Mini 'Gerrehbenta', which brought a celebratory, involving finish to the evening.
