Tanya Batson-Savage, Freelance Writer

Dance is, of course, integral to the dancehall oriented 'Lady Chance and the Butterfly Dance'. Actors from the Sistren Theatre Collective get down in a scene from the play. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

Last weekend, the play Lady Chance and the Butterfly Dance took over the stage at the Ward Theatre, downtown Kingston. The spectacle in which Lady Chance and the Butterfly Dance written and directed by Orville Simmonds wraps itself is that encapsulated in words/phrases that need repetition in order to get their full meaning across. Words such as 'ray ray' and 'tay tay' and 'passa passa'. Words that sink into the belly bottom of disorder and bubble their way up to meaning.

The play tackles the issue of sexual exploitation of women, especially those from a lower socio-economic background. It highlights how they can be pushed back down when they attempt to rise.

Once one realised that what Lady Chance and the Butterfly Dance was presenting was being dubbed dancehall theatre, the level of spectacle that the show embraced was not surprising in the least. Indeed, most dancehall fans and even some of its critics are generally aware that dancehall is nothing if not theatre. From the high level of masking, grand costuming, taking on of alter-egos, to the battles and mock battles, dancehall drips with the theatrical.

Intriguing Question

Yet, some would argue that being good theatre and being theatrical are two very different things. So the staging of Lady Chance and the Butterfly Dance brings up the intriguing question as to whether dancehall can help Jamaican theatre bubble toward a more indigenous form.

Though Jamaican theatre generally focuses on issues that relate to a Jamaican reality, in large part the form has kept to the Western concept of theatre. As such, with some exceptions, theatre in Jamaica might be argued in its Jamaicaness.

Several Elements From Dancehall

Lady Chance and the Butterfly Dance borrows several elements from dancehall. Rather than a narrator the play uses a DJ who relates what is happening, can 'haul and pull-up' the action if it is veering off track and also engages the audience with the action so that the play becomes a very involved process - a conversation between the performers and the audience.

What the play clearly highlights is that to use dancehall as the language for theatre is to speak in a language that is for and of the people. The question is how to use it effectively and if that which can be achieved can be more than just spectacle.

Born in infamy, dancehall has been steadily working its way into legitimacy as it develops a reputation for much more than noise and disturbing gyrations. Of course, despite its continued international acceptance some still find the genre questionable. As such, for some, to dabble in dancehall is to wallow in slackness, to engage in looseness.

Robin Baston, who is currently directing and producing Toy Boy sees value in the creation of a dancehall theatre. "I think it's brilliant! I think it's a brilliant idea that someone can take forward," he said.

Baston points out that many Jamaican musicals have employed dancehall in various ways, so that the genre gets used even in Father Ho Lung's productions wherein the genre is often used to symbolise the sinful side of life. Of course, in other productions, dancehall is not necessarily used to represent evil.

Baston also points to the use of dancehall in Jamaican films. but notes that a part of the problem with that is that there is too strong an association with violence and sex, associations that also come with dancehall. He notes also that to define dancehall purely in terms of sex and violence is to ignore that dancehall has more to offer.

The fate of being reduced to sex and violence is a battle that dancehall constantly engages in, as many of the critics often ignore the social criticism and even the subversive nature that laces the slackness in which dancehall is strapped.

Baston, therefore, believes that it would be great if a Jamaican musical used dancehall as its major genre, as opposed to just using a song or two. "What an interesting thing it would be if you could have something on the scale of a Pantomime or a JMTC production but with our music - with dancehall," he said. He also admitted that though he finds it a fascinating idea that he would like to explore, some would find the concept scary.

Eugene Williams finds that dancehall has much more than music to offer to theatre. He notes that the popularity of the genre means that a form which adopts its style will find a ready made audience that might gravitate to it. Williams also argues that dancehall provides a potentially new "viewing frame" through which writers and directors can look at theatre. He notes that dancehall can allow for a different perspective on performance, as well as the use of space.

He points out that dancehall's tendency to deal with the "underbelly" of the society is something that Jamaican theatre ought to address. Indeed, whereas much of commercial theatre has veered toward comedy, dancehall has managed to tackle some of the harshest realities of Jamaican society without the palliative of any sugar coating.

"It's making expressions both in terms of its fashions, its lyrics (and) its modes of behaviour, a lot of which should be discussed in the theatre," Williams said. He goes on to point out that dancehall provides a place for the discussion of ideas, as well as people's identity and sense of self, though the educated class might not see this.

Williams also argues that to varying degrees elements of dancehall have been used in Jamaican theatre and he points to Jambiz as an example of one of the groups which has done so. Particularly with their Christmas productions, the Jambiz plays have much in common with the communal nature and fascination with word play which are significant to dancehall.

What Williams also notes, however, is that in order to use the genre effectively to find out what it can offer theatre, dancehall would have to be explored for its theatricality and what elements can be transferred to the stage.

As the titillated crowd left the Ward Theatre last weekend, however, it was quite clear that by resonating with dancehall in more than music but also with form, theatre too can borrow from the DJs' power to ram dance and cork party.