Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer

Members of the University Dance Society perform during the University of the West Indies Commemoration Concert and Pelican Awards at the Assembly Hall last year. - File

When the University Dance Society presented its 2008 season, Beyond the Boundaries, in mid-March, it marked the 37th time that members of the society were putting on a major production.

And it was part of the Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts, UWI, Mona's 40th anniversary celebrations, the University Dramatic Arts Society (UDAS) preceding it with Echo In the Bone. On Wednesday there will 'Lymelight: Ole Time Sinting', involving all the societies, with the Camera Club, University Singers, University Chorale and Panoridim presentations to come.

Danielle Stiebel, who currently heads the University Dance Society, told The Gleaner that the society has over 200 members, both past and present students. "We expose persons to dance. If you have not danced before you can come and be trained," Stiebel said.

"The aim is to expose people to dance."

That exposure and training takes place in the dance studio at the Philip Sherlock Centre, before they take to the main stage in the theatre itself.

Stiebel said that three-quarters of the membership comprises beginners and persons who are dancing for the first time.

Lunch Hour Concert

In addition to their annual major season, the University Dance Society hosts a first semester lunch hour concert, which she described as "definitely a much lighter show", while the official season "tends to be topical".

The society has "very few males", Stiebel counting only two in the performers for the 2008 season, and some five to 10 in the society in total. "The irony is that we have quite a few male choreographers," she said.

And many were involved in Beyond the Boundaries, including Professor Rex Nettleford and Tony Wilson. Also making choreographic contributions were Neila Ebanks, Marlon Simms, Samantha Chin-Yee, Maria Hitchins and Kevin Moore.

The University Dance Society also hosts a danceathon, which is open to all, where the fittest flash their moves to Latin, hip hop and dancehall, among other genres. And the society covers a broad spectrum of genres, including dancehall, hip hop, modern, Latin and folk.