Jazz, kumina, dancehall onstage as NDTC prepares for 61st Season
Standing ovations as the Company tours Connecticut, Atlanta
Published:Sunday | July 9, 2023 | 12:12 AMYasmine Peru - Senior Gleaner Writer
Fastidious and full of motion, the artistic director of the National Dance Theatre Company (NDTC) takes his charges through their paces with the precision of a drill sergeant. Sculpted bodies sway to and fro, lithe limbs and their owners pick up the pace only to slow it down again as mood and movement intertwine in harmony on the bed of sound neatly spread out by the drummers. It is a Monday evening and the members of the Company – dancers, singers and players of instruments – are at the only space they should be, rehearsals.
The NDTC is in high preparation for its 61st Season of Dance which will bring vibrant new pieces, as well as tried and tested pieces incorporating a mix of fresh faces and the familiar.
“NDTC season starts on July 21 and runs until the middle of August. We will probably be here every day until then,” explained Marlon Simms, the man in charge of this bastion of Jamaican culture.
He gave a brief insight into what the NDTC has in store for the new season.
“ Spirits at a Gathering [Chor. Rex Nettleford, 1995] will showcase a mixture of generations; the singers are doing a tribute to Jimmy Cliff ... Renee McDonald [is doing] a piece inspired by Nanny of the Maroon. I can’t wait until that is complete. We have a piece on dancehall rhythms and movement patterns of dancehall choreographed by Orville McFarlane and we are doing Kumina this year. Everytime we do Kumina they ask for Gerre and vice versa ... but we can’t do both at the same time,” Simms shared.
Nudged by Hillary Phillips, a member of the Company’s management team, Simms spoke about his own works, which will see him exploring jazz music composed and arranged by Jamaicans. The inspiration for this work came while attending a concert in honour of the late Karen Smith and seeing Jon Williams playing jazz.
Those who know Simms well say that he can talk for hours on end about all things dance – which loosely translated means the NDTC – and, of course it is inevitable that the name Rex Nettleford will be mentioned often. It was actually while studying at The University of the West Indies (Mona) that the student met the teacher/mentor in whose shoes he would one day dance.
“It was 1998 that I met him for the first time. He was behind a pile of book that was on his desk. He was my supervisor for my thesis in Caribbean Studies; my thesis was on dance so who better to supervise my work?” Simms asked.
One year later he joined the NDTC and for him it was “an exciting transition”.
In January 2018 the NDTC appointed Simms as the fourth artistic director since the company’s inception. He succeeded veteran dancer and choreographer Barry Moncrieffe. Nettleford had initially shared the role with Eddy Thomas, and he served as artistic director until his sudden death in 2010.
“I was fortunate to be entrusted with this role and it is quite humbling but I am also fortunate to have mentors and a strong team of persons who trust me to carry on the legacy and who offer counsel,” a passionate Simms said.
COMPANY ON TOUR
In the run-up to the season, the Company has been taking their most eloquent pieces on the road. Their most recent trip saw them performing in the United States this year and Simms is justifiably proud.
“On June 2 and 3 we went to the Schubert Theatre in Connecticut and Jamaican people came out in their numbers ... Caribbean people came out in their numbers, and other nationalities. And, of course because we hadn’t travelled since the pandemic, the Jamaicans they were so hungry for home, wanting to hear Jamaican music and to see excellence coming out of Jamaica. They wanted to celebrate their own greatness and the NDTC reflected that for them. We were so inspired by them that as soon as we returned home, we were back on a plane again. This time to Atlanta,” Simms shared.
He added, “What they truly enjoyed, I believe, was just the eclectic nature of the programme. Of course it’s the NDTC and you have to do Professor Nettleford’s work ... it’s 48 years of blood sweat and tears. And so we opened the show with Drum Score [choreographed by Nettleford in 1978] which really features the musicians Henry Miller and Jesse Golding on drums and so when you hear the drums and the ancestral rhythm you immediately get excited. People were transported through the national anthem ... we used the video that is shown in the cinemas. They not only sang along, but at the end, they applauded.”
Hillary Phillips, who joined the company in 1978, shared her experience of being on tour with the 35-strong team in Atlanta. She noted that with the Rita Marley Foundation onboard, the Company did a tribute to the reggae icon through a suite of her songs arranged by NDTC acting musical director, Dr Kathy Brown. Other pieces included Unbroken, choreographed by Renee McDonald; Rough Drafts, choreographed by Christopher Morrison; Cascade, choreographed by Marlon Simms and The Prayer performed by ballet mistress Terri Ann Henry.
“What was really wonderful was seeing the synergy among the dancers, singers, musicians, technicians. It was a positive energy among us that was taken to the stage. We had standing ovations in the middle of the performance and at the end. We enjoyed wonderful feedback from our promoters, the Calabar Old Boys Association, and they want us again,” an excited Phillips said.