Stella Maris Dance Ensemble presents highly entertaining show
Published:Saturday | November 9, 2024 | 12:07 AMMichael Reckord/Gleaner Writer
Halfway through its celebration of its 31st Anniversary, the Stella Maris Dance Ensemble (SMDE) presented The Vow, a dance about a love triangle involving a man and two women. Choreographed by Renee McDonald, the work has a twist in the tale that drew much applause from the audience at the Little Theatre on Sunday.
The initial couple, danced by Andre Hinds and Monique Spence-Watson to, among other songs, Stand By Me, are, clearly, established lovers, maybe husband and wife. The content of the music, the similarity of their outfits and the coherence of their graceful movements tell us that.
With the entrance of a woman in red (Ashleigh Wilson), the mood changes; relaxed romance is replaced by tension, and understandable anguish on the part of the probable wife in white. The man’s attention shifts to the lady in red, with whom – the movement and music tell us – he has also had a long relationship.
The end of the story won’t be revealed here, of course, but it’s noteworthy that the audience’s reaction to the brief domestic trip was as strong as the response to a number of epic journeys other dances took us on. One lesson: a short story can be as enjoyable as a novel.
SMDE Artistic Director MoniKa Lawrence was, choreographically, the star of the show. She gave us four and one-third dances, all of them carefully thought out, superbly presented works. Their titles and summary descriptions suggest their themes.
The Rising (2023), with the third movement choreographed by Lawence McDonald and C. Kemal Nance created the others, is about perseverance – referenced in the folk tale of the fabled phoenix rising from the ashes. Odyssey (2024) tells “A journey of mankind”. Strange Waters (2016) tells of people of African descent who were “severed, scattered”, and made to suffer, and who survived.
Plump bottoms – male and female – feature prominently in the amusing Baka Beyond (1997), which has this tag: “Like a flowing river, dance accumulates, integrates, transforms and re-emerges.” Lawrence’s only solo number has a resonant title, Freedom, and is danced by Jaida Oliver in a manner that depicts that state in relation to both mind and body. And the closing number, Selah (2011), an excerpt from a dance premiered in the 1977 season of the National Dance Theatre Company, observes that, “Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.”
A poignant work, it was presented in memory of the late founder of The Company Dance Theatre, Tony Wilson. It featured Dawn Fuller-Phillips as the lead vocalist in a work that was as much song as spectacle.
Other heavyweight works featuring the full ensemble were Rex Nettleford’s Tribute to Cliff (2007) and Abeldo ‘Tokie’ Gonzales’ Super Nova (2010). For the third consecutive year, the SMDE hosted international collaborations; this year it was the UCCI Dance Company of the Cayman Islands, One of its members, Joshua McLean, was perhaps its lead dancer as he was prominent in a number of the 10 works staged.
One of the most appealing components of a generally delightful production was the costuming. All the colours of the rainbow, and then some, seem to have been used by the designers. Extra applause goes to them as part of a highly creative team presenting a highly creative show.