NDTC brings culture to inner city kids
Published:Saturday | August 12, 2023 | 12:08 AMShanel Lemmie/Staff Reporter
Set against the backdrop of Jamaica’s 61st Independence, the National Dance Theatre Company (NDTC) put on the second staging of their Children’s Show benefit performance.
Speaking with Good Heart, artistic director for the NDTC Marlon Simms explained that after the inaugural staging last year, this year’s continuation was a ‘no-brainer’.
“When the idea was introduced last year to the company it was on a premise that it’s a show that we always perform abroad for overseas students. Children who are born to Jamaican parents, they have some kind of Caribbean lineage and to get them exposed to culture and heritage we would have a special show for them,” he explained.
“I said let’s make it even more pointed and take it to the children in state care. So once we opened it up to anyone’s child we thought we would invite in a very special audience and it would be the children in state care. So, we worked on the show, we invited in the children and it was the favourite show of the season last year. We loved it so much we wanted to do it again. It was such a no-brainer, we didn’t have to convince anyone.”
Though prepared for an audience of 350, the holiday show saw children from inner-city communities, state care and those travelling with their parents.
Among the evening’s offerings were new pieces, Jimmy Cliff Tribute, arranged by Dr Kathy Brown; crowd favourite, Circa 2K, choreographed by Orville McFarlane and national marvel, Kumina, choreographed by late director, Rex Nettleford.
Speaking on the importance of the piece in the show, Simms Said, “We would never deprive the children of that experience. That iconic work that was choreographed by Professor Rex Nettleford ... that represents the group of people, the Congolese, who are still living amongst us ... [represents] one of the richest African retention in our culture. And they get to not just hear the music, but see the music being performed live. They get to hear the singers and see them perform and they get to see them live. Then they get to see a portrayal of a king and a queen. Their assumptions about the king and the queen and royalty are probably England, and the Buckingham Palace, but they are seeing a black king and a black queen performing a dance based on an African ritual and that must change your perspective of royalty.”
According to the dancer himself, his favourite moment of the dance season thus far was when he got to crown a child from the audience as the Kumina King after their performance had ended.
“His whole demeanour transformed when I took off my robe and I placed it on him and I gave him my scepter. He just transformed, he lifted his chest and he was looking up and holding the scepter. There was a carriage about him. It was a very proud moment. I can only guess what the moment meant to him, but I thought to myself it meant inclusion, it maybe made him feel like he was chosen, made him feel like he was a part of something great and something special.”
He continued, “It is moments and memories like those than can transform children’s lives and so it is what makes show really special for us. And that’s my favourite part of any show, when we invite the children to come up and we kind of knock down that fifth wall and they get to be on the drums, they get to sing with the singers, they get to learn a little bit of what we do and for a moment, perform with the company. Something that they though was inaccessible, just became a part of who they are in that moment, and that is for me a potentially transformative moment in their lives.”
Lauding the dedication of the company as well as the interest of the children, Simms said he was hoping to see more outreach of the same nature.
“I thought that it was not a bad turnout at all. We are looking at ways we can get even more children into the theatre next year. We started an informal discussion with one of the organisers of a programme in Hannah Town and those inner-city communities that work with at-risk youths, that they wanna partner with us next year. So we have the children in state care then we have these children who are a part of these outreach programmes so they can also come and experience theatre.”