Tivoli Dance Troupe celebrates 27 years

The Tivoli Dance Troupe will wrap up its 27th season of dance tomorrow at the Little Theatre in St Andrew with an explosive show.

Speaking with the The Gleaner about the group's 27 years as one of the premiere dance institutions in the island, the troupe's artistic director, Jennifer Morgan-Garwood, said that she was overwhelmed by the troupe's growth and development throughout the years. She said that she was particularly pleased with the group's achievements because the narrative surrounding the community of Tivoli Gardens was usually very negative, and the group has done much to bring positivity to the community.

"We celebrate this as a great achievement, knowing the community that we are in. Persons don't usually see good things coming out of this community, and for us to be so stable, it is more than we can put into words," she said.

"People love to be a part of a good thing, and we have dancers who are a part of the group but do not live in the community or even attend the school but [are here] because they want to be a part of something spectacular.

Tivoli Dance Troupe started in the community, but the group is now world-renowned, and we are happy that we got to be a part of changing the narrative about Tivoli."

Morgan-Garwood is also happy about the group's two decades-old run because it gives young people a chance to commit to something and be part of a team.

Achievement

It's a great achievement to celebrate 27 years because young people today are not as committed to being a part of anything for a long time. Twenty-seven years is almost some people's entire lifetime, and we have dancers that have been here since they were four years old, and now they're grown and still with the company. It's good to see young people a part of something, especially when they have to work as a team. It helps to mould them into the men and women we want them to be. When I see their growth and how dedicated they are, it makes the 27 years worth it."

This year's dance season will be staged under the theme 'Encore'. Morgan-Garwood says that the theme fits the show perfectly as there will be pieces performed that were done before.

"We titled it 'Encore' this year because we wanted to celebrate the best of what we have offered over the last 27 years. We want people to experience those pieces again because they are still as good as when we performed them in 2004 or 2005."

She added, "We will be highlighting our work from former years as well as some of our current work from this year's festival."