Opening night for Nettleford - NDTC's 48th season begins Friday

The 48th annual Season of Dance of the National Dance Theatre Company (NDTC) opens at The Little Theatre, Tom Redcam Drive, Kingston on Friday.

"The Company will present five weeks of cultural artistry, between July 23 and August 22", said, Barry Moncrieffe, the NDTC's associate director, who leads the almost 50-member corps of dancers, singers, musicians and creative technicians. Performances will be on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., and on Sundays at 5 p.m.

According to Moncrieffe, "this year's opening night is in tribute to NDTC's co-founder and late artistic director, Professor the Honourable Rex Nettleford."

That performance, he reveals, will present works created by Nettleford including Gerrehbenta (1983), a ritualistic work which evokes the ceremonies carried over from Africa, and which live today in several forms among rural Jamaicans who invoke the spirits of ancestors for a variety of purposes.

The Company will also perform Spirits at a Gathering (1995), Bujurama (1996), and Misa Criolla (1967), as well as excerpts from Cave's End (2002) and Islands (1985).

Celebrated works

"The active repertoire, which comes into effect after the July 23 opening, can be described as a mix of experimental works and culturally relevant remounts, as well as other celebrated works," Moncrieffe explained.

There will also be new creations this season, one of which is a full-company folk-piece, Form in Fusion choreographed by NDTC dancer Patrick Earle.

The piece will be performed to live music arranged by the NDTC's musical director, Marjorie Whylie.

Also in the repertoire is Minutes and Seconds, a duet created by NDTC ballet mistress, Kerry-Ann Henry and Romanian, Momo Peter Sanno, who was part of the German production of The Lion King and has now joined Garth Fagan Dance.

Remounted pieces include Nettleford's last work, Apocalypse, as well as Phases of the Three Moons (1996) and Folktales (2003) created by NDTC veteran choreographer Clive Thompson, a former principal of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre.

Asi Somos, the athletic modern dance choreographed in 2008 by NDTC dance captain Arsenio Andrade-Calderon remains in the active repertoire in 2010, and this Cuban-born dancer-choreographer will again stage Reflection, a solo fashioned for Christopher Walker. Walker, himself an established choreographer, will remount Fragile (2003), dedicated to the memory of NDTC new generation dancer Andrea Lloyd.

Budding choreographer Christina Gonzalez who debuted My Skin, My Kin in the 2009 season, will remount that work, while Caged, a solo choreographed and danced by Kerry-Ann Henry, also returns to the stage this year.

The NDTC Singers, under the direction of Whylie, will present three suites of songs as part of the programmes. The 'Set-Up Songs' are an adaptation of music associated with death celebrations in the parish of St Catherine during the early 20th century, while the 'Plantation Songs' are taken from Jamaica Song and Story collected by Walter Jekyll, and first published in 1907.

The third suite of songs comprises classic Jamaican popular songs Everything Crash, Carry Go Bring Come and Nice Time.

The singers will be supported by the NDTC's orchestra of keyboard, flutes, guitars, and drums.

Tickets for the NDTC Season of Dance are available at The Little Theatre Box Office.