Stella Maris Dance Ensemble sparkles at 17

Michael Reckord, Gleaner Writer

Despite the continual flood rains, the Stella Maris Dance Ensemble (SMDE) staged its 17th season of dance at the Little Theatre, Tom Redcam Avenue, last weekend. The downpour dampened neither the spirits of the company nor the enthusiasm of the audiences and both would agree the season was a tremendous success.

Those who have been following the activities of the SMDE over the years will know the company has had several other well-received seasons. Those introduced to the company by the 2010 season would have been able to infer past successes by the excellence of the older works remounted for the weekend's shows.

The remounted dances were Dis Poem: His Story, Her Story (1989), originally choreographed by Rex Nettleford and remounted by D'Roi Rose; Tribute to Cliff (1974), a Nettleford work remounted by Rose, Denise Robinson, Patsy Ricketts, MoniKa Lawrence and Abeldo 'Tokie' Gonzales; and The Staff and the Cross (2009) and Liza, both choreographed by Lawrence.

Liza was premiered in the National Dance Theatre Company's 1995 season (Lawrence is a former NDTC dancer) and remounted for the SMDE in 2002.

There were two new works in the six-item, two-hour-long programme. Supernova was choreographed by Gonzales, the SMDE's ballet master, and The Potter was choreographed by Lawrence, the company's founder and artistic director, and Ricketts, the ballet mistress.

chief dance components

The chief components of a dance are the choreography, the music and the costumes. Supernova's most pleasurable component is the music by Vangelis - full-bodied, with sonorous chords suggesting magnificent, universe-shaking events. Basically just "so-so," the choreography comprises quite basic steps and movements, which are visually interesting only because they are executed en masse. On a few occasions, however, there are nice surprises - a dancer suddenly sprinting over the backs of a kneeling group of men, and another being tossed several times high into the air by fellow dancers.

The real let-down is the costuming. While the music promises something spectacular, the costumes are merely coloured T-shirts and black shorts. What they bring to mind is an uneventful workout in the gym.

Much more successful is The Potter, the choreographers' tribute to the "creative genius" of "Rex Nettleford: Cultural philosopher and Founder/Artistic Director of the NDTC." (The quotations are taken from the programme.)

The dance opens with a Creator (danced by Kamar Tucker) unveiling the Potter (Gavin Hart) and it goes on to show the Potter/Nettleford at work shaping, through choreography, numerous dancers. Moving about with Nettleford's imperious stance, Hart is dressed in shining gold-coloured costume, signifying someone precious.

Later, he uses impressive props - lengths of red or purple cloth, the former colour indicating energy and the latter royalty. Throughout the dance, there are echoes of Nettlefordian choreography and as it climaxes Nettleford's image is projected on the back screen. In the final spectacular moments, Hart whirls like a tornado with a cloth covered frame around him pointing heavenward. The applause was tremendous.

A special moment in the concert was Gonzales' solo in Tribute to Cliff. Though quite stout now, Gonzales showed grace, control and style as he danced to Jimmy Cliff's haunting song Many Rivers to Cross.

sprituality

An ethos of spirituality pervades all our major dance companies - an African retention, no doubt - and that ethos was most evident in Lawrence's The Staff and the Cross. The choreographer describes the work as follows: "Regardless of our religious beliefs and rituals, the core philosophy remains love of God and neighbour. Can we unite religions by viewing their similarities, as 'the Staff' of Africa merges with the 'Cross' of Europe?"

The dance indicates that the answer is yes. Its final image is of an African religious figure standing beside a European clergyman on a platform upstage.

The evening's absolute highlight was the final item, Liza, a dance drama full of fun, romance, slapstick comedy, suspense and delicious mento music and song. It tells the tale of a country girl who goes to town but finds the pace too fast and the people too unfriendly; so she returns to the country, only to have characters from the town follow her. Liza will undoubtedly provide a hilarious climax to many future seasons.

The SMDE is an important Jamaican dance company with top-quality dancers and choreographers who, as the season shows, continue to do excellent work. The company deserves to get the studio that it plans to build on the grounds of the Stella Maris complex on Shortwood Road, St Andrew.