Campana makes a return - Campion College gives encore performance after dominant display at JCDC finals

The Campion College Dance Troupe is giving dance fans an opportunity to see for themselves why the troupe walked away with 19 gold medals and 12 national trophies in the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission's (JCDC) recent national dance competition.

The award-winning dances will be showcased during two encore performances of the troupe's well-received inaugural season of dance, 'Campana' to be held on Saturday at 7 p.m. and on Sunday at 6 p.m., at Campion's Lindo auditorium on Old Hope Road.

The encore performances are expected to reflect the growth and evolution of the dancers and dances over the past few months, said artistic director and choreographer Dwight Wright.

Wright said the quality of the dances was reflected in comments from the JCDC judges.

technically clean dances

"The judges loved the dances. They thought that they were technically clean and that the passion for dance could be felt. Twelve of our dancers are actually National Dance Theatre Company trainees so that contributes to their technical competence. One of the judges noted that the dances were thought provoking and conveyed effectively the intent of the choreographers," he said.

Campion is well known for its top academic achievements, but also showed that the school is now a force to be reckoned with in dance, when the school's dance troupe entered 20 dances in the JCDC dance competition, and won a jaw-dropping 19 gold medals and a silver medal at the parish finals. At the just-concluded national dance finals, the junior troupe won seven national trophies, while the seniors walked away with five national trophies.

This means that of the 20 dances entered by Campion, 12 were adjudged the best in the island in their respective classes.

The juniors, in the 13-15 age group won national trophies for Best Duet, Best Trio, Best Quartet, Best Modern Dance, Best Folk Dance, and Best Praise Dance. The school also copped the award for the Best Class Four School and Best Class Four Teacher for artistic director and choreographer Wright, and chief external choreographer Derrick McCarthy. This is the second year in a row that Wright is walking away with top honours for the Class Four group.

The seniors, in the 16-19 age group, danced away with the national trophies for Best Quartet, Best Solo, Best Duet, Best Folk Dance and Best Jazz.

very excited

Wright was excited, but not surprised.

"The achievements at the JCDC dance competition were due to the commitment of the dancers and choreographers. The dancers showed an undying commitment to the art form as they attended rehearsal even during their CAPE and CSEC exams. It was a very difficult task as we had to be at school on Saturdays and Sundays for more than 10 hours some days," he said.

The troupe's inaugural season has been dubbed 'Campana - the journey continues,' a nod to Campion College's highly successful 50th Anniversary celebrations last year.

Guest choreographers include Marlon Simms - dance captain at the National Dance Theatre Company (NDTC) and lecturer at the Edna Manley School of Dance, Kevin Moore, also a lecturer at Edna Manley, Kerry Ann Henry, NDTC ballet mistress and lecturer at Edna Manley. Stephanie Thomas, Kamar Tucker and Benton Morris, all from the NDTC, are also guest choreographers. Steven Cornwall, member of The Company Dance Theatre is another guest choreographer.

Wright said the July shows would be much better than the first staging earlier this year, with several new dances being presented. The pieces that were showcased before have evolved and improved as well, he said.

"We have quite a few new dances including 'Likkle Miss Lillian', a social commentary about a teenage girl in love and her aunt, we have a new jazz piece, 'Jazz City', choreographed by Kerry Ann Henry of NDTC, a new popular (dancehall) piece 'Campion Rock' and a parents' dance," he explained.

Some of those went down especially well at the dance finals.