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Metamorphosis: Connections 2008 in Dance
TriniView.com Reporters Event Dates: July 03 - 06, 2008 The Metamorphosis Dance Company presented their 13th annual major dance production at the Queen's Hall, Port of Spain from Thursday 3rd to Sunday 6th July, 2008. Titled 'Connections 2008', the production connected several genres of dance, where motion, sound, colour and messages all interplayed in exciting fashion. Nancy Herrera, Artistic Director of the Metamorphosis Dance Company, explained the title emerged from the interesting set of connections that the Metamorphosis Dance Company has with various styles of dance. The name also reflects that each piece has a web of people and gifts that converge.
The Metamorphosis Dance Company comes out of the Caribbean Dance School and acts as a stepping stone for dancers who want to make dance a career. Herrera expressed that with dance she has the potential not just to entertain, but to make people think and reflect, through deep choreography, social criticism and parody that manifests within the dance.
Starting promptly at the appointed time of 8 p.m., the first piece was titled 'Vandana: The Sounds of Creation' choreographed by Sat Balkaransingh and Nancy Herrera and featured dancers Safiya De Four, Dominique Samaroo, Crystal Lyons, Camille Fitz-Worme, Sat Balkaransingh and the Nrityanjali Theatre. According to the programme, Vandana opens invoking God in many of his manifold aspects with body, mind and soul, expressing humility, love and respect while sanctifying the performance space. It begins with invocative frescoes, then drums and voices chanting 'Om', the primordial sound of creation, preservation and dissolution; ending with adoration of the Lord of dance.
The piece 'Vandana' was followed by 'Transcendence' choreographed by Gary De Matas which was divided into three scenes: 'Germination', 'Actualisation' and 'Propagation'. The dancers were excellent in their portrayal of these three states. The audience was free to interpret this dramatization in a material or metaphysical way.
An exciting piece was executed by four young men from the Necessary Arts School. Titled 'Sermon on the Rock' the dancers Anthony Lawrence, Chad Cachie, Emmanuel White and Kwame Sealy impressed the audience with their hip hop style of dance.
Another exciting piece was also done by the all-male trio of Gregory Breedy, Ian Baptiste and Deon Baptiste, which was dedicated to Felix Harington, Mr. Breedy's first folk teacher. Titled 'After the Fat Lady Sings, Then What?', the dancers thrilled the audience with their emotional motions, crisp movement and acrobatics.
An interesting and very different piece was the premiere of the dance, 'Counting'. Although it was described in the programme as being "of individual vulnerability, institutional voyeurism and tropical violence", it was not immediately clear what the lone dancer in the piece was counting. With an appearance of a white blimp in the background, the dancer Chanel Martin Phillips used monologue, song, visual effects and motion to offer a social commentary of the crime situation as she counted up to the number of murders for the year.
Another wonderful piece choreographed by Andre Largen was 'Le Deuil' which portrayed the duality of a woman's emotion; her grief buffered by her strength. The dancer, draped in blood-red attire, successfully epitomized the sadness of loss and the resiliency of the human spirit that endures even after hardship. She moved gracefully about the stage suddenly tensing and jerking intermittently as if in extreme pain and then overcoming it with forceful and elegant strides. The audience was spellbound by this emotive piece.
"Leave me to my land / Tethered like a tree" were the introductory words bequeathed to the act 'The Cherry Tree'. The dramatic dance, choreographed by Brenda Baden-Semper depicted the Cherry tree in its period of blossom, its disconnection from the earth and other states which were dramatized in four scenes: 'Where Is The Green?', 'An Axe To The Root', 'The Breaking Strings', and 'Run Fast'. What added to the magnificent performance of the dancers was the simply put together prop (the Cherry tree) and the lighting on the backdrop of the stage which provided the illusion of deep forest. The performance, which required a range of emotions to depict the evolution of the Cherry tree was masterfully put together carrying the audience through the awe, the wonderment and the sorrow of the tree.
Folk singer Gillian Moor and the Sweet Lavway were entrancing as they performed the haunting song "Blue Red Woman" as the lone dancer moved to the melodic vocals and chords of the Sweet Lavway band. This dance was choreographed by Sonja Dumas, whose choreographic skills played a significant part in several pieces of the production.
The piece titled 'Bow-Wood' explored the interpersonal relationships of people in colonial societies of the Caribbean. According to the programme, 'Bow Wood' is the story of Hugh Keane (played by Ian Baptiste), a Vincentian planter and Betty Keane (played by Safiya De Four), who was both his 'plantation wife' and 'Sable Venus'. Baptiste and De Four danced their romantic affair, which was contrasted by the motions of the group of female dancers, who seemed to be portraying domestic workers in the plantation house.
One of the favourite pieces of the audience was titled 'Drums of the Nation and Tatkar' which celebrated the difference of two cultural forms; the Kathak dancers and the Tap dancers. Yet, despite the difference the dancers interacted, both displaying intricate foot movements, to the accompanying music of African drums, Steelpan, Sitar and Tabla, ending in a grand crescendo that drew rapturous applause from the audience.
The final piece titled 'Tarana with Visitations of Tap', embodied a similar concept as the Kathak dancers invited their neighbours the Tap dancers onstage, and according to the programme, each drumming out on the floor the separate identity of its people while maintaining a common rhythmic pulse...a common aspiration; towards true development and harmonious living.
Indeed the African drums and Sitar did blend beautifully as did the movements and rhythms of the Kathak and Tap Dancers, which was all very much appreciated by the audience, bringing the curtain down on the exciting night of Modern, Hip Hop, Classical Ballet, Classical Indian and Tap Dance. Connections 2008 in Dance in pictures: www.triniview.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=273324 |