Jamaica Dance Umbrella 2010 Celebrates Excellence in Jamaican Dance
The Philip Sherlock Center for the Creative Arts is presenting the 2nd Annual Jamaica Dance Umbrella (JDU) from Friday March 5th to Sunday March 7th.
This amazing dance event is being dubbed “a celebration of excellence in dance theater” and is dedicated this year to Professor Rex Nettleford.
Last year I went to almost all performances and can testify that the quality of dance was first class and highly entertaining.
Companies being featured this year include, Ashe, The Company, L’Acadco, Maria Hitchins and Dancers of Jamaica, Dancing Dynamites, ProMoves, Shady Squad, University Dance Society, Dance Theater Xaymaca, Kyisha Patterson, Lisa Wilson, Neila Ebanks and Tamara Thomas.
Check out YardEdge interview with Maria Hitchins and many other interviews with dancers and choreographers in the “Dance” category.
The center is also hosting the 1st annual Junior Dance Umbrella, a mini-cultural exchange through movement to encourage young performers. This is a free event featuring the talents of Ascot Dance Troupe, the junior members of The Company, D’oro Dance Ensemble, Edna Manley’s Junior Department, Meadowbrook Dance Troupe, Praise Academy of Dance, Tivoli Dance Troupe and Wolmers Dance Troupe. The Junior Dance Umbrella will also host visiting dancers from The Taft School in Connecticut.
The Jamaica Dance Umbrella started in 2009 as the culminating section of 2009’s Philip Sherlock International Arts Festival, a fundraiser for the Philip Sherlock Theater at UWI. It was a very popular and well attended part of the entire Festival. The JDU celebrates excellence in Jamaican dance and pulls together many of our top performers in the same evenings.
The Junior Dance Umbrella’s objective is to support and encourage young performers in a non-competitive setting.
All performances will be held at the Philip Sherlock Theater, UWI Mona, March 5th til March 7th. There will be a Friday and Saturday performance beginning ay 8pm, and a Sunday performance at 7pm. The Junior Dance Umbrella will be held Sunday March 7th at 2pm.
Proceeds will go towards the refurbishing of the Philip Sherlock Theater.
Programme line up:
FRIDAY
- Dance Theater Xamayca
- Tamara Thomas
- Lisa Wilson and Michelle Patterson
- Kyisha Patterson
- Neila Ebanks
- Kofi Walker
- Dancin’ Dynamites
SATURDAY
- ProMoves
- Neila Ebanks
- Shady Squad
- Kyisha Patterson
- Mooretech Dance Centre
- Marlon Simms
SUNDAY
- UDS
- The Company Dance Theatre
- Maria Hitchins and Dancers of Jamaica
- Lisa Wilson and Michelle Patterson
- Marlon Simms
- L’Acadco
$500 with a student ID, $1000 without
See YardEdge interview with Kyisha Patterson
See YardEdge interview with Neila Ebanks
For ticketing information please call or visit the Phillip Sherlock Center for the Creative Arts, UWI, Mona, (876)-927-1047.
For more information see the facebook group
The Author
12 Comments
Truly no matter if someone doesn’t know after that its up to other users that they will assist, so here it happens.
THIS BOOK- now available
Dance Jamaica – Renewal and Continuity
The National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica 1962-2008
Rex Nettleford
Photographs by Maria Lyacona
B&W and Full Colour Photos
One of the most innovative companies to have achieved world acclaim in the last half of the twentieth century, the National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica blends the lore, music and dance traditions of Jamaica, the wider Caribbean, and the American South with both Modern and European classical ballet forms. This richly illustrated history, as sequel to the earlier Dance Jamaica – Cultural Definition and Artistic, celebrates the Company’s first forty-five years. This is the story of how a group of unpaid dancers, musicians, choreographers, designers and technicians became one of the most influential cultural voices of the Third World.
The Honourable Rex Nettleford is a founder, a former lead dancer and currently the principal choreographer and sole artistic director (since 1967) of the National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica (NDTC).
Maria Layacona has been the NDTC’s official photographer since the early 1960s and has illustrated both of the two previous publications on the Jamaican Dance Company, Roots and Rhythms and Dance Jamaica – Cultural Definition and Artistic Discovery.
Contents: PROLOGUE Renewal and Continuity the NDTC in Transition, Chapter 1 Avatar and Living Monument: The NDTC 1962-2007, Chapter 2 The Bridge Generation and Early Renewal: The Nineteen Eighties and Nineteen Nineties, Chapter 3 The Later Renewal: The Mid Nineties and After, Chapter 4 The Music of the NDTC its Singers and Musicians, Chapter 5 The Repertoire, Chapter 6 Technique(s), Vocabulary and Style, Chapter 7 The Artistic Direction, Choreographers and Creative Technicians, Chapter 8 Critiques and Commentaries Chapter 9 Signal Events: Carifesta, Overseas Tours, Morning of Movement and Music, Musical – Jamaica Calling The School of Dance (Education & Training), EPILOGUE, Beyond 45 and the Way Forward
Keywords: History, Culture, Dance, Jamaica Bic: HBJK, JFCA, ASD, 1KJWJ
ISBN: 978-976-637-392-4 (HBK) Price: GBP 34.95
from Central Books Ltd, 99 Wallis Road, London, E9 5LN, England,
Tel: +44 20 8936 4854. Fax:+44 20 8533 5821 orders@centralbooks.com
This was a great evening of dance! Varied choreography,exciting, well executed! Congrats to all those involved. Looking forward to next year.
looking forward to a vibrant colourful evening of excellence!!!!