By Tanya Batson, Staff Reporter 
'Inna Di Bus'. Like the bus ride it evokes, 'Liza', choreographed by Monika Lawrence, was a hysterical dance drama.
THE STELLA Maris (Young Adult) Dance Ensemble's 9th annual season presented an interesting mix of Latin American and Jamaican culture in seven dances. The title of the season, Body Voices, was rather apt, as most of the dances were dramatic in nature, and used dance to tell a tale.
Two aspects of the season stood out, costumes and music. The crowning dance of the season, which blended these two wonderfully well and also exuded good choreography, was Liza.
Liza premiered in the 1995 season of the National Dance Theatre Company (NDTC), and is choreographed by the group's artistic director, Monika Lawrence. Lawrence and Denise Robinson were responsible for costumes, a job they held for most of the pieces in the season.
Liza is a dramatic dance loosely based on the 'mout-a-massy' young girl who features prominently in Jamaican folk songs. However, it creates much more than simply an attempt to curtail the loose female tongue.
Instead, Liza presents comedy, romance and drama. In Liza, the protagonist, after having a fight with her mother, leaves the country and migrates to 'town'. Upon reaching, after getting used to the turmoil of city life, she is courted by, and falls for a bus driver. However, longing for her mother, she returns home. Her lover soon follows, and the requisite fairytale ending follows.
However, with it is injected quite a bit of hilarity. The dance makes great use of slow motion, and ends on a great note of hilarity. Liza depended as much on the dramatic skills of the dancers, as (and maybe even more than) it depended on their dancing skills.
Felice Mah-Leung's dramatic representation of the jealous girlfriend, and Orville Hall (as the cheater boyfriend and the prince charming of the tale) were particularly interesting. Tiffany Martin, Monique Spence and Karen Spence also played their roles rather well. Even so, it was a dance, which needed the entire ensemble to do well, and that they did.
Ridim, which the ensemble had earlier taken to Japan, was another impressive dance which also explored Jamaican musical history, at least in terms of the varying rhythms. The dance was divided into five sections, moving from the influence of Revivalism and Rastafari, through to present day dancehall. The dance used Oh Carolina, Pass De Kutchie, and Could You Be Loved among other songs. This piece was also choreographed by Monika Lawrence, with the help of Hall for the dancehall segment.
Of the five segments, the dancehall was most impressive. It displayed the colour vivaciousness, and 'rear end' audacity which embodies dancehall culture. It also demonstrated that in dancehall, the men are as 'showy' and 'flexible of waist' as their female counterparts. Although it demonstrated smooth choreography, it still maintained street credibility.
Other aspects of Jamaican culture were presented through Pepperpot, one of the season's impressive dances. Pepperpot featured music from Mystic Revelation of Rastafari, a blend of jazz being played by the trombone over Nyahbinghi drumming. The dance presented a pepperpot of Jamaican culture, showing kumina, revivalism, and what was described as 'contemporary urban Nyahbinghi'. This dance was made interesting, not because of any complexity or uniqueness of the dance, but rather because of the dramatic prowess of the principal dancers, who were well selected.
The Kumina segment began with a commanding performance by Wendi Hoo-Fatt. Her upper body and facial rigidity smacked of authenticity. The next phase of the dance, focusing on pocomania, benefited in much the same manner from the performances of Orville Hall and Karen Seymour. Although the urban Nyahbinghi segment was also interesting, it was one of the few dances in which the costumes fell down, sacrificing authenticity for gaudy.
The Latin-American influences were brought in by Ijesh and Panorama, both of which were choreographed by Abeldo 'Tokie' Gonzales. Both dances also featured some of the more impressive costumes. In fact, the most striking thing about Ijesh, the first dance presented, was the costumes. Ijesh is a Spanish folk dance, which depicted labourers at work. The costumes managed to be bright, though not overwhelming, using an array of purple, green, blue and orange, all of which blended well. This was helped by the fact that white was the dominant colour used.
The labour aspect of the dance was usually relegated to the male dancers. Much of the female dancing seemed to be dedicated to celebrating the beauty of their costumes.
There was a menacing gleam from the machetes as the male dancers bounded through the air, slicing through their daily toil and the front seat did not seem so comfortable any more.
Panorama had stronger artistic legs on which to stand. It began with a generically unimpressive Latin feel but soon took on a distinctly Cuban flavour as the African drums were brought in and merged with the latin beats. With this the dance also changed. The Cuban folk dance depicted a variety of tap dancing. However, rather than tap shoes, it uses wooden slippers. On occasion, the tapping from the slippers collided with the music being played, but for the most part the two rhythms blended well. Most of the moves in this segment could be traced to classic tap with occasional diversions into contemporary black dance.
