Arsenio Andrade-Calderon performs at the NDTC's 'Morning of Movement and Music' last year. Peter Abrikian, Gleaner Writer
To say that the National Dance Theatre Company's (NDTC) 'Morning of Movement and Music 2007' on Sunday, April 8, at the Little Theatre, was well supported would not do justice to the throng of Jamaicans who turned up for the show. 'Standing room only' would be a much more apt, and accurate, way to put it.
With the two opening numbers, the show's template was revealed. The singers rode an upbeat, happy musical train, and the dancers moved to music more reflective and reverent in nature. The choir started off by 'crowning him' (with many crowns) immediately followed by four ladies in flowing red gowns who wafted on to the stage, dancing because they were happy, dancing because they were free. The beautiful, synchronous movement was the highlight of this piece.
Caribbean flair
The choir then skipped their way through the Lord's Prayer with a definitive arrangement by Marjorie Wylie epitomising our Caribbean flair.
The next piece at first appeared to be a solo, then a duet, then a trio. Surprising at every turn, Of Prophecy and Song was one of the highpoints of the company's performance. The three dancers (Marissa Benain, Mark Phinn and Kerry-Ann Henry) eased through the longing of Take Our Mother Home and embraced us with the joy of The Whole World In His Hands. They seamlessly transitioned through periods of dancing for and then with each other - a pleasure to behold.
The choir 'led us away' directly into Sunday Morning, where three couples shouldered us through the burdens of Harry Belafonte's My Lord What A Morning.
Then came Footprints, a duet to Time To Say Goodbye. A study in effortlessness. Arsenio Andrade-Calderon lifted his partner, Carole Orane-Andrade - over and over again, with gentle grace and poise. It seemed that they'd both danced those exact steps a million times before and we, the audience, were mere observers of a well practised couple dancing their dance of love for none but themselves.
Carl Bliss treated us to a rendition of Eye On The Sparrow, his voice a pleasant backdrop to the female accompaniment of the opening dance number.
With Katrina we saw a departure from the dominance of solid coloured costumes as three men and three women (not coupled) in tri-colour gowns swayed to the strains of Kathleen Battle's Motherless Child.
The vocalists The Lion of Judah opened with acapella percussion, a credible imitation of both congo and 'kette' drums. The actual instruments soon joined in to accompany the powerful chant.
... Visual creativity
The Rope And The Cross', a duet by Natalie Chung and Keita-Marie Chamberlin, compelled us to remember the significance of the day at hand, The Easter message was given to us in dance. We felt plainly the anguish of the first dancer as she danced in the shadow of a hanging noose, the sinister rope promising death and destruction. And then, with one brilliant transition, the second dancer came in pointing to an empty rope (tomb) and salvation was at hand. Their excellent use of a red scarf (veil) to comfort each other was also rife with metaphor.
Three couples then took us through a stunning series of lifts and visual creativity as Kathleen Battle once again accompanied, this time with 'Steal Away'. A flashy display of male strength and female elegance, this piece also ended with perhaps the single most memorable image from the entire morning, six human bodies come together to remind us of the shape of one wooden cross.
Restlessness
The foreign sounds of the choir's Songs Of Our Lord, none in English, saw the rise of restlessness in the audience. Perhaps the lack of a common language sparked this, perhaps it was just a sense of being slightly too long in one place, but a definite disconnect could be observed in the masses as the last three pieces ensued. This was unfortunate as the show did, indeed, crescendo as it closed.
The purity of 'The Crossing', dancers in all white, saw the return of almost all the dancers. This high energy piece came closest to the spirit of 'fun' one associates with the term 'dance' while in no way departing from the reverent feel of the rest of the show.
We were treated to a repetition of Marjorie Whylie's arrangement of the 'Our Father' which blended smoothly into Psalm 150 and the finale. The full company - dancers, singers and orchestra - closed the show with verve, though, sensing the end, a few in the audience did start trickling out before they were quite done.
NDTC's 'Morning of Movement and Music', though it could have been a smidgen shorter and in no way was it avant-garde, was yet a wonderful way to start the day and a tribute to the holiness of the season, that is Easter.
