Xaymaca gets better and better

Marcia Rowe, Gleaner Writer

Like an athlete approaching the last metre of a race, so it is for dancers on the final night of a performance season. This must have been the feeling of the members of Dance Theatre Xaymaca (DTX) on Sunday.

It was the final of three consecutive nights of performance and it was clear that they wanted the final show to end on a high note. They danced with precision and agility.

Flexes and points were well defined and the general extensions of bodies combined with great group coordination, aided by fantastic costumes, created lovely montages.

After the customary singing of Jamaica's National Anthem, the curtains opened to Orette Beckford's choreography, Impetus. All the dancers except one were costumed in green unitards. The dance began with a tableau: arms extended casting slight shadows on the white cyclorama. Slowly, the bodies untangled, moving into a variety of formations, exploring different levels while covering all areas of the stage.

Ghana Samuda's remount of Kameica Reid's Chains was next. There were five dancers. They moved with coordinated beauty, communicating the pain and suffering of the slaves. With well-defined points and flexes, they moved to the voice of Sam Cooke, slowly and timely across the stage of the Little Theatre. Their earth-coloured costumes, complete with ropes around their necks, also helped the story of the dance to resonate.

most outstanding dance

However, the most innovative dance of the evening was Today ... Tomorrow ... Together, choreographed by Natalie Gallimore. There were only two dancers who, with some beautiful extensions, demonstrated their love for each other.

Renée Grant and Paul Newman danced well. But dancing to a live vocalist on keyboard? That was fantastic. The touch of difference was brought by musician Harold Davis.

The show was split into two parts, the first ending with The History of Iniquity - Part 1, a dance created and choreographed by Onaje.

While the young choreographer must be commended for his effort, it must be said that the dance was one of the weakest of the event. His inexperience showed in his limited vocabulary. This was especially reflected in the first motif. Except for a change in costumes, this time silver, there was too much similarity to Impetus. Subsequent motifs did show differences, though.

Part two seemed to focus more on set and props. DTX artistic director, Barbara McDaniel's 2004 choreography, Space of the Mind, got the section going. As was the case in the first segment, the dance began with a tableau.

But this time, the dancers, wearing orange jumpers, explored levels and space with the aid of large metal drums. The drums were strategically placed in the upstage areas and allowed for some fantastic reach.

love - fast and sweet

But it was guest choreographer Michael Holgate's Love - Fast and Sweet that brought the dance party. The music was sweet and so were the movements as the small group of dancers moved their bodies to the rhythm of pan and drum.

Each movement of the hips was supported by the lively ruffles of the hems of the dancers' yellow skirts.

And finally, DTX's 16th season came to an end with another of McDaniel's revived works. Freedom Song (2004) was helped along by Samuda and Akilah Wallace, who did two of the six movements that made up the dance.

For Freedom Song, the stage was adorned with green and gold. The images of Bob Marley, Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King, and Malcolm X were hung in the upstage areas.

The dancers had the perfect setting to deliver what was a near-perfect piece.

The well-constructed and coordinated costumes, though beautiful, barely managed to match the exquisite movement of the dancers, who used Bob Marley and Mykal Rose's music for their inspiration.

But alas, the choreography was not solid! The otherwise beautifully choreographed dance was spoilt by the repetition of the single-line montage of arms outstretched formed upstage centre, a formation already used in Impetus and History of Iniquity.

However, that did not detract much from an otherwise short and delightful show.