NDTC finale leaves Montego Bay wanting more

WESTERN BUREAU:

“The entertainment drought has been broken.” That was one patron’s reaction as the National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica (NDTC) received repeated standing ovations from a full house on Sunday night, closing its 64th Season of Dance at Iberostar in Montego Bay.

Staged in collaboration with First Dance Studios, the closing gala drew a strong turnout from Montego Bay and renewed discussion about the need for more spaces for dance, film, and the performing arts in the resort city.

For Mayor of Montego Bay, Councillor Richard Vernon, the show’s turnout underscored the need for more spaces for the arts in the city.

“We have heard the call as well for theatre in Montego Bay,” Vernon said. “We need it.”

He said the city has significant young talent in dance and other art forms who need a space in which to develop and showcase their abilities.

“They need a place to express themselves on a Sunday evening like this so that the entire Montego Bay can come out and enjoy themselves,” he explained. “We need more and more offerings. We need diversity.”

Vernon said he intends to continue discussions with NDTC artistic director Marlon Simms to ensure that Sunday’s staging does not become a one-off event.

For patron Betty-Ann Brown, a Kingstonian who has made Montego Bay her home for the past 25 years, the performance brought back something she has sorely missed since moving west.

“What a breath of fresh air!” she exclaimed. Brown said that while living in Kingston, she enjoyed being able to drive to a theatre and take in a live performance, an experience she has not had with the same regularity in Montego Bay.

“I miss it. I miss it. I miss it,” she added. “I really think the quality of my life has gone down, but this weekend I felt alive. I felt happy.”

She described the NDTC performance as “simply extraordinary” and said cultural events also provide an opportunity for people to reconnect with friends and community.

Brown is already looking forward to a return staging and said she would like to see corporate Jamaica help expose more employees to productions of this nature.

Kathryn May, who supported First Dance Studios through the Doctor’s Cave Bathing Club in bringing the company to Montego Bay, said the turnout provided compelling evidence of the demand.

“We were thrilled to see MoBay out and enjoying,” May said. “Nights like this confirm that Montego Bay deserves a multiuse theatre for dance, film, and the performing arts.”

Tenny Miller shared that view, too, describing the Montego Bay staging as “well overdue” and saying it attracted a good cross-section of the community.

“During intermission you could feel the quenching of the thirst among the patrons and the hunger for more,” Miller said.

He described the event as “a great beginning for a Montego Bay cultural revival”.

The performance also carried special significance for the NDTC. While the company has performed in Montego Bay previously, Simms said taking the closing gala of its annual Season of Dance to the western city represented something far more consequential.

“I feel deeply proud and moved by this moment,” he shared. “While the NDTC has performed in Montego Bay before, closing our annual Season of Dance to the city is far more significant. It marks a monumental shift in how we share the company’s signature event with Jamaica.”

Nearly 50 performers made the trip, with only four dancers absent. Altogether, approximately 60 NDTC members travelled to Montego Bay, including dancers, singers, musicians, creative technicians and administrators.

“We travelled as a unit to give Montego Bay everyone and all that we had to offer,” Simms said. “We came with all hearts combined.”

The occasion also brought the company into territory closely connected with its late co-founder and former artistic director, Professor Rex Nettleford, who attended Cornwall College and had ties to the Montego Bay Boys and Girls’ Club.

For Simms, however, this finale was also about demonstrating that Jamaica’s cultural offerings should extend beyond the capital.

“The arts do not belong to one city or one stage,” he told the audience. “They flourish wherever communities value them, support them, and create opportunities for future generations to participate.”

He then posed what, after this reception, may prove to be the night’s most consequential thought:

“Perhaps tonight is more than a historic first. Perhaps it is the beginning of a new tradition.”

entertainment@gleanerjm.com