Barbados is still capable of producing incredible talent.
And it was on display at the Errol Barrow Centre For Creative Imagination last weekend when young choreographers in the University of the West Indies’ (UWI) fine arts programme delivered an evening of dance entitled Tabula Rasa.
The showcase gave the public an opportunity to view the technical skills that the students have been developing over the semester as well as the raw creative energies they possess; energies that can only be described as vibrant and beautiful.
The show consisted primarily of student-choreographed and performed routines and touched on a variety of subjects including relationships, childbirth, school life and a post-apocalyptic reality.
Twelve of the 14 scheduled dances were performed and kept the audience spellbound.
The standout choreographies of the night were Nicollette Williams’ Wo-Man-Hood, performed by Olivia Hall and Andrew Green, and Akil Ifill’s solo Sweet In The Morning.
Wo-Man-Hood depicted the sometimes primitive, highly sexual nature of male-female relations in the Caribbean. The lack of musical accompaniment only strengthened the performance as the audience heard only whistles and animal calls exchanged between Green and Hall.
Set to the Bobby McFerrin song by the same name, Sweet In The Morning told the story of a drug-addicted man’s struggle with his craving in the cyclical nature of his morning routine.
Ifill accurately portrayed the confusion of the addict – his slight floating pause when he gets his “hit” and the building agony as he “crashes”. Ifill’s facial expressions throughout the performance reinforced his strong stage presence. He is undoubtedly destined for greater things.
The group-choreographed piece High Tide featured University of California student Larshay Sellers and Lisa Cummins as a happy couple enjoying a relaxing swim at the beach when the weather suddenly changes, spelling doom for them.
This piece was perhaps the best marriage of lighting and costuming for the entire night, as the dancers representing the sea were clad in blue unitards and were bathed in blue-white luminescence.
Their movements in an early scene perfectly caught the hypnotic essence of a gentle tide. It was a win, not just for the dancers, but also for the centre’s technical staff.
If there was any note of displeasure that took away from the evening, it would be that the Walcott Warner Theatre of the Errol Barrow Centre seems to be underutilized.
Tabula Rasa represented the work of just a handful of students and the existence of this level of young talent puts the onus on UWI to showcase it ona regular basis, not just at the end of the semester.