AISHA COMISSIONG is a passionate person, and it shows each time she graces the stage.
The 25-year-old dancer, whose first degree is in dance performance and choreography, boasts of being one of two people on the island to hold this qualification. She also holds a master’s degree in cultural studies.
Aisha has been a member of local dance group Dancin’ Africa from as far back as she can remember. While in Jamaica, in her third year of study, she promised Jennifer Sealy, the artistic director for Dancin’ Africa, that she would come back and create a couple dances for her.
“I started dancing with them and while I was away I promised Ms Sealy to choreograph for her. She agreed to two pieces for the National Independence Festival of Creative Arts (NIFCA), but when the time came to produce them I chickened out.
“I was nervous entering NIFCA ’cause I have entered before and didn’t necessarily do so well because I got bronze medals. It’s something to be proud about, but the whole process is nerve-racking and calls for a lot of discipline. Ms Sealy looked at me and said, “Aisha Comissiong, you promised me two pieces and I want my two pieces”.
“If she had never done that, all the events that I did after that never would have happened so I have to be extremely grateful to her for pushing me in 2011 to follow through on my promise,” she said, grinning.
Comissiong describes her experience with dancing as a learning and growing one – working with people to find the techniques which work best. “I am an academic and an artist. I don’t think one detracts from the other, but rather complement each other.
“And I think I could probably attest my academic achievements to that as well coming off of a lot of the attributes I would have developed though the arts. I take that into my choreographing experience with Dancin’ Africa and I think that attests to my success because it’s not just a teaching thing; it’s a classroom experience where I share knowledge and learn from them as much as they learn from me.
“I don’t want to be cynical but I hope that when they are finished they have grown as well. When people come and speak to me personally, I think that maybe I am doing something good. And there are those who say they have grown so much since working with me and I often think ‘Me? You sure is me?’ I don’t think I am doing that much, but maybe something I am doing is working,” she added, shrugging her shoulders.
All Aisha has ever wanted to do is travel and perform. And although she has done a bit of that with other people, she wants to do it on her own now. Outside of dance she likes sports, and if she was not choreographing, she would be heavily into physiotherapy and fitness, for sure.
As for which she prefers better between dancing and choreographing, she mused, “Each has their own struggle. Sometimes when I am dancing I feel like I am so far from where I want to be, but then I step on stage and it’s . . . you know . . .” .
Aisha, who has danced under the direction of Dr L’antoinette Stines at L’acadco United Caribbean Dance Force in Jamaica, wants a brighter connection between Barbados and Jamaica and the dancer and choreographer is concerned about a few aspects in Barbados’ dance community. One element is that of dance photography.
“Dance photography is lacking in Barbados. In Jamaica I have observed photographers coming to rehearsals to see when are the best moments to take a particular shot, unlike here where they simply snap a picture and may catch you falling out of the air and then the photo is off.
“Another area which needs some focus is production. We need to start bringing out videos – music and dance – all year round; to make bigger and better productions and have people hiring proper dancers. We need artistes who think about their final product and not just about the next dollar; that’s the only way you will get to the next level. Machel Montano and Kes (Trinidadian soca artistes) do not put crap on stage.
“Most events or launches cannot happen without a dance and that is a way dancers make a living. It’s harder here in Barbados, but hopefully we can make those kinds of movements in the dance world going forward. We still have a very long way to go, not just in the dancing world but with everything.”
Coming out of her experience in Jamaica, as well as the year she spent in Canada in 2009 at the Randolph Academy for Performing Arts, Comissiong has hopes of someday opening her own dance school. “I want to open my own dance company eventually. Even in Jamaica people in school said to me that they want their kids to come dance with me. I have demands and I have solutions, but if I know what I want I know what I want and I will try my hardest to get what I want. But, on the other hand, I think I want to do some stuff for myself first . . . . And then I wonder if they can’t happen simultaneously.”
As for her NIFCA experience, each year she thinks it would be her last. Admitting it could be rough occasionally, she said, “Sometimes I wonder how others’ experiences are. I remember speaking to Louise Woodvine one year, and they asked me when do my dancers learn their pieces for NIFCA. I said, ‘the week before I leave’ and they were shocked.
“I come back a week before semi-finals and I changed the dance in one night. One time we stayed up at NCF [National Cultural Foundation] until 2 a.m., until the police came and told us we had to shut down. And for some reason that’s the process we have every year, but it works for us. It is very intense . . . . But we get it done in a shorter space of time.”
Citing her dad Pan Africanist David Comissiong as her biggest supporter, she said, grinning, “I wouldn’t change my dad for the world. He stands by his principles; he’s honest and extremely supportive. My father is at each of my rehearsals; giving support, lending advice, encouraging dancers. If I say, ‘Dad, I need something for my dancers’, he is there. If I can’t get my thoughts clear, I sit with him for a while and he helps me put those thoughts into perspective. He is my outside eye.
“We had a small all-girls dance group when I was in secondary school. We used to perform at all the school pageants and he was there at every performance with a video camera in hand recording us, for us to see ourselves afterward. If I have a vision he would go out of his way to ensure that whatever I have in mind can come to fruition, which is exactly what is happening for NIFCA this year,” she added.
Admitting that it wasn’t always easy being the daughter of David Comissiong, she said, “Being his daughter in Barbados, I feel like I have to be on the defensive all the time. I see and read things that really would hurt me because I am on the inside and I know what is going on, but he is the type who when these things begin to bother me would say, “Aisha, don’t bother with those things, we have to push on with the fight”. Sometimes when I feel like giving up, and I have felt like giving up on dance several times, he is my silent support. And then I think if he can rise above all these things that come at him, then I can get back up on that horse as well.”
And as for where Aisha goes from this point forward: “Right now I don’t have a lot on my mind. My focus is NIFCA and I still have my thesis to write. I know I want to do stuff on my own and start teaching classes. I am yet to understand why no one in Barbados has thought production in terms of their stage commercial act. I enjoy theatre dancing but I prefer to be on a commercial stage; it’s a lot more fun. I enjoy giving the emotion and making people cry, but it is a lot.
“Dancers are not just dancers; they are actors as well so it puts you in some places . . . . I have found myself crying during performances, but we still need to get through the performance, but there is the side of me who enjoys having fun. So that’s exactly what I am going to do: have fun doing what I was born to do.
When asked to describe herself, she appeared to be at a loss for words before she said, “I am a very passionate person. Some people refer to me as a drill master, but when I have a vision or there is something I see that I need to come to fruition I won’t stop until I get it. And I apply that drive to everything I do.” (RA)