Who doesn’t know Aisha Comissiong has probably never been to any National Independence Festival of Creative Arts (NIFCA) performances, any dance recitals or seen Riddim Tribe on the stage. What with numerous dance awards, established as a sought-after choreographer, and her being the brains behind the dance group Riddim Tribe.
The 27-year-old is a past student of Charles F. Broome Memorial Primary School and Harrison College. She gained a scholarship in 2009 to the Randolph Academy for Performing Arts. She went to Jamaica to attend the Edna Manley College For The Visual and Performing Arts and is at the University of The West Indies Mona Campus pursuing her Masters in Cultural Studies (she is after all, the daughter of well-known pan-Africanist, social activist and lawyer David Comissiong).
Aisha has been dancing since age six and her favourite dance performance genre is a toss-up between dancehall and modern contemporary dance. But she is versed in about six or so genres.
Aisha calls dance “the love of my life”.
“Dance has become my everything, and a crucial part of who I am,” she said. “I’m not exactly sure how to describe it, but nothing has ever quite compared to that feeling I get when I step on a stage – that performance high – that visceral feeling that only happens in that exact moment and is different every single time you put yourself out there on stage. I live for that.”
Her “fairytale story” of being introduced to the art form came when she was quite young.
“Carolyn Barrow, the wife of the late Honourable Errol Barrow, approached my father and pronounced that I had the legs of a dancer and encouraged him to enroll me into dance classes. He did, and as they say, the rest is history.”
And what a history she has had.
She had the distinction of achieving the highest grade point average at Edna Manley and being selected as the valedictorian in 2012, having graduated with a Bachelor in Fine Arts in dance performance and choreography (first-class honours).
In addition, she was the recipient of no less than five individual awards at the graduation ceremony – The Rex Nettleford Award For Outstanding Performance and Choreography, The Bert Rose Award For The Most Outstanding Performer, The School Of Dance Award For All Round Excellence, The Best Researched Award, and The Principal’s Award For Most Outstanding Student.
In 2011, she became the recipient of the prestigious Prime Minister’s Scholarship in Barbados, as well as the two-time gold award winner for her choreography in both the 2011 and 2012 NIFCA.
Aisha has been taking it easy for the past several months, as injuries have taken a toll on her knee. She came to the shoot on crutches, and mindful of her surgeries and rehabiliation process, the photographer only allowed her to do simple movements.
“I’ve been injured so many times my fellow dancers insist I need to live or dance in a bubble. I’ve never been one to let injuries upset me or get in my way but my last two injuries for sure have changed that for me in a major way.
‘Because dance plays such a major role in my life, I felt as if that part of me was now threatened and I had a hard time processing and dealing with that mentally, emotionally and physically. I still do from time to time, but I know a weak mind is only a disservice to the recovery and rehabilitation process. Dancers/athletes have made comebacks from worse so I encourage myself
to stay positive.
“I think that was the biggest challenge I have ever faced in my career . . . . Injured to the point of needing surgery and then not being able to walk unassisted, let alone even consider dancing.”
Aisha is still recovering, so her practice time is non-existent, but before she would be in the studio pretty much every day. Riddim Tribe has now ventured into teaching classes twice a week so Aisha’s input is still valued even though she has to sit on sidelines.
“Dance is one of those disciplines where numerous challenges just come with the territory – even on a good day. The hardest thing for me was finding a way to deal with the limitations of my body – both genetic and as a result of injury.”
While she breathes and eat dance, she did consider a different career path.
“I almost became a lawyer. Almost,” she said, laughing. “But I think I was also looking at being a physiotherapist – or a career that has something to do with fitness.”
Speaking of fitness she has to keep her muscles and limbs loose and ready. Her pre-performance ritual includes rubbing a heat muscle rub over hamstrings, quadriceps, back muscles, and the muscles that deal with hip extension, adduction and abduction in order to increase body temperature. In warm up gear she goes for a run in order to open up her lungs, get her breathing rhythm right, and increase heart rate.
After that it is a range of exercises and stretches and lastly rolling several of her larger muscles on a tennis ball to give them a deep tissue massage of sorts. This also helps relieve any tension in the muscles. And she always make sure to do a few splits before going on stage to ensure her hamstrings are fully warm.
While Aisha is peeved over “so many” common misconceptions of dancers, she singles out, “Ooh, ooh, that all dancers are flexible and that dance is just a hobby (snicker). And that we don’t need to exercise or watch our diets (another snicker).
“I watch what I eat but ice cream is my favourite food in the world.”
For Aisha her favourite part of dancing (outside of performing and choreographing) would have to be the “Aha!” moments.
“These come in both creating movement or sequences, and learning new movement or sequences. I like when the parts become whole.”
Each dancer has an embarrassing moment they wish never to relive, and for Aisha it was Soca Royale 2012 as part of Lil Rick’s Party Monarch presentation for Pon De Ground.
“We were entering the bottom stage to the chorus and I was the second person out in full force. That full force continued to the grand battement (large kick) that I did which subsequently saw my right leg sliding from underneath me and I hit the ground so hard on the exact words – “pon de ground!” I didn’t even stop to think for a second, I jumped over into a split and continued. When I came off everyone asked if I was okay as to how hard I had fell. I go back to the YouTube video and laugh at it now though,” she said, chuckling.
What does she do when not dancing? “It’s probably bedtime by the time I am not dancing”, she said. However, outside of sleep she can be found in the gym or doing some kind of outdoor workout activity, catching up on TV series, coming up with choreography, or researching something.
“Is this the part where I get to say I dislike pirouettes,” she said, as we both laughed.
Okay, different tactic. What would you say to someone who is afraid to start dancing, I asked?
“Feel the fear and do it any way! You won’t regret it! (NS)
