Sabine Sörgel Dancing Postcolonialism TanzScripte | edited by Gabriele Brandstetter and Gabriele Klein | Volume 6 Sabine Sörgel (Dr. phil.) teaches the history and theory of theatre and dance at Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz. Her current research includes cross- cultural corporealities, contemporary performance and postcolonial theory. Sabine Sörgel Dancing Postcolonialism The National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica Die vorliegende Arbeit wurde vom Fachbereich 05 Philosophie und Philologie der Jo- hannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz im Jahr 2005 als Dissertation zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades eines Doktors der Philosophie (Dr. phil.) angenommen. Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Bibliothek Die Deutsche Bibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.ddb.de © 2007 transcript Verlag, Bielefeld This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License. Layout by: Kordula Röckenhaus, Bielefeld Cover illustration: Rex Nettleford, NDTC’s »moving spirit«, co-founder, princi- pal choreographer, and current Artistic Director. Here seen in lead role of »Myal«. Credits: Photographs: cover illustration and pages 100, 102, 103, 110, 112, 119, 131, 175, 176, 177 courtesy and copyright by Maria LaYacona and NDTC ar- chives; page 140 courtesy and copyright by Denis Valentine and NDTC ar- chives; page 194 courtesy and coypright by W. Sills and NDTC archives. All video stills: courtesy and copyright by NDTC archives. Typeset by: Sabine Sörgel Printed by: Majuskel Medienproduktion GmbH, Wetzlar ISBN 978-3-89942-642-7 Table of Contents Acknowledgements 7 Intro: Tracking the Cross-Cultural Field – The Journey to Jamaican Dance 9 On Creolization – Theorizing Caribbean Identity 23 The Self/Other Dynamic in Colonialist Discourse 23 Hybrid Cultures – Creolist Metaphors 28 Nationalist Rhetoric 35 The Politics of Representation 39 INTERLUDE I: DANCE AND POSTCOLONIAL THEORY 41 Dance and Postcolonial Nationalism – Embodying Emancipation 43 Towards a Creolist Aesthetic – African Caribbean Identity and Dance 43 Early African Jamaican Religious and Recreational Dances 47 Pioneers of Caribbean Dance Theatre 58 Beryl McBurnie (1914-2000) 58 Ivy Baxter (1923-1993) 67 From Sacred to Secular: The Institutionalization of Jamaican Dance Theatre 75 Re-inventing African Carribean Ritual through Modern Dance 75 Jamaica Festival 81 Jamaican Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) 84 The National Dance Theatre Company (NDTC) of Jamaica 86 The Jamaica School of Dance 91 INTERLUDE II: DANCE AND THE NEW JAMAICA 92 Jamaica’s National Dance Theatre Company – A Postcolonial Reading of the Repertoire 95 Dancing Cultural Roots: Kinaesthetic Memory and the Discovery of Self 95 Choreographing Independence 98 African Scenario 98 Plantation Revelry 109 The Folk Repertoire 115 Pocomania 116 Kumina 125 Gerrehbenta 133 Bruckins 141 INTERLUDE III: DANCE AND SELF-DISCOVERY 144 In Celebration of Diversity – The NDTC’s Caribbean Dance Vocabulary 146 Rex Nettleford’s Aesthetic of Caribbean Dance Theatre 156 Ritual of the Sunrise 156 Cave’s End 164 Eduardo Rivero: The NDTC’s Cuban Connection 172 Sulkari 172 Congo Layé 179 The Caribbean Modern Interpretations of Clive Thompson 181 Of Sympathy and Love 181 INTERLUDE IV: DANCE AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY 185 Next Generation’s Re-Inventions: Jamaican Dance Theatre Goes Global 187 Arlene Richards: Cocoon, Renewal of the Spirit 188 Arsenio Andrade: Epilogo 197 Marlon Simms: Millennial Beings, ‘100 Park Lanes’ Redemption 201 Christopher Walker: Fragile 204 INTERLUDE V: DANCE BEYOND THE COLOR LINE 207 Coda: After the Journey – The Remains of the Dance... 209 Bibliography 213 Books and Journals 213 Periodicals 225 Lectures and Audio Sources 227 CD-ROM and Videography 228 Miscellany 228 Interviews 229 Acknowledgements This book has been assisted by many individuals and profited from numerable influences, direct and indirect. In acknowledging my grati- tude I wish to thank everyone who has been supportive of this study in providing critical assistance, personal encouragement, institutional support, and creative inspiration. First of all, I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Christopher Balme, whose insightful comment this manuscript has benefited from throughout the research process. Over the years he has been an ever inspiring mentor, whose considerate critique has been challenging and highly rewarding. More generally, I might have never chosen to turn my scholarly interest towards the Caribbean, if it had not been for his thought provoking graduate seminar on postcolonial theatre. Many thanks go to the National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica (NDTC), especially Prof. Rex Nettleford, who, as the NDTC’s artistic director, prime choreographer, and expert scholar, first sparked off the idea for this research project. Among the many NDTC members, danc- ers and choreographers, whose knowledgeable comments and bound- less creativity have shaped this work, I wish to particularly thank Joyce Campbell, Clive Thompson, Arlene Richards, and Chris Walker. Also, I would like to thank the faculty of the Jamaica School of Dance at Edna Manley College of the Performing Arts in Kingston as well as the Cultural Studies Group at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus. I especially thank Alaine Grant and Cheryl Ryman who have shared valuable information and research material with me as well as Alma Mock Yen and Monica Lawrence. Further thanks go to Mervyn Morris who first showed me around Kingston and helped me 7 DANCING POSTCOLONIALISM find my way in more than just the literal sense. Several librarians and archives contributed time and effort to my research queries. I thank the staff of the West Indies Collection of the Main Library at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus and at Jamaica’s National Library in Kingston. A special mention goes to Mr. Blake at the CARIMAC Centre for opening extra hours at the NDTC video archive. My doctoral research, which forms the basis of this book, was funded and intellectually stimulated by a generous dissertation grant from the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes (German National Aca- demic Foundation). Additional support in the like vein came from the International PhD Program in Performance and Media Studies at Jo- hannes Gutenberg-University Mainz. I thank Prof. Dr. Alfred Hornung, Prof. Dr. Kati Röttger, the program co-ordinators and faculty as well as my fellow colleagues and friends for their thorough reviews, in- seminar discussions and helpful critique of this project. In the final stages before publication Prof. Dr. Gabriele Brandstetter and Prof. Dr. Gabriele Klein gave their generous support to include this study in their edited series TanzScripte, which I am highly appreciative of. I am also grateful to the 2005 funding of the “Forschungsförderpreis der Freunde der Universität Mainz e.V.” to aid the publication of this book. A very special thank you goes to NDTC photographer Maria LaYacona for the permission to reprint her most beautiful photographs, in par- ticular the one which is used as cover illustration for this book. Finally, I wish to thank my parents and family, who have been a constant source of loving encouragement and support of all of my scholarly and personal projects. 8 Intro: Tracking the Cross-Cultural Field – The Journey to Jamaican Dance Cultures are most fully expressed in and made conscious of themselves in their ritual and theatrical performances. [...] A performance is a dialectic of “flow,” that is, spontaneous movement in which action and awareness are one, and “reflexivity,” in which the central meanings, values and goals of a culture are seen “in action,” as they shape and explain behavior. A perform- ance is declarative of our shared humanity, yet it utters the uniqueness of par- ticular cultures. We will know one another better by entering one another’s performances and learning their grammars and vocabularies. (VictorTurner) 9 DANCING POSTCOLONIALISM London, 21st Sept. 2001 The first time I see the National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica perform is on a research trip to London. Newspaper clippings, photographs, poetry, and drama as well as some postcolonial discourse inform much of my under- standing of the Caribbean at this point. I might have a vague notion of the geography from looking at maps, but entering Queen Elizabeth Hall at the Southbank Center – only a foot-walk away from “Shakespeare’s Globe” – the Caribbean is all of a sudden astonishingly real. While multi-cultural London I find myself quite familiar with, the cross-culture in here moves to a rather dif- ferent vibe. Performative gestures, a different tone of voice and music to the language, which I cannot yet place, but do quite enjoy. The atmosphere in the lobby is already part of my journey into Jamaica’s dance. As I watch people move, my body, too, takes in of their energy, and what I have read about comes fantastically into being. I’m engulfed by the presentness of situation, as I discern the group of dancers on the other side of the room. Sort of desper- ately I wish to walk over. But they are safe-guarded away from me and I also would have felt far too embarrassed to step up and converse with them. Standing in that crowd, I have entered my own dream-world, which is a fic- tion of discursive fragments, suddenly blurred with what feels somewhat more real, as it appears directly in front of me. And then, the next thing I even more vaguely recall is not even much, as I struggle to find the words for the sort of sensation that still feels very dear to me. For what remained of their dance, is only an imprint of color, its beauty, and maze – fantastic imaginary of an unknown vigor and elegance ...1 Pondering upon the meaning of “crossing” in the context of my jour- nal/ey towards an academic understanding of Jamaican dance theatre, I have come to realize that it is actually far easier today to cross the borders of countries than that of their cultural communities and prac- tices.