Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College continued its 2011-2012 World Stages series with the much-anticipated return of the National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica (NDTC).
The company performed two programs of dance and music celebrating West Indian culture and the 50th Anniversary of the company recently. A biennial visitor to Brooklyn Center for more than two decades, NDTC celebrates its Golden Anniversary with two special programs featuring repertoire highlighting the company’s 50th history.
The 2012 program features:
Drumscore (1979) — choreography by Rex Nettleford, featuring the NDTC singers
Minutes and Seconds (2010) — choreography by Kerry-Ann Henry and Momo Sanno
Cry of the Spirit (1996) — choreography by Gene Carson
Sweet in the Morning (1992) — choreography by Leni Wylliams
Urban Fissure (2004) — choreography by Chris Walker
Sulkari (1980) — choreography by Eduardo Rivero-Walker
Gerrehbenta (1983) — choreography by Rex Nettleford, featuring the NDTC singers
Kumina (1971) — choreography by Rex Nettleford, featuring the NDTC singers.
About National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica (NDTC)
With the blessing of the Ministry of Development and Welfare, co-founders Rex Nettleford and Eddy Thomas formed the National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica in 1962 at the time of Jamaica’s Independence from Great Britain. Their search for a definitive Caribbean dance theatre linked a varied and versatile group together to make this goal a reality. The original 18 members represented a diverse mixture of artists with differing backgrounds in dance training and. This emerging corps, along with Dr. Nettleford and Mr. Thomas, worked together for three years, from 1959-1962, to form NDTC. The company has survived on a vision of dancing on its own feet, capturing the rhythms, body language and aesthetics of a people who have lived for over three centuries under British rule and a total of 400 years under slavery and the plantation system. Its dancers, choreographers, musicians and designers have continuously striven to communicate these experiences and are dedicated to the creation of works rooted in the Jamaican and Caribbean cultural experience. NDTC has gained an international reputation, garnering both critical and popular acclaim throughout the world. To date, NDTC has completed more than 100 tours to North America, Europe, the former USSR, Australia, the United Kingdom, Latin America and Puerto Rico.
