Dance Season 29, an annual production of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, brought a swirl of true Guyanese art to the National Cultural Centre (NCC) yesterday and continues tonight and tomorrow night.
Vivian Daniel, the woman behind the event, told The Scene on Wednesday that the National Dance Company will do the best it can with the available resources to give the crowd “a full blast of Guyanese theatre” over the three shows.
Yesterday’s took the form of a matinee which targeted high school students who are interested in and will be taking on the Caribbean Examination Council’s (CXC) Theatre Arts syllabus.
Daniels explained that CXC Theatre Arts has never been done by Guyana and she was asked by the Ministry of Education to run a course for teachers who would be given the task of teaching the subject. The workshop, she said, was “quite a success”.
The first half of the programme entertains with a series of contemporary dances while the second part focuses on two performances created especially for teenagers.
Symphony, a gothic reality piece; Unconditional; a piece about love, Ode, a tribute to Guyanese poet Martin Carter; Yearning; The Colour The Rhythm of Love, speaks about the softness of love and is done with flowing music, and Addiction, where dancers use their own creativity to the popular “Soca Junkie” are some of the dances before the show’s intermission.
One of the dances featured in the second part of the show is ‘Dis ah Reggae, Dis ah Life’. Daniel explained that this piece reflects issues such as child abuse and challenges facing youths such as gambling and crime. However, the performance does not dwell on these negative issues but flows over them and ends happily to leave the younger audience with some hope.
Daniel explained that the dances are not new as many of them were performed during Carifesta Ten which was hosted by Guyana in August. Ode was one of the performances done at the National Culture Centre during Carifesta and “was well received”, she said.
“A people without a culture are nothing,” Daniel stated.
High School students who wish to pursue Theatre Arts as one of their CXC subjects must be passionate about and prepared to be committed to the art, Daniels warned. “They have to know why they want to do Theatre…they must have a passion for it if they expect to succeed,” she said.
Tickets for Dance Season 29 cost $700 (Auditorium Front) and $500 and are available at locations in various regions as well as the National Cultural Centre.
