The National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica (NDTC) is

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

's leading dance theatre company.

History

The company was founded in 1962 by

Rex Nettleford Ralston Milton "Rex" Nettleford, OM, FIJ, OCC (3 February 1933 – 2 February 2010), was a Jamaican scholar, social critic, choreographer, and Vice-Chancellor Emeritus of the University of the West Indies (UWI), the leading research university ...

and Eddy Thomas with fifteen dancers, with Nettleford acting as its artistic director and principal

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

, and

Martha Graham Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 – April 1, 1991) was an American modern dancer and choreographer. Her style, the Graham technique, reshaped American dance and is still taught worldwide. Graham danced and taught for over seventy years. She wa ...

as patron.Jefferson, Albertina A. (1999) ''Rex Nettleford and His Works: an Annotated Bibliography'', University of the West Indies Press, , p. 5, 11, 14, 27Thomas, Deborah A. (2005) ''Modern Blackness: Nationalism, Globalization, and the Politics of Culture in Jamaica'', Duke University Press, , p. 67 Drawing on

African Caribbean Afro-Caribbean people or African Caribbean are Caribbean people who trace their full or partial ancestry to Sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of the modern African-Caribbeans descend from Africans taken as slaves to colonial Caribbean via the t ...

folk traditions In religious studies and folkloristics, folk religion, popular religion, traditional religion or vernacular religion comprises various forms and expressions of religion that are distinct from the official doctrines and practices of organized re ...

and cultural themes as well as

modern dance Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert or theatrical dance which included dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th ...

, the company has promoted

Caribbean culture The term Caribbean culture summarizes the artistic, musical, literary, culinary, political and social elements that are representative of Caribbean people all over the world. As a collection of settler nations, the contemporary Caribbean has b ...

through its performances.Gauldie, Robin (2012) ''Jamaica'', New Holland Publishers Ltd, , p. 33Hodges, Hugh (2008) ''Soon Come: Jamaican Spirituality, Jamaican Poetics'', University of Virginia Press, , p. 61 On its foundation, the stated aim was "projecting the movement patterns and customs of the island to people locally and abroad", and they stated that they would "maintain constant research and documentation of our folk legends and customs to be used as thematic material for new dances".Bennett, Wycliffe (2007)
National Dance Theatre Company's (NDTC) - dances to its mandate
, ''

Jamaica Gleaner ''The Gleaner'' is an English-language, morning daily newspaper founded by two brothers, Jacob and Joshua de Cordova on 13 September 1834 in Kingston, Jamaica. Originally called the ''Daily Gleaner'', the name was changed on 7 December 1992 to ' ...

'', 3 August 2007. Retrieved 11 August 2013 The company has been regarded as part of the

People's National Party The People's National Party (PNP) is a Social democracy, social-democratic List of political parties in Jamaica, political party in Jamaica, founded in 1938 by independence campaigner Osmond Theodore Fairclough. It holds 14 of the 63 seats in ...

's efforts to 'decolonize' Jamaica of European influence.Thomson, Ian (2011), ''Dead Yard: A Story of Modern Jamaica'', , p. 286 The company toured

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in 1976 with financial assistance from the

Australian government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government i ...

, and has performed in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Finland, Germany, and through the Caribbean and Latin America.National Dance Theatre Company (NDTC) to appear in New York again
, ''

'', 24 April 2008. Retrieved 11 August 2013 The company was awarded the

Maurice Bishop Award Maurice may refer to: People *Saint Maurice (died 287), Roman legionary and Christian martyr *Maurice (emperor) or Flavius Mauricius Tiberius Augustus (539–602), Byzantine emperor *Maurice (bishop of London) (died 1107), Lord Chancellor and Lo ...

in 1986. Based at the Little Theatre on Tom Redcam Drive in Kingston, the company performs an annual season in Jamaica.NDTC's 51st Set For Weekend Start
, ''

'', 23 July 2013. Retrieved 11 August 2013 The current artistic director is

Marlon Simms Marlon is a masculine given name. According to the '' Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', the popularity of Marlon Brando led to general awareness of the name (his father was also named Marlon), though the origin of the name is not known. Speculati ...

, who is a long standing member of the company. Other dancers and choreographers that have been part of the company include

Jackie Guy Carlton Harold "Jackie" Guy CD MBE is a Jamaican dancer, choreographer and teacher who has been based in the United Kingdom since the mid-1980s. Career Guy grew up in the Harbour View area of Kingston and took up dancing as a boy, inspired ...

MBE,

Joyce Campbell Joyce may refer to: People * Joyce (name), list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname * Joyce, (born 1948), Brazilian singer-songwriter * James Joyce (1882–1941), Irish modernist writer Places * Joyce, Washington, an ...

, and

Clive Thompson Clive Thompson may refer to: *Clive Thompson (businessman) (born 1943), Deputy Chairman of Strategic Equity Capital *Clive Thompson (journalist) Clive Thompson (born 30 October 1968) is a Canadian freelance journalist, blogger, and science and t ...

.Reckord, Michael (2013)
Jackie Guy, MBE - A J'can Success Story
, ''

'', 9 August 2013. Retrieved 11 August 2013Reckord, Michael (2013)
Two New Dances By NDTC Veterans - 2013 Season Opens At The Little Theatre Tonight
, ''

'', 26 July 2013. Retrieved 11 August 2013National Dance Theatre Company (NDTC) founding dancer makes final exit
, ''

'', 30 November 2008. Retrieved 11 August 2013

History

References

Further reading