art in all its forms

art in all its forms

10/16/09

Makeda Thomas, Dave Williams last night at COCO, Queen's Hall



Makeda Thomas performs FreshWater again tonight at Queen's Hall so go people!


It's good when a title lives up to its name. Makeda Thomas' FreshWater was exactly that: fresh.

The piece, choreographed by Thomas, was performed at Queen's Hall at the COCO Dance Festival and will be performed again tonight. Thomas manages to subtly blend elements of local dance (such as belee and Carnival rhythms) in a way that is at once familiar, yet idiosyncratic. This is a vernacular that is sophisticated yet universal.


FreshWater--or at least what was presumably an earlier form of it--first premiered on Saturday 7 October, 2006, at what was then known as CCA7 during Galvanize. It has since been performed in Zimbabwe and Mexico and also MIT’s Kresge Little Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Last night Thomas was ably assisted by a sound design by Keshav Singh and vocal accompaniment by Attillah Springer and all were on form. The integration of the Minshall-inspired costume (done by Robert Young) was a little neat, though. That said, this provided Thomas with the creepy brackets and props she used to expose yet conceal that which is central to the crisis of Trinidad and Tobago identity. It was boss.

WE SHOULD NOTE: Thomas' performance last night opened a show which featured Dave Williams.

Dave Williams in SCAN - creation, civilisation, anarchy

Williams performed his SCAN - creation, civilisation, anarchy with Kevin Jack and Kwasi Romero. Snippets of this piece were first revealed at the gala closing ceremony of the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival earlier this month where Williams performed as part of a tribute to the great Geoffrey Holder. As usual, Williams reached his expected high standards last night. What else can we say? He's a god.

There was also an excellent piece by Nicole Wesley called Seeds. As well as another by Sonja Dumas which was called The Strange Tale of An Island Shade.


From Sonia Dumas' The Strange Tale of An Island Shade.

This was an effective and lively comment on race in Trinidad. In particular (whether by coincidence or not given the current plight of immigrant Chinese construction workers) there was focus on the role of the Chinese in shaping the race topography of the island. There was a beautiful anger to this piece, which arguably could be improved by some tighter choreography though. But it was nonetheless a pleasure to watch.

READ MORE here.








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