|
 |
Bonnie Kim
Committed to preserving and promoting the cultural and historical traditions of the African Diaspora through dance, music and folklore, four Toronto-based artists are educating the community and spawning a new generation of dance artists.
Performer, educator, producer and arts administrator Vivine Scarlett has been working in African and contemporary dance styles since the early 1980s, most notably as Artistic Director and performer of Usafiri Dance and Drum Ensemble from 1986-1993. In 1994 she founded dance Immersion, an annual presentation of workshops and performances by artists of the African Diaspora. That same year she produced Danceology, a video documentation of seven African-Canadian dance pioneers including Jean Sheen (one of her earliest teachers), George Randolph and Zelma Badu. She dedicated the video to her first black dance teacher, Len Gibson. Inspired by her own children, Vivine Scarlett founded a young performers' dance and drum ensemble, NGOMA, in 1995.
Inspired by artists such as Mikhail Baryshnikov and Katherine Dunham, Patrick Parson, whose heritage is an eclectic mixture of Spanish, African, East Indian, French, English and native Trinidadian-Indian, formed Ballet Creole in 1990. Using the term "creolization" to describe his work, he draws upon a wide range of aesthetics to create a "fusion" of diverse dance and music. A choreographer, dance educator, dancer and percussionist, Patrick Parson holds an M.A. in Ethnology from York University. He has been recognized for his contributions to culture in Ontario and his pioneering work in dance with awards from The Caribbean and African Chamber of Commerce in 1998 and 1999. Also inspired by his children, Parson opened the Ballet Creole School of Performing Arts in 1993.
The husband and wife team of Trini-Bajan Charmaine Headley and Trinidadian-born Eddison Lindsay founded COBA (Collective of Black Artists), with Junia Mason in 1993. Though their repertoire includes modern and contemporary choreographic works, Co-Artistic Directors Headley and Lindsay strive to present traditional African dance and Caribbean Indigenous Folk dance in "the purest forms possible." By initiating interactive programs for school-age children and conducting workshops and ongoing classes in dance and music, COBA is preserving these traditions and promoting cross-cultural education and understanding. Sustaining influences for Eddison Lindsay include Judith Jamieson and Joyce Curtain (a former teacher), and for Charmaine Headley, Jasareh-H, her first teacher in Barbados.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Anderson, Carol. "Dance, Fusion," The Canadian Encyclopedia, 2000 Edition, McClelland & Stewart: Toronto, 1999.
"True North Arrivals" CD-ROM, McGraw Hill Ryerson school division marketing, Southam Inc.: 1995.
|
|
|
