Founded by the late Beryl Mc Burnie in 1947, the Board and management of The Little Carib Theatre is ensuring that its 70th anniversary is a bumper one. A fortnight ago, the iconic performing space showcased its Carib Dance (CD) company in a spectacular performance, choreographed by Andre Largen.
Last weekend, CD performed at Bele Djouba in Martinique, an event which happens every two years. T&T and St Lucia were guest performers.
The nucleus of CD that travelled to Martinique was supplemented by performers from Tobago to enable T&T to be fully represented as a joint representation. As this was a joint venture, there were three female dancers from Tobago as well as the three drummers joining the five dancers from CD.
Guest performers each gave 25-minute performances on two nights, Friday and Sunday. During our contingent’s performance they did what is called ‘the Trinidad and Tobago Bele, done by our eight dance ambassadors. Its choreography included the Bele reel, jig and Congo Bele by the Tobago dancers; Bele by CD’s male dancers; and, the grand Bele danced by all. On Sunday, the combined troupe did the Bele yard honouring the ancestors.
Last Friday, the contingent did a workshop for school children where over 100 children attended.
On Saturday, the T&T gave a workshop for adults which was packed to capacity and attended one on Sunday given by Martiniquan dancers. Demonstrating our unique dance were choreographers Deon Baptiste and Karen Berkeley-Charles.
A CD spokesperson told T&T Guardian on the contingent’s tour: “All in all it was a resounding success and left attendees wanting more. We have been invited back again so we might return in two years. The Martiniquans also extended an invitation for us to return sooner, on holiday.”
CD’s next big outing is the 51st World Congress on dance research, to be held in Greece on July 4– 9. There they will perform Sancoche (the steelband piece, to the music of Pamberi Steel Orchestra) and Hosanna, both of which performed to raves at the recent Carib Dance: Celebrating the 70th Anniversary of The Little Carib Theatre fund-raising production.
In Greece, the Company will also be presenting a paper at the World Congress of Dance Research, as well as teaching a series of workshops on folk dancing.
CD choreographer Andre Largen, who is ably assisted by rehearsal director Hazel Franco, said in a recent interview about the performances in Grece: “We are showing two different styles because we are using the music of Andre Tanker and Pamberi Steel Orchestra, so we’ll be using their music.”
As The Little Carib Theatre continued its milestone anniversary and, in commemoration of Indian Heritage Month, the Theatre staged its Arrival Day Concert last Monday.
That evening of Classical Indian Culture featured Nrityanjali Dance Theatre dame Mondira Balkaransingh and dancers, Susan Mohip and her dancers and sitarist Sharda Patasar
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The Little Carib Theatre was formally opened in November 1948. The foundation stone was laid by Paul Robeson, who at the time was visiting Trinidad, and whom the founder Beryl McBurnie had met in New York.
By the 1960s, the work of the Little Carib Dance Company had been recognised and celebrated overseas, having performed at such events as the Caribbean Festival of Arts in Puerto Rico in 1952, the Jamaica Tercentenary Celebrations in 1955 and the opening of the Federal Parliament of Toronto in April 1958. In the 1960s the Little Carib building had to be closed down and was re-built in three years.
Many of the plays of Nobel Prize-winner Derek Walcott were first staged at the Little Carib Theatre, where he held weekly theatre workshops as founding director, from 1959 to 1971, of what became the Trinidad Theatre Workshop.
