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HomeNewsArchivesYOUNG TALENT MUST BE PREPARED FOR LARGER WORLD

YOUNG TALENT MUST BE PREPARED FOR LARGER WORLD

Here in the Virgin Islands we have hundreds of government employees, scores of retailers, and many professional lawyers and doctors. It tells a lot about the character of our community that we have one – let me repeat, one – person that survives as a full time professional dancer and choreographer, Monty Thompson, based in St. Croix.
To his credit Mr.Thompson has patiently, and with much tenacity, developed quite a network of schools in Christiansted, Frederiksted, and Charlotte Amalie. During the past twenty years he has maintained a relationship with the V. I. Council on the Arts, which provides federal funding, and with many corporate and private sponsors, who are now quite generous with their provisions.
This is no easy task and the Caribbean Dance studios and Company have survived where many have fallen by the wayside in our islands. The hundred-plus students who performed at the Reichhold Center for the Arts Saturday are testimony to hours of hard work, not only in the studio, but in the offices of the artistic directors.
There was also a great support from the audience in the theater, who filled three quarters of the 1,200 seats. The dancers, especially the younger ones, were eager to perform and the older ones, though a bit reticent, performed their pieces without fault. Costumes were well thought out, with the African themes of Ms. Adwoa-Lewis providing a counterpart to the more traditional recital costumes of Mr. Thompson and Ms. Solomon-Jones.
If the above can be considered "raves," let me now provide a few "rants" that the evening provided. The opening statement in the program suggests that we are watching dancers who will go on to become professionals in the Company in St. Croix and elsewhere in the world.
In dance, as in acting, there is no other instrument other than the body of the performer himself. To succeed, these 'professionals-to-be' must carry with them their own personal 'Stradivariuses' and know how to play them. Unfortunately, though we were given the format of technical training (Little Princess and Ballet Study), it was evident that the basis for technique which is necessary in all types of dance was not strong. To dance for pleasure is one thing, but when one is to hit the streets of the wide world and become professional, one had best be prepared to the hilt.
The second "rant" was a bit more elusive: the audience was so up to see the dancers do well, they were ready to see an energetic evening of dance, it seemed. But as in "Syncopation for Sun Ra," where the format provided for the dancers to give tour de force which never quite came to be or in "Just Passing Through," with its fabulous, driving music of Babatunde Olatunje, the audience, wanting the dancers to fully express the great sound, were not given that satisfaction. These were moments that the choreographers did not take full advantage of.
In St. Thomas the training of dance as a profession is certainly not in the forefront, but when we see the ground swell of participation in the Caribbean Dance School, we are encouraged. This small sub community is alive and well thanks to the dedication and hard work of Monty Thompson and Co.
Editors' note: Michele Shulterbrandt Agurkis is the former booking director for the Reichhold Center for the Arts and is the owner of Tropic Studios. She also performed in the movie "Fame."

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