Bert Rose remembers

BY HOWARD CAMPBELL Observer senior writer

Sunday, February 05, 2012

WHEN they were looking for some fun in the early 1960s, most of Kingston's young men went to the popular dancehalls. Bert Rose was an exception. He just wanted to dance.

Rose was one of the National Dance Theatre Company's (NDTC) original 17 dancers when it officially launched at the Little Theatre in September, 1962 one month after Jamaica gained independence from Britain.

In a 2002 interview with the Observer, Rose said he was excited to be part of something different.

"It was important for us to have some sort of cultural identity and the National Dance Theatre Company was developing something that was Jamaican," he said at the time.

The Kingston-born Rose had been a creative dancer since he was a student at Excelsior High School. His first serious assignment was with Eddy Thomas, who had studied in the United States with the Martha Graham troupe.

In 1961, Thomas and recent Oxford University graduate Rex Nettleford got together and formed the Jamaica Dance Company, a fusion of the leading dance groups in Jamaica. Its first major assignment was at Howard University in Washington DC that year.

Thomas and Nettleford had cut their teeth in the trailblazing Ivy Baxter Group whose roots were steeped in classical dance. They wanted their new group to have a different feel.

"Eddy was very modern and Rex was into folk, but they wanted to develop a dance that was very Jamaican," Rose explained.

Within months, the Jamaica Dance Company morphed into the NDTC.

Nettleford, in a 1997 interview with the Observer, commented on its focus.

"We wanted to define an expression that is clearly reflected in the movement of Jamaica and the Caribbean, an aesthetic based on the shape of the Caribbean body," he said.

In fact, Thomas and Nettleford crafted most of the six original pieces the fledgling group performed in its first year. They included Pocomania, Plantation Revelry, Footnotes In Jazz and A Time To Rejoice.

Thomas contributed Legend Of Lovers Leap, which became a mainstay of the NDTC repertoire.

In the months leading up to the Little Theatre show, Rose said the group performed at schools and churches. He recalls not everyone being thrilled to see men involved in creative dancing.

"It had its problems," he said. Production-wise, there were also challenges.

"We had to do everything...Wash our costumes, paint the sets. It was a learning process but it was exciting," Rose remembered.

Bert Rose danced with the NDTC for over 20 years, traveling with the group to diverse parts of the world. He also matured as a choreographer, contributing 13 original works.