“Dancing comes naturally to me and it also comes with dramatics no wonder I had to do both acting and dancing,” says Jamaica’s renowned dancer, choreographer and actor Orville Hall.

“I started dancing whilst being a student at Edith Dalton James Secondary (now high) as a group of five called Sage,” Hall said.

After high school the versatile dancer says that because of financial difficulties he was forced to enter the world of work instead of continuing his academics. “I worked as a grooming instructor for the Tastee Talent Competition for a while. There I place my dancing career on hold but then friends started telling me that I was being exploited and I was wasting my talent” he told Splash.

In 1998, Hall returned to the classroom this time as a part time teacher and a full time student at Excelsior Community College There he taught popular dancehall dances.

“Myself, Patsy Rickets and Kenny Salmon were responsible for writing the course for the Urban Contempoary Folk (dancehall course)” he went on to say. In 2000 Hall graduated from the institution but went back a year later this time earning an Associate Degree in the Performing Arts. Orville said he stayed with the community college for a several years where he wrote skits and even got involved in the JCDC activities. Whilst still at the tertiary institution Hall formed a in school dance group call Theatre Expression now known as Dance Xpressionz with founding members Shelly Ann Callum, and Stacey Ann Facey. Dance Xpressionz later became an all female group with an addition of three.

“Dancing for me is not just getting up and moving my body, it is an art. I don’t just do the regular dance moves to the dancehall. I give to dancehall by bringing the Tango, Salsa, and other Latin dances,” Hall says excitedly.

Bringing back dancehall to the classroom is the aim of Orville Hall and his Dance Xpressionz team. “We give at lectures at some of the Universities and Colleges in Jamaica as we want to give people an overview of where our dances is coming from,” he explained.

“My biggest advice to established and upcoming dancers to educate themselves of Jamaica’s dance culture, as some only know about dances from the late 80s. The dance history and culture is so rich that the Japanese is teaching dancehall in Japan — imagine that. They visit the island, learn our moves and then make a lot by what they learn from us. Dancers need to learn the language of dance as would a musician does to his music. Dancer I urge you to get certified,” Orville appeals.

— Simone Morgan