Jamaica’s premier dance companies are pooling their strengths on Thursday, June 2, to stage a fund-raising concert in support of dance teacher and choreographer Oneil Pryce, who was diagnosed with cancer in February.

The proceeds from the event, dubbed ‘A Love Offering for Oneil Pryce, will go towards offsetting his bills for radiation and chemotherapy.

The concert is set for the Vera Moody Concert Hall, Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in St Andrew. It will feature L’Acadco: A United Caribbean Dance Force, Tivoli Dance Troupe, National Dance Theatre Company (NDTC), Praise Academy of Dance, The Company Dance Theatre, graduates of the School of Dance Junior Department, Movements Dance Theatre, Dance Theatre Xamayca, Stella Maris Dance Ensemble, Arabesk Dance Collective, Campion College Dance Society, Ashe and Dance Works.

According to Neila Ebanks, senior lecturer at the School of Dance, the event is geared at showing love and support for Pryce, whose talents and works are well known in the local, regional and international dance community.

“This is Jamaica and we are all aware just how expensive health care can be, especially as it relates to chemotherapy and radiation. So we decided that given the number of companies which have benefited from Oneil’s talents and expertise — NDTC, L’Acadco, Ashe, School of Dance Junior Department, and the list goes on — it is only fitting that we should offer some help in this his moment of need. A great evening of dance is in store. Oneil has even said this could be the start of a fund to benefit ailing dancers, so that is something that we are looking into,” Ebanks told the Jamaica Observer.

Among Pryce’s best known works are Barre Talk and Traversing, which he choreographed for the National Dance Theatre Company. Ebanks explained that his work is known to be athletic and challenging, adding that dancers have to put aside their fear of risk in order to perform Pryce’s works.

She further explained that the choreographer is also in the process of refining a system of training known as ‘Beyond the Bar’. This, she said, is an alternative use of the ballet bar in the dance studio, shifting it from being merely for support to being an integral part of the dance work and preparation.