When the Deh Jah Dance Theatre stages its 10th anniversary season of dance at the Little Theatre in St Andrew on June 15 and 16, patrons will be treated to the best of the company’s repertoire spanning the past decade.

The company, which had its genesis at Grace Missionary Church, is pulling from its best pieces over the years to compose this year’s programme.

According to artistic director Ghana Samuda, arriving at its 10th anniversary is a big deal for the company, and in looking back at the works presented over the years it was decided that audiences should experience some of these.

“We spent quite some time reviewing the tapes and programmes of our previous seasons and just chose some of the works that were really good. We chose pieces that were worth exploring and remounting. We also wanted to show off the versatility of the dancers and choreographers within the company. That primarily is what we wanted the show to reflect,” she told the Jamaica Observer.

After deliberations Samuda and her team arrived at 10 works for the core company and 4 pieces for its junior division — the Deh Jah Dance Academy.The pieces selected are Sanctuary, Dans!, Exaltation, Hosanna, Futile Disunity Amazing Grace and Awesome, all choreographed by Samuda. Principal Dancer Raquel Bragg’s works When Darkness Becomes Light and Mas Que Nada have also made the cut. Run To You, Opportunity and Women and Children First by assistant artistic director Danielle Hammond will also be included.

“This year we are really in a unique situation. We have never done a show of remounts before, so this is new territory. Also we have never done a remount on our kids before, so that is something new, using existing material and setting it on dancers at various levels. We have also had to create a show with these works and fit them into the run of the show. This year we also have our smallest cast ever. Usually we are working with as many as 20 dancers, but this year we are down to 11. This is due to the fact that some people were unable to commit to us for various reasons. Despite this, we will present a great show featuring an array of styles covering modern, African, gospel and jazz,” said Samuda.

In 1997, the then 12-year-old Samuda founded a troupe as the dance ministry at church. In 2004, under the name Grace Missionary Dancers, the company entered the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission Dance Festival with a modern, contemporary, and popular piece previously choreographed for the church. The group was successful in the competition and was awarded gold medals for both pieces and won Best Modern Contemporary Dance. In January 2007 she decided to make it happen by inviting the girls she had taught to be the founding members of Deh Jah Dance Theatre.