L’ANTECH, the dance technique created by local choreographer and researcher Dr L’Antoinette Stines, which has the distinction of being the only one of its kind created in the English-speaking Caribbean, is now being shared with dancers and dance enthusiasts across the globe.

This technique was shared with a global audience recently thanks to the efforts of Oraine Frater, a principal dancer at Stines’ dance company L’Acadco. Frater is currently on leave from the local company as he is a cast member of the touring company for the hit musical The Lion King in the United Kingdom. Due to the current pandemic, and the fact that the tour has been put on hold however, Frater, through an organisation run with another Jamaican dancer David Blake, organised the virtual L’Antech masterclass, which saw dancers participating from Canada, the United States, Great Britain, as well as the wider Caribbean.

“David [Blake], through his organisation Blake Arts, asked me to conduct the class, and I was absolutely excited to do it. The truth is, because it is such a powerful, different and unique technique, dancers will always gravitate towards it. Then when you explain the meaning behind the movements, and why Dr Stines created it, it just makes the experience that much more meaningful for the dancer. They can see and feel where this is coming from and see in the movements the melting pot of cultures that is the Caribbean reflected in these movements,” said Frater.

“The truth is, L’Antech is so much more than dance. Through Dr Stines’ work there are themes such as inclusivity and nation-building. It shatters the myth that ballet is the only formal dance technique and shows that L’Antech should be given the same level of prominence,” he continued.

Michael Burgess, rehearsal director for Blake Arts, noted that, given the backdrop of the Black Lives Matter movement, sharing a technique such as L’Antech at this time is so critical.

“There has been so much discussion about decolonising the curriculum and the idea of being able to harness [dance] and pull it back to our roots. Miss Stines is a legend, and I really want to emphasise giving flowers to our legends while they are alive. Plus, this is a codified programme/course so you literally get certification. It is just amazing to see this happening in the black community…it is so powerful,” he shared.

Stines shared with the Jamaica Observer how pleased she was with her technique as presented by Frater to this wider audience.

“L’Antech goes from level one to six, Oraine is a level six teacher, so I was extremely pleased with his presentation. It fits in with what I want L’Antech to be. I want Jamaica to be known for everything, so this is my contribution to dance. It is the only technique out of the anglophone Caribbean, so I was really proud to watch him share it with such a diverse audience. L’Antech paves the way for dancers to master so many other genres,” said Stines.

L’Antech, she explained, focuses on what came off the slave ship and remains with us here in the Caribbean. The African retentions, traditional European forms in ballet, and the arts of Asia, specifically China and India, are all found in her technique. She has fused these to create what she terms CARIMOD, which is a modern technique dominated by information that is distinctly Caribbean.

“So you can have a traditional ballet movement, such as a plié…We are taught that the back should remain firm and no other part of the body should move but the knees. However, in our African retentions, the hips play such a dominant role; so in L’Antech, rather than isolating each movement, we combine — so Europe and Africa become one on the body at the same time. I have termed that a ‘synabridge’, which is synergy to bridge cultures. So you have gerreh and a plié at the same time,” Stines shared in a previous interview.

However, Stines is concerned with the level of interest local dance teachers display for L’Antech.

“L’Antech is included in Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) and it is still a little concerning to me that not a lot of the Jamaican dance teachers are making themselves aware. I would love them to come in and start at level one and then see where it takes them. So even though I am so pleased to see this global reach, I would love to dance a yard as well as dance abroad,” Stines stated.