“You’ve got big dreams, you want fame, well fame costs and right here is where you start paying — in sweat.”

Actress and dancer Debbie Allen spoke those words into eternity during the very first season of the popular television series Fame in which she played dance teacher Lydia Johnson. Just like her fictional students at a performing arts high school in the United States, Allen will be dropping pearls of wisdom when she comes to Jamaica for a masterclass on December 30 in Kingston.

Allen is being invited by Plié for the Arts, the local artistic development organisation headed by Marissa Benain.

For Benain, having Allen share with Jamaicans for this one-night-only event is both a professional and personal dream come true for her, as she has long seen the performing icon as a true example of what is possible with hard work and commitment to the arts

“On a profressional level I really want to align Plié for the Arts and our academy to international organisations like DADA [the Debbie Allen Dance Academy] and the Jacqueline Kennedy Onasis School at American Ballet Theater… to establish fullsome partnerships where students of our academy can benefit. But, on that personal level, I’ve just always looked up to Debbie Allen as that quintessential triple threat in the performing arts, someone who can sing, dance, and act. She has done television, film, and Broadway. And now she is a respected director and executive producer for so many of the films and television shows we have come to know and love. For a black woman to do this is just amazing. Plus, like many, I was first drawn to her on Fame, I just wanted to go to Laguardia High School,” she told the Jamaica Observer.

Benain further explained that, ever since she started Plié for the Arts five years ago, it was always a dream to have Allen come to Jamaica and share. She noted that plans were being put into place for her to visit earlier this year to be patron of Plié’s annual performance gala Ammalgamation, but the restrictions due to the COVID-19 crisis prevented this from materialising.

“Ever since I started Plié five years ago I’ve wanted to have her visit. I would sometimes call DADA and ask to speak to Miss Allen, hoping one day her secretary would tell me she was in office. It all came together thanks to my association with Desmond Richardson of Complexions Contemporary Ballet. He has been a supporter of Plié from the start and sits on our advisory board. He made the connections and she was all set to visit in the summer. But that never happened. She then said she was willing to come for a master class.”

“So she will be here on December 30 to share with local performers in what I see as a masterclass of a lifetime. I’m so excited that I might want to attend myself; however, based on the response, even though we only started making it known yesterday [Friday], it’s going to be rought, so I don’t think I’ll be able to get in. I really want a good representation of Jamaican performers. Unfortunately, many of us, myself included, have been incorrectly seeing Kingston as Jamaica. In addition to the known organisation, I just want to open it up to as wide a representation as is possible from all parts of Jamaica to come and learn,” she added.

And what does Benain hope to achieve from having Allen here in Jamaica?

“It’s about allignment. She runs one of the largest youth dance productions in the US. I just want her to see our true talent from not just the persons who attend the masterclass, but there is also our Plié Collective and our studio collective, which is a set of younger dancers for the future. I want her to see what we can do in our own space so that when she is looking for talent she knows we are here. When we are done showing her what we can do here she will remember our name,” Benain quipped.