There was no tapping of that ubiquitous cane, just sheer joy as Debbie Allen, referenced by Plié for the Arts (the local artistic development organisation) founder Marisa Benain as “that quintessential triple threat in the performing arts, someone who can sing, dance and act”, was welcomed to lunch at the Devon House Mansion, on Friday, June 10.

The intimate affair, co-hosted by Chorvelle Johnson Cunningham and Alysia Moulton White, on behalf of Sagicor Group Jamaica, and held in the mansion’s Blue Room, was attended by lovers of the arts, former dancers, choreographers and Sagicor scholars. The artfully curated lunch was created by the award-winning chef Jacqui Tyson.

Allen, known to many for her portrayal as teacher Lydia Johnson in the television series Fame, and more recently in Grey’s Anatomy, shared thoughts on the novel coronavirus pandemic, her immense joy at being in Jamaica and being hosted in such spectacular style at Devon House, and how eager she was to share her knowledge later that day at a masterclass.