Dear Editor,

Barbara Requa could arguably be called the matriarch of the family of artists, students, faculty, and staff at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts.

She might have had primary responsibility for the students of the School of Dance, but she nurtured the institution through every leg of its growth like the sage she was, helping us to recognise each phase as a rite of passage. As a founder, we would have benefited from her wisdom for 45 years or three-quarters of the life of Jamaica as a politically independent nation, up to and beyond her official retirement in 2003.

Through her contribution and by her example, we learnt the meaning of cultural continuity and the imperative of carefully building on the blocks that were useful to our formation so that we not only added value but intentionally pursued a transformation, cognisant of the changing needs of a dynamic society which, in spite of many challenges, refuses to relinquish its place as a cultural mecca in an increasingly globalised world.

Barbara remained relevant and true to her purpose to the very end. She exemplified the African proverb that if you know the beginning you cannot miss or mistake the end. In the beginning she was the admirer of her dancing brother.

She carried this inspiration to her summer dance training programmes at The University of the West Indies; honed her craft through her association with leading dance companies in Jamaica and around the world, including the Ivy Baxter School of Dance, Dartford College of Physical Education, and Goldsmith’s College in the United Kingdom; and shared her gifts and learning with her alma mater, St Andrew High School for Girls, all while developing the technical versatility, sound knowledge of movement and performing styles which would mould her into a treasured asset of the National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica, of which she was a founding member and a principal dancer.

How could she not follow her destiny to the then Cultural Training Centre and its transformation into the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts that demanded her expertise as dean for the performing arts schools and later acting principal at the college.

We cannot overstate our admiration for her and the esteem in which she is held as “an educator extraordinaire, a teacher par excellence, and an astute leader”. In challenging times she was “the epitome of determination” and we honour her passion for the success of her students as well as her obvious desire to create for them, and by extension the college, pathways to the realisation of goals for academic excellence and cultural rootedness.

We are proud that she was honoured in Jamaica by the much-deserved Centenary Medal Award, the silver Musgrave Medal, and an Order of Distinction. She took her last dance with us on the eve of our Founders’ Week celebrations in 2023. But we will forever hear her cheering us on, in good times and through all the challenges, in the song I Hope You Dance by Lee Ann Womack and Sons of the Desert: “I hope you never lose your sense of wonder. You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger. May you never take one single breath for granted. God forbid love ever leave you empty handed. I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean. Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens. Promise me that you’ll give faith a fighting chance. And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance… I hope you dance.”

Thank you, Barbara, for your dream, your vision, your encouragement and your inspiration.

Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts