THE highly anticipated National Dance Theatre Company’s (NDTC) 63rd season will open on Friday, July 18 at 8:00 pm with a benefit performance for JamCoders computer science summer camp.

Delivered through partnerships and administered by the Department of Computing at The University of the West Indies (The UWI), Mona, JamCoders introduces third to fifth form high school students to algorithms and programming.

There have been more than 150 participants in the four-week programme, where students learn coding skills, while also being provided with dormitory accommodations, meals and educational excursions.

Modelled off AddisCoder, a similar programme in Ethiopia, students are immersed in a world of possibilities through exposure to accomplished lecturers and tutors from The UWI, UC Berkeley, Stanford, the DAIR Institute, and several other institutions and organisations.

JamCoders has been made possible through the generous support of partners who have committed funding, time, expertise, and deep passion to the success of this programme.

Patron of the July 18 NDTC fundraiser, Klao Bell-Lewis, was motivated to give back based on the positive impact JamCoders had on her then 16-year-old daughter Tsenaye, who participated in the programme in 2023.

“Although Tsenaye received grade ones in Information Technology, Electronic Document Preparation, Math and Physics in the Caribbean Secondary Examination Council’s regional assessments, she was hesitant about pursuing computer science in sixth form. However, JamCoders erased that reticence and got her excited about coding, so much so that she decided to sit Computer Science units one and two in the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination,” Lewis said. “She has been accepted to first degree programmes at several universities in the areas of engineering, physics and computer science.”

According to its website, NDTC is “one of the most innovative dance companies to have achieved world acclaim in the last half century”.

NDTC blends the lore, music and dance traditions of Jamaica, Africa and the America South with both modern and classical ballet forms.

NDTC is led by artistic director, Marlon Simms who is also dean of the School of Dance at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts.