Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College continues its 2011-2012 World Stages series with the much-anticipated return of the National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica (NDTC).   The company will perform two programs of dance and music celebrating West Indian culture and the 50^th Anniversary of the company on Saturday, March 24 at 8pm and Sunday, March 25 at 3pm. 

A biennial visitor to Brooklyn Center for more than two decades, NDTC celebrates its Golden Anniversary with two special programs featuring repertoire highlighting the company’s 50 year history. The repertoire for the company’s 2012 Brooklyn appearance includes:

q      Drumscore (1979), choreography by Rex Nettleford, featuring the NDTC singers

q      … minutes and seconds (2010), choreography by Kerry-Ann Henry and Momo Sanno

q      Cry of the Spirit (1996), choreography by Gene Carson

q      Sweet in the Morning (1992), choreography by Leni Wylliams

q      Urban Fissure (2004), choreography by Chris Walker

q      Sulkari (1980), choreography by Eduardo Rivero-Walker

q      Gerrehbenta (1983), choreography by Rex Nettleford, featuring the NDTC singers

q      Kumina (1971), choreography by Rex Nettleford, featuring the NDTC singers

About National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica (NDTC)

With the blessing of the Ministry of Development and Welfare, co-founders Rex Nettleford and Eddy Thomas formed the National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica in 1962 at the time of Jamaica’s Independence from Great Britain.  Their search for a definitive Caribbean dance theatre linked a varied and versatile group together to make this goal a reality.  The original 18 members represented a diverse mixture of artists with differing backgrounds in dance training and.  This emerging corps, along with Dr. Nettleford and Mr. Thomas, worked together for three years, from 1959-1962, to form NDTC.  The company has survived on a vision of dancing on its own feet, capturing the rhythms, body language and aesthetics of a people who have lived for over three centuries under British rule and a total of 400 years under slavery and the plantation system.  Its dancers, choreographers, musicians and designers have continuously striven to communicate these experiences and are dedicated to the creation of works rooted in the Jamaican and Caribbean cultural experience.  NDTC has gained an international reputation, garnering both critical and popular acclaim throughout the world.  To date, NDTC has completed more than 100 tours to North America, Europe, the former USSR, Australia, the United Kingdom, Latin America and Puerto Rico.