Celebrating Trinidad’s cultural kaleidoscope
Ballet Creole’s Kambule brings a taste of Carnival to Harbourfront this weekend
Ballet Creole is poised to shine some much-needed Caribbean heat on an unseasonably chilly Toronto spring with an all-new program that’s anchored by a work celebrating the Carnival tradition of artistic director Patrick Parson’s homeland, Trinidad and Tobago.
Carnival is a major cultural happening in Trinidad. Parson remembers from his childhood how much it’s ingrained in the Trinidadian identity.
“It was part of my upbringing. I was involved on the musical side from very young. My mother was a seamstress and as soon as one Carnival was over you started planning and making costumes for the next one.”
Trinidad’s Carnival has also become a major commercial opportunity, attracting tourists from around the world. But behind all the glitter and revelry, there is a history of colonial repression, resistance and ultimate triumph that’s still reflected in many of the customs associated with this extravagant public bacchanal.
It’s this tradition, particularly its African connections, that Parson wants to highlight.
“I want people to understand what the tradition was,” the choreographer says.
“Carnival has become this big tourist thing and it’s always evolving, but it’s important to remember the roots.”
Parson says he spent five years delving into the complex history of Trinidad’s Carnival, its blending of French colonial and African traditions.
Carnival owes its timing to the Christian calendar. The two days preceding Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent became associated with feasting and public celebrations, a chance to finish up foods you might forego during the 40 days of fasting.
In England and several other European countries, Shrove Tuesday, the day immediately before Ash Wednesday, is marked by the eating of pancakes.
The Catholic French had their “Mardi Gras,” Fat Tuesday, which is now marked in many countries by extended celebrations.
In Trinidad, its culture responsive to successive waves of mostly Roman Catholic European settlers and the African slaves they brought with them, it evolved into Carnival.
Parson’s choice of title, Kambule, rather than the more commonly used “Canboulay,” is indicative of his approach. Canboulay is thought to derive from the French for burning cane, “cannes brulées.”
According to Trinidad-born Maureen Warner-Lewis, a celebrated 74-year-old linguist, “kambule” is the West African Kikongo word for procession, something practised by the ancestors of Trinidad’s black population long before the era of the slave trade.
Warner-Lewis theorizes that the two words have been conflated in meaning. Either way, they refer to an act of defiance and cultural assertion by Trinidadians of African descent.
In the late 18th century, Trinidad was opened up by its then Spanish overlords to French immigrants from other Caribbean islands.
These plantation owners held colourful masquerades from which the enslaved black population was ex- cluded. This did not stop them from copying and even parodying what they saw, blending elements of this French influence with the music and customs of their own African heritage.
Although the British, who had taken control of Trinidad in 1797, abolished slavery throughout their empire in 1833, the island’s black population continued to be exploited. Kambule, a street procession that preceded the formal start of Mardi Gras/Carnival events, featured stock characters in elaborate costumes, song, dance and loud percussion. It became a symbol of defiance, of a refusal to allow their own heritage to be suppressed or denied.
Colonial authorities took a dim view of Kambule, seeing it as a threat to public order. When they tried to outlaw some of its more boisterous expressions in 1881, bloody riots ensued.
Yet, despite years of repression, the spirit of Kambule survived and remains part of what Parson aptly describes as the “cultural kaleidoscope” of Carnival today.
Parson’s Kambule, featuring a cast of 11 dancers and five musicians, shares the program with Simone Suite, a new work set to the songs of Nina Simone by Ballet Creole associate choreographer Gabby Kamino. Kambule is at the Fleck Dance Theatre, 207 Queens Quay W., Friday to Sunday. Call 416-973-4000 or go to harbourfrontcentre.com.