Love Experience the L’Acadco way.
Stines wishes Daaancing Crystals to have ripple effect on society
THE VIEWS from an aeroplane window somewhere over the salt water between Canada and Jamaica and from an upper row at the Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts are dramatically different. However, from Dr L’Antoinette Stines’ vantage point, they have something in common – the 2018 L’Acadco: A United Caribbean Dance Force season, titled Daaancing Crystals: A Special Love Experience. It runs from July 6-8 at the centre on UWI, Mona’s campus.
In-between keeping an eagle eye on and injecting a carrying voice over one of the final rehearsals, Stines told The Gleaner that the season’s name came to her while she was in mid-flight. “I wait on the Spirit to tell me what is needed at this time. What does the world need? It needs love,” Stines said. Crystals are used in healing, which Stines connects with love, hence the name.
“I can’t do a dance season without a purpose. It has to be something that ripples to the rest of the world. A lot of people are dying, a lot of people are unhappy. A lot of people can’t feed their children.”
Stating that a dance season is very
hard to put on, Stines said, ‘That’s why I have it every two years.” As she waits for the creative momentum to gather before approaching people for funding, Stines said, “I can’t just go to to someone and say, ‘I am L’Acadco, give me some funding’.” Among the corporate entities supporting Daaancing Crystals are the RJRGLEANER Group, Musson (Jamaica) Ltd., CIBC and Wisynco.
While all people need love, Stines said, “it occurred to me that some people need it more than others.” Among those she counts persons who are ‘marginalised’ and people from inner-city communities whose financial resources go into basic survival, with none remaining to attend an event like a dance season. This year, L’Acadco has invited 400 persons who live in children’s homes to see the performance. “They are excited. We now have 42 homes, but our special home is Mary’s Child. Lorna Wainwright took me there, and I saw the girls,” Stines said, adding that the experience had such a deep impact on her that “I could not function.”
Much is required to transform what was projected in mid-air during a plane journey into the movements of drummers and dancers on the stage. Stines said that after coming up with a concept, she calls on choreographers whose work she admires, although “I don’t tell them the name of the shows.” Her daughter, Amanyea, is key to the process as well. At the rehearsal, director Eugene Williams handled the theatrical elements. Denver ‘Feluke’ Smith, DJ Sparks and Empress will be connecting elements throughout performances.
Noting that L’Acadco’s base – the Dancing HUT (the last word an acronym for Highest Ultimate Training) – has been a springboard for persons who have gone on to perform in The Lion King and Game of Thrones, Stines said she wishes to construct a dance performance space with wheelchair access. “I want to go further. I want to take youths off the road,” Stines said of her ultimate goal.