An exciting slate of 21 international choreographers will light up the stage at Queen’s Hall as the COCO Dance Festival returns to in person-performances from Saturday - Sunday (October 29 - 30) at 6 pm, following a two-year pivot to online-only shows, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Live and “dance on film” performances from Jamaica, Barbados, the USA and Mexico, along with some of the very best from T&T will once again put the spotlight on contemporary dance and the choreographers who drive it.
As part of the Festival, COCO will be honouring the work of the late Astor Johnson, whose company, The Astor Johnson Repertory Dance Theatre, is celebrating its 50th anniversary and will perform the 1979 classic, Stay Up Zimbabwe—one of Johnson’s early works which has been performed at home and abroad to standing ovations and critical acclaim.
Overcoming by Terry Springer.
Edison Boodoosingh
The Repertory Dance Theatre will also present a workshop for younger generations of dancers to understand Johnson’s technique and philosophy of dance.
Other on-stage performances include Overcoming—a commentary on facing adversity and bouncing back, choreographed by Trinidadian-born Terry Springer—a highly-acclaimed international dance artist who choreographed performances at the opening ceremony of Carifesta XIV in 2019; while Deon Baptiste’s Tribute to OYA!, will celebrate the powerful female orisha goddess of wind, change and transformation, in a performance that mixes modern and folk, as it delves in and out of authentic Orisa movements.
Also on stage will be Konflikt II•IV. by Mexican-American choreographer, Daniel Garcia, which explores the intimacy and power of human connectivity, juxtaposed against the discomfort of being constricted by it.
The dance on film performances, which will be screened each evening, include: Minding the Void, by US choreographer Tate J Navarro,—a piece which interrogates what it might look like if the feelings we keep bottled up, finally got a moment in the light.
