Metamorphosis, Peter London dancers in post-pandemic finale

Over three years in the making, Metamorphosis Dance Company will soon be heading to Miami for the finale of their three-part cultural dance exchange with the Peter London Global Dance Company (PLGDC).

Metamorphosis artistic director Nancy Herrera said the company planned a collaboration with PLGDC, headed by Trinidadian dancer Peter London, before the pandemic.

For the cultural exchange, Metamorphosis selected the company’s assistant artistic director Terry Springer to choreograph a dance for PLGDC while London choreographed a dance for Metamorphosis. The idea was to have the companies host a show in their respective areas, TT and Miami, where the other would perform the piece by the guest choreographer.

Herrera said when the pandemic hit, it halted production. But for dancers, it was difficult not to dance. So, they taught the pieces to each other’s dance companies through online video apps even as Metamorphosis was limited by the covid19 restrictions.

After all that hard work, in 2021 Metamorphosis decided to host an online performance called Embers and Fire & Gold, the titles of the two dances, where Metamorphosis first performed London’s Fire & Gold.

“Stopping wasn’t an option. We felt we owed it to the dancers since Metamorphosis is a formative company, a steppingstone for dancers who want to dance professionally abroad. And the rest of the world was not shut down like we were here, so those who wanted to go abroad had to still keep up.”

In July 2022, Metamorphosis hosted PLGDC at the show, Meta Dance Live at the National Academy for the Performing Arts, Port of Spain, where PLGDC performed Springer’s dance, Embers, among other dances.

For the third leg, from July 24 to 31, Metamorphosis will once again perform Fire & Gold live along with other pieces in a show hosted by PLGDC.

Springer, a dancer and choreographer, said he did not think of making any adjustment to his choreography for PLGDC because no matter where in the world he goes he would still be Trinidadian.

He said even as he learned other dances and techniques, the way he moved was still distinctly Trinidadian. Similarly, different companies could do the same choreography but the dance would not look the same.

“I was at the same level as others at these renowned companies but, at the same time, I was different. What is my unique selling point? What makes me different? Just being myself, and I choreograph that way.

“I also choreograph according to the dancers who are with me. Some people plan their choreography and just put it on the dancers. My work is more experimental. I come and see what the dancers can do, how they move and then I mount according to that. So I give them the framework but they have a certain amount of liberty to test themselves and to experiment.”

He said the idea for Embers came out of what was happening during the pandemic. He said the dancers had a lot of subdued fire and energy, so could not be at home doing nothing.

“A dancer has to dance. It can be depressing when you can’t express yourself through your artform. So the idea was to keep the embers burning and reignite the world. We are resilient. We bounce back. It does not matter. Even if we can’t do it physically, we are dancing mentally.”

In preparation for the tour, Metamorphosis will be showcasing its new works on July 15 and 16 at NAPA in the show Metamorphosis Takes Flight.

Herrera told Sunday Newsday, “It very literal because we have to be at the top of our professional game, making sure everything is performance ready for the tour before we fly out.

“Also, for many of those dancers, they are now taking flight as choreographers while others are taking flight to study as or become professional dancers abroad.”

The show will have 12 dance pieces by local choreographers, including several by Metamorphosis dancers who began studying choreography under Springer during the pandemic.

These include Recharge by Emilee Padmore and Anika Robertson, Motion Movement and Why Try by Isabelle Julien, Entwine by Azara Hosein and Warring Within The Mind by Sade Flemming.

Five of the 12 pieces will be performed during the two Miami shows which will include a dance company from Martinique. In addition to the show, Metamorphosis will host two workshops which will be open to the public because there seemed to be an interest in the Caribbean.

“Right now in America the buzz word is diversity, embracing diversity, but TT has been diverse for so long. So the audience is going to come looking at all the influences and nuances of what we are including in our work and we are going to celebrate that,” said Herrera.

She hoped performing on the same stage as international dancers would widen the scope of the Metamorphosis dancers and open more opportunities to them.

Herrera said tours in the past were not exchanges but Metamorphosis has had other opportunities.

For example, when London was an associate at the Martha Graham Dance Company in New York, he got the company to agree to let Metamorphosis perform Steps in the Street, one of Graham’s iconic works, with certain requirements. They had the rights to perform the piece for three years.

There was also a full-length performance of the ballet Giselle which was usually set in a vineyard in Europe. But Metamorphosis turned it into a Caribbean ballet set in a cocoa estate with local folklore characters.

“We have had some really amazing links and that relates back to the legacy of Caribbean School of Dancing that we all come out of. We have batted above our weight and succeeded. Caribbean School has produced a lot of dancers who have gone all over the world and most take the opportunity to come and give back.”

Springer added that shared passion, dedication and generosity of spirit of the dancers, teacher and alumni allowed the school to survive the pandemic when so many other schools shut down.

Herrera also expressed sadness that dance was a very hard sell to get sustainable sponsorship or donations. She believed the reasons why were because dance was a rare gift and it took time to develop that gift at a time when everyone wanted instant gratification.

She added that the benefits to dance were intangible, something people could not put a price or value. Yet, she said, every year a Metamorphosis dancer received a national scholarship.

“This is a school that empowers and makes good citizens. It takes years to make a dancer through discipline, a lot of hard work, and proper time management. The people who are involved in it are much better off.”