Thrills in the Dance Class

It was a hot, breezy afternoon on Mannings Hill Road, Kingston. When I met dancer and educator Kofi Walker on the sidewalk, sweat was trickling down his temples.

Summer is well under way. The long school holidays stretch ahead. Schools don’t open again until early September. And many Jamaican students do get involved in healthy, productive – and fun – pursuits during the summer. They don’t just kick their heels at home.

The group of students that I met at the Quest Preparatory School were kicking their heels in a creative way. I sat in on a dance class in an empty classroom, its walls adorned with bright and interesting posters (looking around, I think I learnt a few useful facts!) The students just had enough space in which to stretch their arms, go through their paces. At first self-conscious at my presence (with camera) they gradually relaxed  – and they performed.

A creaking door slams. Footsteps echo. There are distant howls. Vincent Price‘s gleefully hollow, doom-laden tones set the scene. Yes, the students were working on their version of the 1983 classic “Thriller” by Michael Jackson – the shuffling, staggering, stomping ghouls, dancing with the yellow-eyed Jackson in a pointy-shouldered red leather jacket, red pants and his traditional white socks and black shoes. (Oh, how sad it is that Michael is no longer around. How very sad).

The photographs below show some great moments from the dance class. Kofi is a dedicated teacher, and is very proud of his students. Sometimes their moods are hard to handle – but they are dancers! This summer, Kofi is teaching two- to ten-year-olds; after that age, the children get embroiled in studying for their examinations, eventually emerging in high school. (I do wish that parents would understand the importance of such extra-curricular activities in a child’s development; but the cramming mentality always seems to come first).

You can find Kofi, an incredibly expressive and soulful dancer, on Facebook, along with the organization he founded in 2010, AIR and Paasa Foundation. He also teaches adults and staged his first Early Childhood Dance and Theatre Arts Festival last year. He has already had successes. Two of the schools he worked with won medals in the annual Jamaica Cultural Development Commission) Festival Competition for their dancing, last year.

Did I mention that he works incredibly hard? As Kofi noted in his 2012 program review, “Challenges are in everything you do!”  As with most artistic endeavors in Jamaica, funding is one of those challenges – even more so in Jamaica’s difficult economy, where the arts are seen as a luxury. And yet, Kingston remains vibrant. The energy remains.

And artists like Kofi continue to inspire.

Michael Jackson’s cat’s eyes in “Thriller.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOnqjkJTMaA Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” (long version)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V90AmXnguw Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” (much shorter version)

18 Things You Didn’t Know About Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” (oldschool955.com)

NOTE: “Thriller” (the album) is the best-selling album of all time. The ground-breaking video, considered the most influential pop music video of all time, remains the most watched – by over four billion people. In 2009 it was the first music video to be inducted into the National Film Registry of the National Library of Congress for being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.”

Kofi in sepia.

Final affirmation.

Rise up.

Kofi and the children.

Those staring, threatening eyes…

The joy of dance.

Out they come.

Awake.

Rising from the ground.

On the move…

Scary Michael: a clip from the amazing dance sequence in “Thriller.”