“In Good Company”, an independent summer service project I developed in collaboration with CDT Arts Ltd. based in Kingston, Jamaica has been incredibly fruitful. Born from this summer work is The Company Dance Theatre Archive, an open-source, digital library database that currently houses 2500+ photographs, 150+ videos, and programs, posters, etc. from Tony Wilson, O.D. and Artistic Director Emeritus’ 35 years of repertoire and performance works set on The Company Dance Theatre (1988). My time in Jamaica was spent doing the following: programming a database site on the platform Notion—chosen for its incredibly user-friendly interface—watching, digitising, and taking detailed notes on Wilson’s dance works from 1990 onwards, sorting and organising the Company’s existing records living on DVDs and VHS tapes, meeting with founding and current members to view and digitise prized CDT memorabilia, and researching Wilson’s role in Jamaican dance theatre since his choreographic debut in the mid 1970s and that of Jamaican dance history at large for written sections of the database.
As of August 31, 2023, the public-facing version of the database has been completed and will be published under a Creative Commons licence by early September. There has also been approval from the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in Kingston, Jamaica, to have the database implemented as part of their digital library websites (used both by students and the public), as well as for use in their dance education curriculum. All this will be settled after a meeting on September 4th, 2023. The project will also be used by the Company for the remounting of Mr. Wilson’s works in celebration of his life and contribution to Jamaican dance. Too, with this coming season of dance being their 35th Anniversary, the creation of this database could not have come at a better time for the organization.
Aside from working, I was also able to interact with the CDT community very extensively. I performed with them in their June Gala (as they needed additional dancers) which also allowed me to get a better sense of the state of the Company and the dancer’s feelings about this transitional moment in which its founder and main leader since the beginning is no longer in the studio. Upon hearing what I was working on, many dancers were interested in sharing their experience with me—information that also helped me shape my understanding of the impact of the Company on Jamaican dancers as of current. In developing the archive, I also interacted a lot with founding members. I would sit in their homes over lunch or coee on my rounds to gather personal CDT memorabilia and hear stories about the earliest days of The Company, and even more intimately, the role Mr. Wilson had played in their lives.
Finally I have used my funding for the following: preparatory materials (literature, video conversion software and 3-month subscription, conversion cables, archive subscriptions), archival/sorting materials for CDT (folders, lamination services, on-site storage, upkeep/care materials), local and international travel (to Jamaica for project start, and to Boston (to collect CDT memorabilia), Negril, St. Catherine, Falmouth, and Montego Bay, Wilson’s sites of inspiration for his major works), paying for VHS conversion and repair, international phone costs, and 3-months lodging, car rental (gas and tolls), studio rental, and food/groceries.