Cultural Voice

Article published in the Jamaica Gleaner The passing of Eduardo Rivero-Walker, the adopted Jamaican dancer, legendary Afro-centric modern dance choreographer and artistic director of Cuba's leading modern dance company Compañía Teatro Dela Danza Del Caribe de Santiago, has left the dance community in shock. Rivero-Walker's passing has also left a void among members of the National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica (NDTC) and the Stella Maris Dance Ensemble. In fact, the Stella Maris Dance Ensemble's 19th Season of Dance - which is scheduled to run at the Little Theatre from November this weekend - will be paying tribute to Rivero-Walker's work as choreographer and teacher.   "His passing has given heightened significance to his entrusting to us his choreographic work Toromato ," said Dr MoniKa Lawrence, artistic director and founder of the Stella Maris Dance Ensemble. Lawrence worked closely with Rivero-Walker - first as a dancer with the N

Born in Calcutta, India, Dr. Michele Lobo migrated to Australia in the year of the Sydney Olympics, 2000, after quite a random conversation with her Brother-in- Law who lived in Australia at the time. She describes the Christmas scene, with family and friends in Eastern India: “There was lots of food, drinks, and merriment,” typical of celebrations at that time of the year for her family. Her brother-in law called from Australia and said that he was watching TV, a shocking revelation  for an Indian at Christmas Time. On further prodding, he explained, that it was because of the lack of family members nearby to celebrate with and asked “why don’t you guys move here?” The rest, as we say, is history! Dr. Lobo is a 2012 recipient of the Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (Decra), and an Alfred Deakin Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University, in Melbourne, Australia. Dr. Lobo describes Calcutta as ver