By Rosy May
A collection of traditional Caribbean dances, tied together with colourful costumes and lively music, make up the Arts Council funded show: “The Islands.”
Holly and Tom play Belé rhythms on drums from Wooden Roots
1- Rosy’s bedroom, 2019 Dance- Dancehall Music- Toast by Koffee 2- Guinea, circa 1400s Dance- Kuku Music- Live percussion
3- Guadeloupe, circa 1600s Dance- Gwo Ka Music- Live percussion 4- Martinique, circa 1700 Dance- Belé/Biguine Music- Live percussion/ La
Divinité by La Perfecta
5- Dominican Republic circa 1800, 1960s, 2019 Dance- Merengue & Bachata Music- Volvio Juanita by Milly y Los
Vecinos, La Mujer Que Yo Tenia by Kiko Rodriguez, Loco by Enrique Iglesias 6- Cuba 1950s Dance- Mambo and Salsa Music- Mambo No5 by Pérez Prado, Canto
A La Habana by Johnny Pacheo, Celia Cruz, La Vida Es Un Carnaval by Celia Cruz 7- Jamaica, 1948 Dance- Rock & Roll Music- Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop by Lionel Hampton
“Dominican Republic: home of the merengue”
8- London, 1948 Style- Calypso Music- London is the place for me by Lord Kitchener 9- London 1960s/70s Style- Reggae Music- Return of the Django by The Upsetters, Rocksteady by Alton Ellis 10- Rosy’s bedroom 2019 Dance- Soca Music- Famalay by Skinny
Fabulous
“Back in Cuba we find the mambo…”
Choreographer, activist and now writer, Rosy May, first came up with the idea of ‘The Islands’ in the summer of 2019. Knowing she wanted to perform but not getting jobs and seeing roles that excited her, she decided to create her own.
Holly Harrington, percussionist, researcher and best friend, inspired Rosy to explore the history of her own Caribbean heritage and together they trawled through the internet, selecting dances from over 7000 islands. To the left are the actual text messages between Holly and Rosy in 2019…
Encouraged by close friend, Sarah Dyball, Rosy made an application to the Arts Council to fund the creation and performance of this show, alongside sharing workshops and performance opportunities with members of the public. When the application was approved, Rosy and the rest of her family were overjoyed….until the Covid-19 lockdown put a stop to all rehearsals and performances before they had even begun. Luckily Ed Ngai, of LED creatives, came on board to suggest turning the show into a film with the help of Red Cactus Media…
Rosy May- Lead dancer/ choreographer/ director/ writer/ producer/ Rosy’s musical theatre experience inspired her to mash her Caribbean culture with a Western style of theatre. Telling a unique but truthful story of her ancestors was important to Rosy and she hopes to provide an enjoyable experience to everyone, but particularly to those of the first Windrush generation. Additionally she hopes to inspire younger people to create work that is meaningful to them, and to commemorate their family heritage in their own way.
Anna MudekaLead Dancer
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Anna is a charismatic dancer, musician, storyteller who’s own one-woman play, “Kure Kure,” inspired the creation of this story. Throughout ‘The Islands,’ Anna gracefully yet powerfully demonstrates multiple dance styles and characters
Akeem Hyman Narrator Akeem’s strong voice is the soundtrack to ‘The Islands,’ giving us valuable insight into the culture of each destination we reach. Currently you can see Akeem performing as Seaweed in the UK tour of Hairspray.
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Holly Harrington Percussionist/ composer Alongside researching the various dance and music styles of each country, composing and creating the drum rhythms, Holly also performed in the show. Holly makes up one half of the duo “DjembeatsUK”
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Thomas Leach Percussionist As a professionally trained drummer, Tom added a wonderful dynamic to the pieces that required the essence of live music. Tom features in multiple bands and has his first album coming out soon Click here for more
Barrington Mason Supporting dancer Barrington has a dancing career longer than our creator, Rosy, has been alive. He provided valuable insight into Jamaican life as a child and choreographed a sweet rock & roll routine that he performed with his real life and stage daughter, Rosy.
Kate Mason/ byKatymac Eco-Costume designer After years of creating ballet costumes for Rosy and her peers, Kate turned her hand to costuming a full show on her own whilst only using pre- loved and sustainable fabrics
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“Ripped away from the home you knew. You try to hold onto some culture from your homeland.”
Gwo Ka is a French Creole term for ‘Big Drum’ and it refers to a family of hand drums, the music played with them and the traditional dance that accompanies this. Originally practised by slave descendants in the 17th century, the Gwo Ka is now practised by all ethnic and religious groups in Guadeloupe and is normally celebrated on Friday nights. The drummers and dancers work together to create the pieces. There are seven Gwo Ka rhythms: • Le Kaladja • Le Would • Graj • Toumblak • Lewoz • Mennde • Pajanbel
The Biguine is a result of crossover of West Indian musical genres and there are two distinct styles: Bidgin belé and orchestrated biguine. Bidgin belé evolved from the belé dances of slaves on the sugar plantations. Long after this dance became popular in the countryside, an urban version emerged in Saint-Pierre, which took on more French characteristics. This was accompanied by French lyrics and had more of a ‘Big Band’ sound.
Both styles are demonstrated in The Islands.
“The strength of your African culture can be seen through similarities across the Caribbean”
This outfit was used to dance the Biguine which is derivative of West African, Indigenous Caribbean and colonial French/European styles of dance, music and outfit. The fabric is based on the madras check and this style of outfit can be seen in multiple islands including Martinique, Guadeloupe and St Lucia. In this show, we demonstrate the evolution of dance/music/fashion and so this is developed from a costume used earlier in a dance called Gwo Ka. The madras fabric would still be used but the skirts would be shorter with no underskirts and the dancers would be barefoot which is an example of the West African influence.
Ed Ngai- Led creatives Film producer With a knack for connecting like minded creatives together, Ed joined this project part way through 2020 and was the catalyst for creating a film. Ed runs Led, a “creative community interest company with the purpose of building a network of creatives”
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Remi Morrison Video director/ editor
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Remi, of Red Cactus Media, filmed The Islands across two days in April alongside Harriet De Max and Samuel Bignell. Their fantastic cinematography brings the show to life and bridges the gap between stage and screen.
Steve LouisTechnician As soon as the concept of The Islands was created, Rosy knew it would not be achieved without having Steve on the team. Steve attended socially distanced rehearsals and went above and beyond his job title to ensure the project was a success.
Victoria Langfield Graphic designer
Rebecca Hudson Editor
Victoria created the initial promotional material and branding for The Islands and works as a fabulous freelance designer.
Rebecca worked alongside Remi to piece all of the footage together and works as a creative freelancer specialising in postproduction services.
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Jo SalcombeScript writer/stage manager The Islands was Jo’s first venture into the theatre world and he offered a fresh perspective on the narration used. He also took on the role of setting up the stage for each scene (and deciphering poorly drawn stage diagrams from director and partner Rosy.)
During this process, I unfortunately lost two people very close to me who supported and championed every aspect of my career. This project is in memory of Elizabeth McNaughton, my Nana, and Sarah Dyball, my friend.
This project would have not happened without the generosity of the Arts Council. Thank you so much for funding this creative journey, giving me this opportunity and allowing me to create and delve into my heritage in this way. Thank you to Wooden Roots for providing fantastic drums and for being an amazing supporter. DanceEast in Ipswich kindly offered their James Hehir theatre at very short notice to be used in the film. Thank you Lucy Bayliss for facilitating this.
My friends and family have been incredibly supportive throughout this process and whilst I am likely to miss out someone important, I would like to try and thank as many as possible. Thank you to… My mum, dad and Jo for allowing this crazy project to take over our lives (and our house) Aunty Daphne for providing costume advice Holly Harrington for being my right hand man Mogali Masuku for editing the script with me
Thank you to the following for providing me with endless support and love… The PMS Gang The Sexy Awesomes Morgan Fay Melia Green Stephen Harris Luce Roper Emma Venier Esther Pierson Marwa Ramsi Shannon Lumley Sheila May Mair