Art visual np2

The Republic has hosted people, art. Photo by Andre Bagoo. Just off the insane asylum in St Ann's, at a bend on Sydenham Avenue, is a small gingerbreadish house with a red door. The fretwork is painted primary school green, the walls are the colour of body lotion. There are burglar-proof iron grilles and wooden louvres. 'The Republic of Sydenham', which opens up inside into several rooms, including an incredible attic, has, over the last few years, been a home for art, music, dance, critical discourse and fete. It is currently the home for New York/Trinidadian based dancer Makeda Thomas and her Roots and Wings Movement which has hosted a dance and performance institute there. Last year, the space opened a modest art gallery. Countless musicians, including LAZA beam, Coreysan, Sheldon Holder and Sheldon Blackman, have also performed in its walls. For many, The Republic has been a regular stop; an alternative to places like Zen. I've attended  some great limes and partie...

Makeda Thomas performs FreshWater again tonight at Queen's Hall so go people! It's good when a title lives up to its name. Makeda Thomas ' FreshWater was exactly that: fresh. The piece, choreographed by Thomas, was performed at Queen's Hall at the COCO Dance Festival and will be performed again tonight. Thomas manages to subtly blend elements of local dance (such as belee and Carnival rhythms) in a way that is at once familiar, yet idiosyncratic. This is a vernacular that is sophisticated yet universal. FreshWater --or at least what was presumably an earlier form of it--first premiered on Saturday 7 October, 2006, at what was then known as CCA7 during Galvanize . It has since been performed in Zimbabwe and Mexico and also MIT’s Kresge Little Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Last night Thomas was ably assisted by a sound design by Keshav Singh and vocal accompaniment by Attillah Springer and all were on form. The integration of the Minshall-inspired costume (done b...

Start Time: Thursday, October 15, 2009 at 8:00pm End Time: Friday, October 16, 2009 at 10:00pm Location: Queen's Hall, Port-of-Spain. FROM THE ORGANISERS: Trinidad born, New York based choreographer Makeda Thomas will perform her critically acclaimed 'FreshWater' as part of the Contemporary Choreographers Collective's presentation for Dance Festival 2009 at Queen's Hall on October 15 and 16. Thomas describes ‘FreshWater’ as a dance between memory and reality. “The everyday reality of Trinidad is a cultural stream that fuses myth and fact, reason and irrationality, dream and vigil. I recall these rhythms, shapes, forms and symbols. I recall them in dance and music, which represents a vibrant, living institution for the study of the Amerindian-African- European-East Indian historical and cultural impact”, she says. “I recall them in the performance art of mas, the defining aspect of Trinidad’s Carnival. I recall them in the folklore, song, vernacular, and chanted, im...