Jamaica’s Leading Contemporary Dance Company, L’ACADCO, Returns to New York

NEW YORK – L’Acadco – A United Caribbean Dance Force, Jamaica’s leading contemporary dance company, makes its return to New York City after a 20-year absence, for a special gala performance at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College on Thursday, January 11, 2024.

Consul General of Jamaica to New York, Mrs. Alsion Roach-Wilson, OD., serves as Patron of the event, which will honor Dr. Una S.T. Clarke, and being held under the theme: Building Bridges Through The Arts. Part proceeds will go towards the New-York based Jamaican charity, Children of Jamaica Outreach (COJO) Inc. Tickets available at www.touchstonelink.com/lacadco

The one-night performance will showcase the artistry, dynamism and technique of L’Acadco’s extraordinary dancers who are set to thrill returning fans as well as first time attendees. The evening will include contemporary works and pieces exploring popular and traditional Caribbean forms highlighting choreographers Jessica Shaw, Orville McFarlane and L’Antoinette Stines, Artistic Director. Satta and Honfour, two of the company’s signature works choreographed by Dr. Stines, will be performed.

Lineup

The night’s lineup will feature special guest performer Amma D. McKen, Yoruba Orisha Singer and Priestess of Yemonja. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, McKen has sung traditional sacred Yoruba music since she was 14. McKen holds several roles and titles in Yoruba, including the title of Akpon, a lead singer and officiator for the drumming and dancing celebrations. She became the first African American female Akpon to produce a musical recording of the traditional songs, titled Alaako Oso: Owner of the Songs is Eloquent.

This electrifying cultural exchange promises to leave patrons spellbound and enthralled.

L’Acadco had its genesis in 1978, when Dr. L’Antoinette Stines established the first black dance company in Miami. She returned to Jamaica in 1982, where she continued to grow with her company, becoming a compelling representative of Jamaican and Caribbean culture.

Dr. Stines is the creator of L’Antech, a contemporary Caribbean dance technique – the company’s movement language. Her expertise in Classical Ballet and popular and folkloric Jamaican and Caribbean moment vocabularies enabled her to create this method of training bodies while exploring choreographic work inspired by the virility of her island’s culture and ancestry, the sensuality of its people and the natural mystic in the air.