Dancers’ Paradise: Dance Xpressionz to host virtual dance series

Dancer and choreographer Orville Hall will be hosting a virtual dance series, dubbed Virtual Vision, from August 1 to 4.

He said it will be an intense course that covers the history of dancehall dance, establishing links between it and and hip hop, which it helped to give birth to.

Hall, who is also artistic director of Theatre Xpressionz and creative director for Dancehall Hostel, told Dancers' Paradise that there has always been controversy surrounding the genesis of both genres and he wants to clear up any misconceptions.

"Some hip-hop students figure that dancehall a copy things from them, and there is a lot of chatter about dancehall being born from hip hop," he said. "I'm bringing a big-named hip-hop teacher to the camp who is Buddah Stretch, to help sort out these issues. A him choreograph the Do You Remember video for Michael Jackson and he understands the history of both genres enough to talk and teach about it. Craigy Dread who has been in the business for a long time is also very knowledgeable on this topic and can pass on the necessary information to participants."

Hall revealed the classes have been something he and his team have been executing for the past six years, bringing people from all over the world to immerse themselves in the Jamaican culture, and to access the authentic Jamaican experience.

"We can't do the physical thing this year because of the whole COVID thing so we a dweet virtually," he said. A dance show to wrap up Virtual Vision is also planned for August 6.

It's called Dancehall: From then till Now, and so obviously it will be a look into the development of the genre as far as dance is concerned and it will take participants on the journey in a fun, creative fashion," he said. "We will learn about old school dancehall, the developments from the days of kumina, mento and ska to 80s, 90s dancehall, to dancehall dance in the early 2000s, before we get into new school dancehall. Myself and the Xpressionz team will be the ones putting on the show and so you know it nah go nothing normal, the energy a go crazy."

Hall said he and his team are currently deciding from which platform to stream the show.