Why We Dance Quadrille
Owning our unique heritage
To reclaim and share our cultural heritage, using the dance in a positive way to tell a story of our African-Caribbean ancestors’ experiences and determination to survive enslavement in the 18th and 19th centuries.
To entertain, educate and inspire positive awareness of our Jamaican cultural heritage across all local, national and international communities.
We celebrate our ancestors’ awe-inspiring attributes that helped them to survive enslavement in the 18th and 19th centuries, e.g. their free-spiritedness and love of music and dance; their inner strength, defiance, resilience, wisdom and courage; Their versatility, camaraderie, teamwork, discipline, dignity and compassion; Their mutual respect, peace, love, determination and unfailing hope for a better life.
They cunningly used the quadrille dance to subversively practice their socio-cultural and spiritual values and beliefs; and send coded messages to each other about their plans for emancipation.
We use creative license to tell a celebratory story of our African Caribbean ancestors’ creative use of the Quadrille dance as an empowering survival strategy to keep their spirits high and to maintain human dignity and purpose, during enslavement in the 18th and 19th centuries.
We attribute each dance figure/set piece with symbolic meaning, relating to our ancestors lived experiences and their long and arduous journey to emancipation and self -determination. They never gave up.
We use creative license to tell a celebratory story of our African Caribbean ancestors’ creative use of the Quadrille dance as an empowering survival strategy to keep their spirits high and to maintain human dignity and purpose, during enslavement in the 18th and 19th centuries.
We attribute each dance figure/set piece with symbolic meaning, relating to our ancestors lived experiences and their long and arduous journey to emancipation and self -determination. They never gave up.