Lime Time: Jamaican TV Goes “In The Dance”

Words by Eddie STATS Houghton—

Next month the Jamaican network TVJ will premier their new show In The Dance–shot at Kingston’s famous Quad nightclub—which adapts a Soul Train-like format to the ever-fluid movements of dancehall (see highlights reel below). We at LargeUp have long felt that the originality of Jamaican dance has been short-changed in the coverage of dancehall, to the detriment of the culture as a whole, a trend that ITD shows signs of reversing. Although TVJ is obviously looking at the success of dance-driven reality/contest shows like So You Think You Can Dance, and its offshoots, just as relevant might be the success of local, black-owned TV phenoms like Detroit’s The Scene, which employed dancers and provided an outlet for local artists and producers, sustaining the nascent Detroit techno scene through the late 70s and early 80s when the departure of Motown left a void in the traditional music industry. But ITD promises to be more than just a local phenomenon. The show is already slated to air in Trinidad, Barbados, Belize, St. Vincent, Antigua, French Guyana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Maarten and the British Virgin Islands and a partnership with global powerhouse Trace TV promises to see it syndicated in international markets like France, Belgium and Holland among others, making it the Caribbean’s first globally-syndicated series. Roses, find a new stem! World a dance, we come fi teach dem…