Guests Select: Namron OBE
Namron OBE began his dance career at the Willesden Jazz Ballet Group in 1961 and lied to his parents for a year about where he was going every week, until he finally invited them to his first performance. After this “all hell broke loose”, Namron remembers vividly, but his determination to dance meant they eventually gave permission for him to train on a scholarship at Rambert Dance School. He went on to become a founder member of London Contemporary Dance Theatre, where he worked for 18 years, alongside renowned choreographers, and was the first Black dancer to be employed by a British company.
Here he remembers some of the most influential dancers, companies and experiences throughout his remarkable career…
Image credit: This was a co-production with Leeds Playhouse, The Performance Ensemble, Leeds Older People’s Forum and Leeds 2023. The photo is by Zoe Martin.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater – Revelations
It was really amazing being a full-time student. Doing classes every day. That’s when I ran into Alvin Ailey, in 1965, when they came to London.
I didn’t have much money. I managed to get myself a ticket for the first performance and they were there for two weeks. I was young, good looking, strong. I saw the first performance and it blew my mind. They had three programmes and every programme had Revelations on it. They always ended the evening with Revelations. I wanted to go back to see the other pieces, so what I did is I dressed up in a suit and went in without any tickets. I waited until everybody had drifted into the theatre. For some reason I found myself going upstairs and sat down, picked up a programme and it looked like I was a paying guest! Would you believe it, I did it each time the programme changed, maybe twice a week. Eventually I was challenged, and I said to the guy “I’m not dancing tonight” – I pretended to be a dancer from the Alvin Ailey company! I’ve still got the programme. I got all the dancers to sign their autographs in it. It’s priceless!
Later in my career I had the opportunity to dance two pieces by the Alvin Ailey company, including The Road of the Phoebe Snow by Talley Beatty and Hermit Songs choreographed by Ailey himself. It was taught to me by the brilliant William Luther – some people called him the Black Nureyev! I had the opportunity to travel to New York and rehearse it with Ailey. He said, “good, that will do!”
BBC Young Dancer
The thing I watched recently was BBC Young Dancer 2022. I’m a founder member of Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds and I worked there for 15 years. I went through the same thing of going through auditions, watching their solos, choosing the dancers – the students who we are going to be training for three years – seeing their nervousness and their excitement. Just watching it, I tasted it a little bit, even though I’m not doing those things anymore, I’m a pensioner, I’m old! Put out to pasture! But people are still asking me to do things. It was something to do during COVID – of course everybody’s coming out of lockdown and catching up where they left off. I watched the BBC Young Dancer series from beginning to end. It’s sort of carrying on the baton. They are the pioneers now! I’ve worked with half a dozen people on that programme, and I know them, and I’ve talked to them. Watching those young dancers gives me a lovely feeling.
Last time I saw Dickson was two years ago before COVID in Manchester. The piece he was performing just blew my mind away. Of course, he knows me, and asked, “what do you think?” I said, well, contemporary dance is very much alive. Contemporary dance is in a good place.
BBC Dance Passion: Laying The Ground
As part of BBC Dance Passion, I did a short thing called Namron – Laying the Ground. I did it just before Christmas. I was ill and I thought I was going to die. I was talking and I saw myself and said this is not Namron talking. When I watch it, I see I was really ill. They said you have to do this before you go off to the Caribbean and I wanted to just get away. I didn’t think I was going to survive the winter after my time in hospital and all that. You must do it before you go, it will be fun to do. Why is it called laying the ground? She said you laid the ground for a lot of Black people. I said OK, let’s do it!
Sir Robert Cohan
Robert Cohan, my teacher, just passed away. He was one of my great inspirations. Sir Robert Cohan of London Contemporary Dance Theatre (LCDT), where I worked for nearly 20 years. I was a founder member of LCDT and the first Black dancer to be employed by a British company.
I first saw Robert Cohan with Martha Graham at the Saville Theatre. Years went by and then when Robin Howard, founder of The Place and LCDT decided he wanted to have a dance company, the person he appointed to do this was Robert Cohan. We saw Martha Graham years later. We came back to London for it. We went and everybody started talking about the various dancers who excite you, and Robert Cohan was one of those dancers. He was Martha Graham’s partner. I remember the first time we were going to have class with Robert Cohan. Everyone was sitting waiting for him to arrive. All the girls… even the boys! Then this dude walked in! Everybody had their tongues hanging out their heads. Really funny! That excitement of someone you’ve seen on stage many times, in the room being your teacher…
Martha Graham – Clytemnestra
Martha Graham came into that same studio and taught us class one day. Robert Cohan was demonstrating, and another guy called Bertrom Ross. These guys were Martha Graham’s partners and they were all over six foot. These two men were demonstrating and Martha was sitting on a chair. She was in her 80s pushing 90. Just amazing tension in the air. Martha Graham who is a famous lady, was teaching! It was just unbelievable. You can’t buy that.
Going back, that’s where it all began for contemporary dance. The very first Martha Graham piece I saw was called Clytemnestra. I always remember Martha Graham in London. And lots of characters like Jene Macdonald, Bertrom Ross, Ethel Winter and Mary Hinkston. She’s passed away now. Mary Hinkston was the first Black lady in the Martha Graham company, and she used to teach class, she was such an amazing woman. Legs to kill you!
