NCF training to keep Bajan tradition alive

By Sheria Brathwaite

The National Cultural Foundation (NCF) is partnering with the University of the West Indies (UWI) to revitalise the Barbados Landship programme.

The two entities started a three-month training course last Wednesday to give dancers and other interested members of the public accreditation in the historical movement.

During the launch of the certificate course at the NCF headquarters in West Terrace, St James on Wednesday, course coordinator and senior member of the Barbados Landship Association, John Hunte explained that due to modernisation, the programme that once had a subgroup in every parish, was in decline with only 20 active members and the only “ship” being docked in Licorish Village, St Michael. 

He said the movement dated back about 160 years. After Independence, he said, the membership dropped significantly due to other activities such as sports and employment from which earnings could be generated.  

However, Hunte said the landship was an important feature of the Barbadian landscape and it was critical to maintain that part of the island’s intangible heritage as it validated the Barbadian experience of African descendents. 

Chief executive officer of the NCF Carol Roberts-Reifer said the course was “another plank” in the NCF’s monument to celebrate the history, heritage and the future significance of the Barbados Landship.

She said the course could be considered a part of the body of work the NCF was conducting to bring about more awareness to the landship such as animated videos and mapping the site of former and present “docks”.

Roberts-Reifer said it was the NCF’s hope that in the near future the landship would become a part of the school curriculum, a subject which the foundation would be meeting with the Ministry of Education to discuss the feasibility of such a proposal.

So far, 38 people have registered to be part of the training initiative, which takes place on Wednesdays at the NCF’s dance studio from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.   

On completion, participants would be considered as certified teachers and would be approved to teach the artform to community groups, local and abroad as well as school children. 

The training course is to be held once every three years and its components include assessing the landship as a cultural artform, a developmental community organisation and an Afro-centric movement.

During his remarks, head of the department and senior lecturer of the Faculty of Culture, Creative and Performing Arts at UWI Cave Hill Campus, Andrew Millington, said the landship as an institution was part of many Barbadians’ understanding of self identity and it must be passed down to each generation. He added that as a new republic, Barbados must be committed to honour its indigenous forms of cultural expression. 

The Barbados Landship is a cultural organisation widely known for its entertaining performances at various national events, especially during the Crop Over season. Members mimic the British Navy in uniform and movement while they perform to the music of the tuk band.

sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb