The Metamorphosis Dance Co celebrates its 20th anniversary with a special production this week, from April 16�19, at Queen's Hall. Running the rehearsals this season is Bridgette Wilson, a member of the company for 15 years and rehearsal director for the past six.
Wilson choreographed the company's 19th season with Perception and this year she has choreographed a high-energy trio as well as the finale, which incorporates both past and present members of Metamorphosis Dance Co.
Born and raised in T&T, she trained and danced at the Caribbean School of Dancing and was invited to join Metamorphosis in 2000.
"I am not one for speaking about my emotions," a Metamorphosis press release quotes Wilson as saying. "This is why I danced as a child and this is why, as an adult, I choreograph.
"Metamorphosis Dance Co has been my outlet to express myself throughout my greatest joys as well as my deepest sorrows. The company has been my mother when I seek comfort, my mentor when I seek advice, my companion when I am lonely, my inspiration when I lack vision and my best friend throughout every ounce of laughter we share with one another."
In 2002 and 2004, as a member of Metamorphosis, Wilson toured the UK, dancing at Trafalgar Square in London and theatres located in Tewksbury, Liverpool, Manchester and Gloucester. Mainly trained in ballet and modern dance, Wilson has earned her associate certificate in modern theatre from the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing and has also been successful in a number of ballet exams taken by the Royal Academy of Dancing.
In 2005, she packed her bags for Canada to study at York University, graduating in 2009 with a BFA with honours. In Canada, she was a senior member of the York Dance Ensemble, the professional performing dance company at York University made up of the dance programme's most promising third and fourth year dancers. She officially gave up her membership with the company in February 2009, when the opportunity to undergo her own independent study through her own choreographic experiments came about, but she still maintains contact with the Canadian company for future collaborations.
Wilson is the first recipient of the COCO Dance Festival Choreographer's Award in 2012. Her interest in choreography grew while at York University and she has produced new works every year since 2008. Outside of her work with Metamorphosis she teaches ballet, jazz and tap at both branches of the Caribbean School of Dancing and is head of visual and performing arts at the Maria Regina Grade School.
She has been accepted into a Bachelor of Arts programme at the Royal Academy of Dancing (Rad) and will begin the distance learning programme in September 2015, in order to obtain registered teacher status with the Rad.
"Working with the company has challenged me mentally, physically, creatively and emotionally to find myself and be true to that person not just for my sake, but for the sake of the many young and intelligent minds that make their way into our family. Metamorphosis is my world away from the world and even when things aren't perfect within it, it is still the place I will always choose to be."
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Tickets are priced at $100 (April 16 Student show), $200 (April 17 and 19) and $400 (April 18 fund-raiser). Tickets are available from the Caribbean School of Dancing, Monday-Friday from 10 am- 6 pm, and at the Queen's Hall Box Office from noon daily.
metamorphosisdance.com