DR JOHN HUNTE

STORY BY Cheryl Harewood

Mention the name Dr John Hunte and immediately those involved in the creative sector will speak of a man whose dance moves up until 2009 captivated those who were fortunate to see him perform on stages around the island and as far away as Senegal and Zimbabwe.

Today, those dance moves and his career as a dancer is limited because hip surgery 13 years ago left him with a limp. But John’s ability to contribute to the creatives in Barbados is still very much a part of his everyday life and he does so as a part-time tutor in dance and theatre at the Barbados Community College (BBC), and adjunct lecturer at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Cave Hill Campus in its creative studies and cultural studies programme.

Since its inception in 2014, he has been executive director, general manager and producer with Barbados Dance Project Inc., and artistic director of its ensemble, an ongoing choreographic process for budding dancers to collaborate with various performance projects.

John is also the Barbados Dance Theatre Company’s artistic director and principal and, from 2013 to 2024, he was a member of the Barbados Landship Association’s Advisory Committee, recently designing and coordinating a teacher certification course in association with the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) and Cave Hill Campus. He was also designing and coordinating the National Landship in Schools Training Programme with the NCF.

Over 40 years

To say that dance and the arts are John’s life is an understatement. The beloved dancer, actor, choreographer, teacher and administrator has spent over 40 years in the arts and nothing it seems, except death, will stop him from making his valuable contribution to Barbados’ cultural landscape.

As a student at the Wesley Hall Primary School and later Harrison College, John cherished thoughts of making it big in medicine, law, or as an engineer. That was before he entered sixth form at Harrison College and a teacher was brought in to teach dance. John and two other male students took up dance classes as a “dare” and John’s world was forever changed.

In 1983, during Harrison College’s 250th anniversary celebrations, John was among those who performed in dance. Prior to this, he was a member of the Harrison College School Orchestra, led by music teacher Janice Millington (now deceased).

“From the time I entered first form, I became interested in the arts and joined the music programme and the school orchestra. Persons like Nicholas Brancker and Roger Gittens were also members,” he said.

“I was already performing on stage, playing the percussion, the recorder and singing, but I had never danced before. Dancing was very exhilarating. I felt that I had found something that took me somewhere, but I did not know how to express this to my family,” the first of four siblings said.

“Dance was not considered anything serious for men back then and people were even wondering why I had waited until I was in sixth form to dance.”

John’s first plan was medical school, not dance “I was actually going to school with the idea to enter the medical programme at UWI.

“In September 1983, when I entered Cave Hill to study sciences, I met a guy called Danny Hinds, who was working with a dance group called Seitu Productions at the time. I joined this group. After a year, my father suggested that I go to Mona to continue my studies there. So, I went to Jamaica in 1984. I must admit that I spent more time involved in extra-curricular activities than I care to admit. I was spending lots of time at Mona’s Creative Arts Centre and I was just not doing well in my courses.”

John knew he had to do something about his passion for dancing and for the arts.

“I negotiated with my parents to let them send me to the Cultural Training Centre in Kingston, Jamaica, now called the Edna Manley College for the Visual and Performing Arts. They allowed me to pursue courses there, since I was not doing well in the academics at the time.”

By the time he enrolled there, John had become an apprentice with the National Dance Theatre Company ( NDTC) of Jamaica, led by Ralston Milton “Rex” Nettleford, the Jamaican scholar, social critic, choreographer, and later vice-chancellor emeritus of the UWI.

“I was spending time between the training centre, taking courses in choreography and rehearsing and performing with NDTC.”

John also started teaching choreography to different groups and got more involved in cultural activities. He remained in Jamaica until 1991.

In 1990, through a collaborative effort with the Cultural Training Centre, he was part of a student exchange programme between the centre and State University of New York, College at Brockport in upstate New York, United States. He spent a semester in New York, then returned to Jamaica and graduated with a diploma in dance theatre and production.

He later returned to the US and pursued a bachelor of science degree in dance, graduating in 1991.In 1992, the young dancer set off for the United Kingdom to join the dance group Kokuma. After 18 months as a professional dancer performing at various places in the UK, Wales, Scotland and Zimbabwe, he returned home and joined the Barbados Dance Theatre Company as its artistic director from 1993 to 1996.

John’s career as a dance tutor has been long, rewarding and successful and through the years, he has completed further studies at various educational institutions, including a masters in fine arts in performing arts management from the City University of New York, Brooklyn College. He also acquired his PhD in cultural studies from the Cave Hill Campus in 2014. He has won numerous scholarships and awards.

Developmental projects

From 2011 to 2015, he worked with the NCF as a cultural officer responsible for dance.

In the NCFs Cultural Development Department, he was the interface between the needs of the various sectors of the dance community and the NCF’s mission “to fuel the developing the arts”. This was done specifically by organising and executing training programmes in dance for schools, community groups, dance troupes, and individuals. He also conceptualised developmental projects and performances in the areas of dance and dance theatre; assisted the Youth Affairs Division and the Community Development Division with their national dance training projects and created the infrastructure for regional and international dance exchange programmes.

He was also part of a team to create the Cultural Industries Development Act that led the way for the establishment of the Cultural Industries Development Authority in 2014 and was the artistic director for the Barbados contingent to CARIFESTA XII in Haiti in August 2015.

When his dance career came to a halt in 2015, John found himself being asked to perform as an actor in a suite of dramatisations. He had gained acting experience from being the choreographer and an actor in Winston Farrell’s House of Landship in 2013, and a supporting actor in the play Simone’s House, written by Glenville Lovell and directed by Russell Watson, in 2014.

John believes that Barbados has done well in the arts, considering the challenges it faces.

“We have excellent cultural training in Barbados, but the challenge has been in the production element – so it is difficult to sustain performing arts activities at an excellent level in some key areas. We need proper stages and better venues, as well as adequate compensation to navigate investments of time and energy. These conditions make it difficult to really otherwise excel. The ability to punch above the weight is not possible without the necessary resources.”

Despite the challenges, John, who recently wrote Spouge The Musical and plans to perform it at CARIFESTA in Barbados next year, is also looking forward to working closely with his counterparts in western and central Africa.

Dr John Hunte is a part-time tutor in dance and theatre at the Barbados Community College and adjunct lecturer at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus in its creative studies and cultural

studies programme. (GP)