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How do boys learn to be men? What are the patterns they learn from older males and media messages around them and how are these perpetuated? UK-based dance group Company Chameleon made their audiences ponder on these questions during their performance at RITES at the Little Carib Theatre. The engaging and emotional show ran for three nights, from March 30 to April 1, and also featured Freetown Collective doing music and poetry. At Sunday’s performance, the programme was introduced by Charlotte Elias of Art Connect, a group which works with at-risk youth in the Success Laventille community. She said she was inspired by the transformative power of the creative process she had witnessed while working with the young people, who were in attendance at the Woodbrook theatre.

Freetown’s Lou Lyons and Muhammad Muwakil started the show, performing uplifting and thought-provoking songs with some powerful and poetic lyrics that got them a warm reaction from the audience. Both men played guitar and sang in harmony, usually with Muwakil leading the vocals and Lyons carrying the instrumentation. Their first, Don’t Wait, warned listeners, “Don’t wait till the sea of blood reaches on your doorstep to speak out.” Another mused: “Everybody born with wings, but give them away for the earthly things.” They also delivered Jerusalem, Mama Africa, Freetown Rock and another which called for more local expressions in the mainstream media: “They can’t empty me with their MTV, tell BET they could beat it. I wanna see me on mih TV.” The audience loved it and chimed in. After a break, it was time for Company Chameleon.

The two-man team of choreographer-dancers, Kevin Turner and Anthony Missen, gave a riveting performance exploring masculinity and male roles. Their dance was dramatic and energetic, their bodies twisting, flipping, rolling, jumping and intertwining. But just as impressive as the demonstration of physical skill was the “message in the movement”. The duo explored relationships between males, depicting a range of situations and emotions that ranged from loving or abusive father-son interactions, to rites of passage and the horrors of war. The audience saw expressions of rage, bravado, camaraderie and sexuality. After the performance, Freetown Collective and Company Chameleon members sat down with Elias for a question and answer session with the audience. They took questions, most of them from the young people in the Art Connect programme, on their career paths, their family background, and their commitment to their art.