Prof. Rex Nettleford heart attack in Washington, DC

[barosa]

Re: Professor Rex Nettleford has passed away...

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Xavier</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Received this from a media source (Evan I could be late)

PROFESSOR REX NETTLEFORD, Vice Chancellor Emeritus of the Unversity of the Wset Indies, died at 8 o'clock tonight in a Washington hospital. He was one day short of his 77th birthday
</div></div>
Oh man!, what a surprise! I had no idea that he was this critical; I thought he would pull through. Jamaica has lost one of her shining stars who will be forever missed. He is one of a kind and will never be replaced. I will always remember the artistry of his dancing. My condolences to his family and relatives. May he R.I.P.
_______________________

He will certainly be among the best dancers in God's Kingdom

[evanovitch]

Icon lost - Golding, Simpson Miller mourn Nettleford

Icon lost - Golding, Simpson Miller mourn Nettleford
Published: Wednesday | February 3, 2010


Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

Professor Rex Nettleford

Jamaica lost one of its most revered cultural figures last night when Professor Rex Nettleford, vice-chancellor emeritus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) and founder of the National Dance Theatre Company (NDTC), died, just hours before he would have celebrated his 77th birthday.

Nettleford passed away at George Washington Hospital in Washington, DC, one week after suffering a heart attack at a hotel in the United States capital.

Last night, Prime Minister Bruce Golding said he was deeply saddened at the news of Nettleford's death.

&quot;Jamaica and the entire world have lost an intellectual and creative genius, a man whose contribution to shaping and projecting the cultural landscape of the entire Caribbean region is unquestionable,&quot; Golding said.

&quot;Rex Nettleford was an international icon, a quintessential Caribbean man, the professor, writer, dancer, manager, orator, critic and mentor. He has left a void in our world that will be a challenge to fill.&quot;

Nettleford was admitted to hospital, unconscious, on January 27.

Olivia Grange, minister of youth, sports and culture, said in a release that Nettleford, who had been in the intensive care unit at the hospital since last Wednesday with catastrophic brain injury following a cardiac arrest, died at 8 p.m., four hours before his birthday.

&quot;The nation, the wider Caribbean and beyond mourn the loss of this great Caribbean icon,&quot; Grange said.

A national loss

Portia Simpson Miller, president of the People's National Party and opposition leader, expressed con-dolences to Nettleford's family, friends and colleagues.

&quot;I am very deeply saddened by the news of Professor Nettleford's passing. This is a national loss and one that I feel personally. Words are inadequate to capture the extent of the grief I feel,&quot; Simpson Miller said.

Simpson Miller hailed Nettleford as a son of rural Jamaica whose life's trajectory testifies to the success that is possible through grit, determination, resilience and 'smadification' - local parlance for self-actualisation - within the Jamaican cultural environment, of which he wrote so eloquently.

Jamaica's ambassador to the United States, Anthony Johnson, told The Gleaner last night that doctors said Nettleford never regained consciousness.

He had gone to Washington, DC, to attend a fund-raising gala for the UWI.

Many tributes have come in for the Trelawny-born Nettleford, who excelled as an academic, cultural activist, historian and remained an unapologetic regionalist.

Former Jamaican prime minister, Edward Seaga, who first met Nettleford in the early 1960s, described him as the &quot;quintessential Caribbean man&quot;.

&quot;There was a strong willingness on his part to absorb Jamaican culture, which I believe is his greatest contribution. It's on that basis that the NDTC became such a force,&quot; Seaga told The Gleaner.

For many years, Nettleford juggled duties with the NDTC and the UWI where he was vice-chancellor from 1997 to 2004. He was the NDTC's choreographer and artistic director, and continued to lecture at the UWI's Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication (CARIMAC) and Trade Union Education Institution.



<span style="font-weight: bold">In a 2007 interview with The Gleaner, Nettleford said Seaga assisted the NDTC in its early years by taking them to kumina and revival meetings. The group incorporated those informal 'lessons' into some of their dance routines, including the popular Kumina</span>.

&quot;The underlying thing was using dance to explain to ourselves and the world who we are, and to celebrate the African presence in the shaping of a Jamaican/Caribbean ethos,&quot; Nettleford said in the interview three years ago.

Bridgett Spaulding (formerly Casserly) was an original member of the NDTC, who first met Nettleford when he and fellow dancer Eddy Thomas were forming the group in 1962. She credits him for the group's longevity.

Unparalleled passion

&quot;He had a passion for the company that is unparalleled, but he also had a strong desire for people to grow and develop,&quot; Spaulding said.

Nettleford experienced remarkable personal growth during the 1960s. A graduate of Cornwall College in St James, he was a Rhodes Scholar who attended Oxford University and had cut his teeth as a dancer in the Ivy Baxter Dance Group.

He and Thomas formed the NDTC in September 1962, one month after Jamaica gained Independence from Britain. It comprised dancers from various groups, and emerged around the same time that ska music and the Rastafarian culture were beginning to have an influence on Jamaican youth.

<span style="font-style: italic">During that decade, Nettleford championed the work of folklorist Louise Bennett-Coverley</span> <span style="font-weight: bold">and wrote the provocative book, Mirror Mirror, which dealt with racial and social issues in Jamaica.</span>
Politically, Nettleford said he was drawn to the ideals of Norman Manley, Jamaica's first premier, who was also a fierce proponent of Caribbean unity.

In the 1970s, Nettleford was a cultural adviser to Manley's son Michael, Jamaica's socialist prime minister from 1972 to 1980. At the time of his death, Nettleford was acting in a similar capacity to Prime Minister Bruce Golding.

Nettleford received many awards for his contribution to academia and the arts. He was a recipient of the Order of Merit, Jamaica's third-highest honour.

He is the latest Caribbean cultural figure to die in recent months.

Playwright Trevor Rhone, Trinidadian writer Wayne Brown and bandleader Sonny Bradshaw passed away late last year.


Rex Nettleford dances with Yvonne DaCosta in this 1962 file photo.

[Blackstar*]

Re: Icon lost - Golding, Simpson Miller mourn Nettleford

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: evanovitch</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><span style="font-style: italic">Rex Nettleford dances with Yvonne DaCosta in this 1962 file photo. </span> </div></div>

[Peasie]

Re: Icon lost - Golding, Simpson Miller mourn Nettleford

I was so very sorry to learn this from the Gleaner this morning. RIP Prof. Rex Nettleford .... another Falmouth yute done good

<span style="font-weight: bold">And to all fellow UWI alumni here on jamaicans.com:</span>

“The University has helped a great many of us to know that self-empowerment comes with a capability to make definitions about one’s self on one’s own terms, and to be able to proceed to action on the basis of such definitions.” <span style="font-style: italic">- Rex Nettleford, 2009</span>

[RichD]

Re: Icon lost - Golding, Simpson Miller mourn Nettleford

He was a young man ..very sad

[Wendy]

Re: Professor Rex Nettleford has passed away...

R.I. P Rex man our time on earth is so short

[ackeepod]

Re: Professor Rex Nettleford has passed away...


PM Golding's Statement on the Passing of UWI Vice Chancellor Emeritus, Professor Rex Nettleford

Issued By: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER
Wednesday, February 03, 2010







'I am deeply saddened at the news, just received, of the passing of Vice Chancellor Emeritus of the University of the West Indies , Professor Rex Nettleford O.J.

Jamaica and the entire world have lost an intellectual and creative genius, a man whose contribution to shaping and projecting the cultural landscape of the entire Caribbean region is unquestionable.

Rex Nettleford was an international icon, a quintessential Caribbean Man, the professor, writer, dancer, manager, orator, critic, and mentor. He has left a void in our world that will be a challenge to fill.

Rex Nettleford has stamped his indelible mark in every chosen field of endeavour and his rich and lasting legacy should be preserved for those who must carry on his life's work - the emancipation of the Caribbean colonial mind from mental slavery in its quest for identity.

To his family, the UWI community, the members of the National Dance Theatre Company which he founded and led for almost 50 years, his colleagues and friends, I extend heartfelt condolences.'

[Wahalla]

Re: Professor Rex Nettleford has passed away...

As Micheal Smith described his ilk.. interlectual pen dragon...

I do recall him speaking in his Oxfordian accent by corespondence course.. (Garvey had a similar roll)... I recall his over use of over complex english that suggested some otherness.. I recall much of what he said in the 70's a kind of interlectuallising hte manley era... He is entitled to his opnion but he should have known better.

I seem to recall him rationalise the bad behaviour as acts of revolution of a kind of africanisation of Jamaican society... As a reaction to sufferation... Bad manners as acts of revolution.. so when he came out with bhutto in Benz comment I was surprised...

I found his speech impenetrable a bit like marx trying to convey a simple idea in the most convoluted manner..

I dont dislike the man or his predilictions... I dont agree with him on a number of issues in the 70's... I would have like to have seen him dance, but then I was too poor and too rural to afford a ticket.. He was still dancing into the 80's.. To me he was legendary..

And to be honest I owe the tolerance of gays to the fact that he was one and the idea that he should not be affored the same rights as me based on where he got his friction from seems idiotic...

But then a great dancer does not equate to a great ideas man..

[Peasie]

Re: Professor Rex Nettleford has passed away...

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Wahalla</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> But then a great dancer does not equate to a great ideas man.. </div></div>

Oh just shut the hell up.

[Panajar]

Re: Professor Rex Nettleford has passed away...

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Tuff Gong</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: jah_yout</div><div class="ubbcode-body">

it's like burning a library... </div></div>

....a partly corrupted library. </div></div>

Wow a lot of <span style="font-weight: bold">anger</span> towards this man ,did he do something <span style="font-weight: bold">inappropriate</span> to you when you was a dance student? and to think you always claim people should stop criticize the Lebanese guy ,because he was out of politricks.Well rex is dead now, so why so much hate unless it is something personal, maybe that would explain it.

[Tuff Gong]

Re: Professor Rex Nettleford has passed away...

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Panajar</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Wow a lot of <span style="font-weight: bold">anger</span> towards this man ,did he do something <span style="font-weight: bold">inappropriate</span> to you when you was a dance student? and to think you always claim people should stop criticize the Lebanese guy ,because he was out of politricks.Well rex is dead now, so why so much hate unless it is something personal, maybe that would explain it. </div></div>

LOL you are sick in your head. He just died we are talking about him. At the time of his death he was a member of about 6 or seven Boards.
When the Dance Teacher left the UWI it was in the worse shape physically and Educationally that it has ever been in its history. Eddie on the other hand put the Jamaican Economy forward on track and enable folks like this fellow to enjoy their exalted positions.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black'">Unlike you</span> I am not given to <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black'">The Cult-Of-Personality-Fan-Worship</span>. I have nothing against the Dance Teacher I am simply commenting on his works...I am evaluating his works, don't know where you see anger. This fellow has never done anything to me personally, I never once even indicated that this was so.

[mountaingal]

Re: Professor Rex Nettleford has passed away...

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Peasie</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Wahalla</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> But then a great dancer does not equate to a great ideas man.. </div></div>

Oh just shut the hell up.

</div></div>

i hear the sound of a last nerve

i'm sorry to hear of Rex Nettleford's death. In many ways he exemplified a lot of what's good about Jamaica - in particular, concern about our culture, and its elevation and promotion. I think the impact of that is frequently underestimated. Despite all of the other problems of violence and corruption, Jamaicans are solid in our national and cultural identity, and that has perhaps been helped to stave off total society breakdown, or - perhaps a different sort of problem - societal stagnation. Rex contributed largely to this &quot;shoring up&quot;, which has, imo, mitigated our ills.

I've seen him dance. he had great legs.

[RichD]

Re: Professor Rex Nettleford has passed away...

so the synopsis said he was a advisor on culture...did he make a mess of that?



btw which boards was he on?

[Tuff Gong]

Re: Professor Rex Nettleford has passed away...

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: RichD</div><div class="ubbcode-body">so the synopsis said he was a advisor on culture...did he make a mess of that?



btw which boards was he on? </div></div>

No he was not only an advisor to culture, he was also a political and economic advisor.
As for culture, you be the judge, other than dance tell I what's good?

[Tuff Gong]

Re: Professor Rex Nettleford has passed away...

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: MGee</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Peasie</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Wahalla</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> But then a great dancer does not equate to a great ideas man.. </div></div>

Oh just shut the hell up.

</div></div>

i hear the sound of a last nerve </div></div>

LOL so only Fan-Boy/Girl worship is allowed. This fellow was a public freaking figure. Got paid to do what he did. I think it wise that we hear all opinions even if we don't agree with them.
So now I guess it is legal to just shout <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black'">S.T.H.U.</span> at posters if we don't value their comments?