Beryl McBurnie

Beryl Eugenia McBurnie OBE (2 November 1913 – 30 March 2000) was a Trinidadian dancer.

She established the Little Carib Theatre in Woodbrook, Port of Spain, and promoted the culture and arts of Trinidad and Tobago as her life's work.

She helped to promote the cultural legitimacy of Trinidad and Tobago that would shift the country into the age independence.

McBurnie dedicated her life to dance, becoming one of the greatest influences on modern Trinidadian pop culture.

Beryl McBurnie was born in Woodbrook, Port of Spain, and was educated at Tranquillity Girls' Intermediate school.

At the age of eight years she was invited to recite the "Sycamore Tree" for a charity concert in the district.

Soon after that she set about gathering children from the neighbourhood to form a group, which would present concerts.

The first concert planned did not take place, but she and her friends tried again, borrowing chairs from neighbours.

This time the performance was well appreciated and this successful venture encouraged her to continue.

Though she appreciated their beauty, she yearned for more.

In her teens, she decided to focus on promoting "the emotions of the folk, and which in some cases gave an insight into the history and the way of life of the ordinary people."

On leaving Tranquility Girls School, McBurnie became a teacher and used this opportunity to engage in the extracurricular activities surrounding the preparation for school concerts, play productions and operettas.

She danced at every opportunity that came her way, at the same time becoming quite accomplished at piano and in the use of voice.

She trained at Mausica Teachers' College and started her career teaching in Port-of-Spain.

She instead decided to pursue her dream career in folk-dance after touring the country with Trinidad's leading folklorist, Andrew Carr.

Many melodies and folk dances that would have been lost to Trinidad and Tobago were rescued by McBurnie and promoted in her dancing.

In 1938, she enrolled at Teachers CollegeColumbia University in New York and studied dance with dance pioneer Martha Graham.

McBurnie also worked with American modern dancer and choreographer Charles Weidman, African-American choreographer Katharine Dunham, and studied eurhythmics with Elisa Findlay - a student of Emile Jacques Dalcroze.

McBurnie also taught Trinidadian dance at the New Dance Group

McBurnie was the first person to promote primitive and Caribbean dance.

In 1938 when Katherine Dunham arrived in New York from Chicago, McBurnie taught her privately the rhythms and dances of the West Indies.

During these sessions she taught Dunham ritual chants and from the Shango of Trinidad and dances such as the Bongo - a dance done at wakes - and Kalinda, a dance between two opponents using sticks in a mock battle.

In 1940, McBurnie enjoyed a brief return to Trinidad.

She presented A Trip Through the Tropics at the Empire Theatre, Port of Spain.

McBurnie combined Caribbean and Brazilian dances with interpretations of New York and modern dances, performed to the music of Wagner, Beethoven and Bach, to a packed audience.

Her performances sold out.

She returned to New York in 1941 and stayed until 1945.

During that time she began teaching classes in West Indian dance and she organized the material in an educational yet attractive package which she used in a series of lecture demonstrations and lecture recitals.

She also danced and sang with Sam Manning and his ensemble, in the production of the only known calypso "soundies," film clips made for film jukeboxes located in restaurants and bars.

In 1941 McBurnie assumed a pseudonym name "La Belle Rosette" and performed professionally under that stage name.

She was booked to perform at "coffee concerts" at the Museum of Modern Art by philanthropist Louise Crane, then a young theatrical agent.

The poet H.D. wrote a very positive review of her "coffee concert" showing.

She became a popular teacher at the New Dance Group, where in 1942 Pearl Primus was a student.

Primus, like Katherine Dunham, studied West Indian dance from McBurnie and joined the group, which appeared at various venues in New York.

. In June 1942 McBurnie replaced Carmen Miranda in the hit Broadway musical revue Sons o' Fun at the Winter Garden Theatre.

A review of her performance in the People voice of New York, a reporter wrote “Belle Rosette the talented Trinidadian performer scheduled to take Carmen Miranda’s role in the hit show Son O’Fun...amply proved to an enthusiastic audience at the Y.M.H.A on Sunday evening, that she has ‘what it takes’-in the Broadway parlance." Between 1942 and 1945, McBurnie made several appearances at places such as Hunter College, Henry Street Settlement Playhouse in New York, Madison Square Gardens, The Village Gate and New York City College. During that time, she also completed two further study periods at Columbia, where she studied Dramatic Arts, Painting, Music and other Creative Arts courses that she considered important for her work.

The following year, she made a film appearance with the Trinidadian vocalist Sam Manning in Quarry Road.

McBurnie left the United States in 1945 at the height of her popularity in New York to become a dance instructor with the Trinidad and Tobago government's Education Department in 1945.

In 1948 she established the first permanent folk-dance company and theatre in Trinidad.

After her "coffee concert" performances, "La Belle Rosette" performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the 92nd Street Y alongside American dancers Doris Humphrey and Martha Graham.