Beryl McBurnie

Beryl Eugenia McBurnie OBE (2 November 1913 – 30 March 2000) was a Trinidadian dancer, who also performed as La Belle Rosette. 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 of independence. McBurnie dedicated her life to dance, becoming one of the greatest influences on modern Trinidadian pop culture.

Early life

Beryl McBurnie was born in Woodbrook, Port of Spain, and was educated at Tranquillity Girls' Intermediate School. When she was eight years old, 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."

Rise to prominence

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

Creation of The Little Carib Theatre

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. Her first show was Bele (pronounced Bay-lay) pre-carnival 1948 at her newly opened Little Carib Theatre in Woodbrook. Paul Robeson laid the cornerstone of the building during a tour of the Caribbean in 1948. In 1965 the Little Carib building, no longer safe in Port-of-Spain, had to be closed down and was re-built in three years. However the permanent dance troupe had disbanded and McBurnie instead focused her energies on teaching children.

Recognition and passing

In 1950, McBurnie was appointed the director of dance in the Education Department. The British Council sent her on a dance tour of England and Europe. In 1959 she was appointed OBE, and in 1969 she was presented with the Hummingbird Gold Medal of Trinidad and Tobago. In 1976, the University of the West Indies conferred on her the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws and in America in 1978 she was honoured along with Katharine Dunham and Pearl Primus at the Twentieth Anniversary Gala of the Alvin Ailey Theater. In 1989, McBurnie received the Trinity Cross, the highest national award in Trinidad and Tobago then, for Promotion of the Arts. She died on 30 March 2000.