– Through regional collaboration and storytelling, Unique Arts is preserving tradition while creating new opportunities for Guyanese performers.

WHAT began in 2009 as a favour to choreograph a graduation performance for a group of primary school pupils has evolved into one of Guyana’s leading creative arts companies, carrying the country’s culture to audiences across the Caribbean and beyond.

Under the leadership of educator, choreographer and Chief Executive Officer Kelton Jennings, Unique Arts Entertainment has grown from a small group of dancers into a platform that uses dance, drama, music and spoken word to tell stories rooted in Guyanese and Caribbean culture.

Coming off a recent successful cultural exchange in Jamaica and with performances planned for Suriname and New York, Jennings says the company’s mission is to go beyond entertainment by preserving and promoting Caribbean identity through artistic collaboration.

Speaking with the Pepperpot Magazine earlier this week on how Guyana’s creative sector continues to expand, Jennings shared that the arts are finally gaining the recognition they deserve, creating new opportunities for performers while showcasing the country’s rich cultural traditions on the international stage.

Jennings, who balances his role at Unique Arts with teaching Physical Education, Theatre Arts and Dance at Queen’s College, has been doing impactful work on multiple fronts in recent months.

A team of more than 20 performers recently travelled to Jamaica to take part in the CSME programme, an initiative he counts as one of the organisation’s major achievements. That trip followed the release of a UNESCO-funded dance film, and the company is now preparing for a second regional tour that will take performers from Guyana to Suriname.

As Jennings told the Pepperpot Magazine, “This was a major accomplishment of Unique Arts,” he said.

The organisation’s origins were modest and, like most things Jennings does, were rooted in education.

Unique Arts was sparked after he choreographed a dance, drama and song piece for a school graduation in 2009 as a personal favour to a colleague. However, Jennings did not anticipate that the performance would become the foundation of a company and dance school.

Parents who saw how the pupils responded to the experience encouraged him to keep working with them, and what started as a one-off graduation performance gradually grew into a creative arts company.

Jennings’ own training through the National School of Dance eventually pushed the company towards a stronger focus on dance, using the art form as its central storytelling medium.

As Jennings noted, “I was encouraged by the parents to continue working with the students because of the development process and how they started to express themselves more through the art form,” he added. “Because of my knack for dance, and my training through the National School of Dance, we leaned more towards the dance side because we tell stories through dance and poems.”

That growth and creativity have carried Unique Arts beyond Guyana’s borders, with the company travelling to Suriname, Trinidad and Jamaica for productions and workshops.

Jennings credits much of this expansion to deliberate efforts at regional collaboration, which he describes as central to his own development as an artist and educator.

Working alongside other Caribbean creatives, Jennings says, has exposed him to new talent, new traditions and new perspectives that have shaped his approach to storytelling through dance.

He points to shared cultural similarities across the region, including Masquerade traditions and Emancipation observances, as evidence of a common heritage found throughout the Caribbean.

He shared, “I like to venture out and learn new talents, new cultures, eat different foods. This is why the Caribbean is home to me, working along with different cultures,” he added. “After Mashramani, there’s Masquerade in every Caribbean country, and also Emancipation in every Caribbean country. These are things we have similar cultural backgrounds with, and when you understand the different origins, it’s just one objective, one reason why we’re doing what we’re doing.”

Jennings has also seen the broader environment for artistes in Guyana shift drastically since he began his career, moving from a period when creative work offered little sustainable income to today, when performers can build a livelihood through music or dance.

He hopes that continued growth in tourism will create further opportunities for visitors to engage with Guyanese culture through performance.

He also sees the growing visibility of the country’s African and Indian cultural influences, and their fusion within contemporary productions, as a sign of how far the local arts scene has come.

As he shared during the interview, “The arts have grown from where they were to where they are today, and they’re highly appreciated by the artistes around Guyana because we’re able to showcase our dance, and you’ll see more of the cultures coming out—African culture, Indian culture—and it’s a fusion,” he added.

That fusion was on full display in the company’s latest production, which brought Guyanese and Jamaican performers together on a single stage.

Titled Kaya, a word Jennings says translates to “home” in both African and Caribbean contexts, the show blends dance, spoken word and folklore from across the Afro-Caribbean tradition.

The production, staged at the Queen’s College Auditorium, served as a preview of the performance the company will later take to Suriname and New York.

Speaking on the vibrant cultural richness of the production, Jennings added, “We are fusing from Jamaica to Guyana, from Guyana to Suriname, then from Suriname to New York. You will see performances and different cultural folklore stories being told through dance on that stage on Saturday. This is what we want to do—to fuse Caribbean culture.”

Among the performers who took part are two company members whose personal histories highlight the production’s cross-cultural work.

One dancer relocated from Jamaica to join Unique Arts and has spent two years training and working with the company, using the recent show as his first major production on a Guyanese stage.

Another performer spent four years living and working in Jamaica, eventually becoming a citizen and starting a family there before returning to Guyana to share what he had learned.

Their work, Jennings says, reflects the kind of exchange the company hopes to continue across the Caribbean.

Speaking on the aim of Unique Arts moving forward, Jennings noted, “Our aim as Unique Arts is to continue collaborating, continue travelling to different Caribbean countries, and sharing our knowledge about our culture through dance, through music, through food.”