TheOrator.Press Online Magazine Talks To Beverley Bogle, The Founder of The Ja’Nuka ‘Caribbean Quadrille’ Dance Group Who Performed At The Greenwich Maritime Museum ‘Caribbean Takeover’ Last Month. We Learn Why She Believes Legacy And Promoting Jamaican Cultural Heritage Is Important And How She’s Connected To The Freedom ‘Uprising’ Hero, Paul Bogle.
Photo: (Left) One of The Metropolitan Police’s First Police Officers, Turned Police Improvement Advocate, Leroy Logan @leroylogan, (Centre) Barrister, Professional Quizzer And TV Chaser ‘The Dark Destroyer’ From ITV’s Award-Winning Quiz Show ‘The Chase’ Shaun Wallace @shaunwallace, (Right) Veteran EastEnders Actor Rudolph Walker @rudolphwalkerfoundation And (Dressed In Yellow) Longtime Greenwich Museum Hospitality Host And Retail Assistant Brenda Montague Who Greeted The Caribbean Social Forum Patrons To The Caribbean Takeover At Greenwich Maritime Museum, Royal Greenwich Park. The Event Was Organised In Association With The Caribbean Social Forum.
Beverley Bogle,
Co. Founder of Ja’Nuka Quadrille Dance Group
And Descendant of The Jamaican 1865 Morant Bay Uprising Hero, Paul Bogle
The Ja’nuka Dance Group (The Jamaican’ Nurses In The UK’ And Their Associates) Specialises In ‘Quadrille Dancing’.
Its Co. Founder Is Former Midwife And Female Health Lecturer At Kings College London, Beverley Bogle.
She Became Dedicated To The Cause of Quadrille After Being Introduced To It By A Quadrille Teacher, Who Would Become Her Mentor, After She Expressed How Much She Loved The Dances He Was Teaching Her And Her Fellow Nurses For A 2005 Entertainment Event They Were Appearing In On Behalf of Their Nurses Organisation, Here In England.
In 2006 She Went To Jamaica To Research The History of The Dance. And In 2007 She Launched Januka.co.uk
She Also Has Impressive Jamaican History Credentials As A Direct Decendent of The Baptist Paul Bogle Who Led a Famous Uprising Against The Oppression of Emancipated Former Enslaved People In Jamaica. The Morant Bay Uprising of October 7, 1865.
We Wrote About Him, Quite By Coincidence, Back In Our December 2023 Issue, Following A Visit To A Kenyan Art Exhibition And A Restaurant In Bermondsey, South London. This Is Charles Dickens Territory And We Were Surprised To Learn of How Dickens Supported The Colonial Leader Responsible For The Brutal Punishment of The Uprisers, Governor Edward Eyre. Whilst With His Famous Novels On Oliver Twist And The Oppressed Poor In Britain He Was A Social Reformer, When It Came To The Colonies Abroad, He Supported ‘The Plantation Owners’ And Those Who Savagely Punished Bogle, His Fellow Uprisers And Even Their Children.
So, With Her Family History, The History And Continuation of ‘Quadrille’ Is Something Beverly Bogle Takes Very Seriously. So Much So That She Hopes It Will Be Her Legacy.
In The Colonial Plantation Houses of ‘The Merchant Classes’ (Slave Owners, Slave Traders And ‘Planters’) Grand Balls, Gatherings And Parties Were Commonplace And Featured Formal Square Dances. They Were Known As Square Dances Because The Were Performed By Four Couples (Four Men And Four Women) Who Loosely Formed A Square Shape, Led By A Head Couple, Followed By Two Other Couples And Finished By A Final Couple Known As ‘The Foot’ of The Formation. Each Couple Completed Certain Set Pieces Known As Drills. Hence Such Fromulaic Dancing Also Became Known As The ‘Quadrille’ ‘Quadrilles’ or Quadrille Dancing.
Whilst It Was Formulaic It Was Also A Source of Great Fun. Certain Set Pieces And Would Commence With A Grand Entrance And Conclude With A Grand Finale. Within The Rigid Rules of High Society At The Time It Provided A Great Opportunity For Fliration And Communication.
For Those Enslaved In The Grand Houses It Was A Form of Dancing That They Would Naturally Mimick As Their Own African Dancing Was Prohibited. Some Slave Owners Would Even Allow Them To Have Their Own Social Gatherings Where They Practiced It. For Them It Also Provided A Chance For Commuication. Often Centred Around Resistence And Seeking Freedom.
As Well As Performing In Jamaica’s Black, Green, And Gold Colours As Pictured Above (Which Represent The People, The Land And The Sun Respectively), Ja’nuka’s Quadrille Dancers Also Perform In The Colours of Jamaica’s National Costume, Which Are Pink & White As Pictured Below (Photo Courtesy of The Ja’Nuka Website: januka.co.uk)
The Jamaican Flag
The Queen’s House, Greenwich Park, South East London, SE10
Ja’nuka Performed Al Fresco On The Colonnades Parallel To The Queen’s House At The Greenwich Maritime Museum In Greenwich Royal Park (Pictured Above). Also At Sadlers Wells Theatre In Islington, The Albany Theatre In Deptford, Down South And Up North of The Country Too.
The RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institute)
National Windrush Museum And National Maritime Museum Collaboration
TheOrator.Press Interview With Quadrille Queen, Beverley Bogle
(Another Interview In Our ‘Pods On A Page’ Interview Series)
We Ask Beverley How She Came To Get Into ‘Ja’Nuka Quadrille Dancing And About The History of This Dance Style.
Above And Below (Bottom Righthand Column): A Scene From ‘The Ball of The Blacks’ or ‘The Black Ball’ In The Play ‘Rockets & Blue LIghts’ Written By Award-Winning Playwright Winsome Pinnock (Directed By Miranda Cromwell @mirandacom).
The Play Examines How The History of Slavery Impacts Us Today. It Stars ‘Band of Gold’ And ‘Mona Lisa’ BAFTA Winning Actress Cathy Tyson As A Ghost, ‘The Bill’ ‘Hollyoaks’ And ‘Doctor Who’ Actor Karl Collins As A Tricked Enslaved Man And Eastenders & Holby Actor Paul Bradley As Victorian Artist JMW Turner Who Famously Painted The Twin Paintings ‘Rockets & Blue Lights’ And The ‘Slave Ship’ In 1840.
The Play Is Available To Watch On The National Theatre Streaming Platform ‘National Theatre Home’.
Rockets And Blue Lights Trailer, National Theatre Home
On Saturday May 18 2024 The Greenwich Maritime Museum Held Its Third Annual ‘Caribbean Takeover’ Organised By The Caribbean Community Social Group ‘The Caribbean Social Forum’.
The Caribbean Takeover Held At The Museum In Greenwich Park, One of The Royal Parks, Is A Day of Fun Social Events, Interesting Historical Stories, Uplifting Music, Great Food And Cultural Celebration Focused On The Beauty, Positivity, Perserverance, Progress And Legacy of People From The Caribbean Islands. Those Islands Include Jamaica, Antigua, Barbados, Grenada And Dominica Amongst Many More.
The Community Social Group Meets Regularly And Holds Activities And Services Such As Games, Including Dominoes, Bingo, Scrabble And Chess. Health And Wellbeing Presentations, Including Healthy Eating And Massage. Plus There Are Talks Dealing With Tough Issues Which May Affect Members of The Senior Group Such As High Blood Pressure, Diabities, Dementia, Prostate Cancer, Sickle Cell, And Stroke. And Social Events Such As Salsa Dancing And Days Out, Including The Event In Hand – Namely The Caribbean Takeover At The Greenwich Museum, Greenwich Royal Park, South East London.
The Idea of The Group Is To Give Members A Sense of Community, Fight Isolation, And Provide Support For Members of The Windrush Generation And Their Allies And Supporters As Well As A Platform For Sharing Their Stories And Interests.
The Caribbean Social Forum Welcomes Everyone
And
In 2017 It Won
A National Diversity Award Community Organisation Award
With Respect To Race, Religion & Faith
It Began In January 2015 And Was Officially Launched In June That Year, The Month of Windrush Day. It Was June 22nd 1948 That The First Ship Carry Young Members of The Caribbean Islands To Britiain Arrived At Tilbury Docks In Essex, Geared UpTo Help Rebuild Post War Britain Following An Appeal To The Caribbean Colonies For Workers To Help Fill a British Workers Shortfall. Many Who Came Were Nurses And Transport Workers Who Helped Operate The NHS And The British Transports System, Especially Bus Drivers, Conductors And Train Operators.
Pamela Who Runs The Forum Has Done Such A Good Job of Building Up The Organisation She Now Has A Number of Famous Supporters And Patrons For The Modest Voluntary Not-For-Profit Community Group. These Include Veteran Actor Rudolph Walker (Patrick In Eastenders), The Dark Destroyer – One of The Chasers In The Award-Winning Quiz Show The Chase – Barrister Shaun Wallace. And One of Britian’s First Black Police Officers And Now A Dedicated Police Improvement Advocate, Leroy Logan. All Were In Attendance On The Day (As Per Main Picture Above).
Also In Attendance Was Beverly Bogle With Her Dance Troupe Who Were Invited By The Caribbean Social Forum To Showcase Their Dancing. We Spoke To Her To Learn To More About It. Listen To Our ‘Pods On A Page Interview’ Below Left.
Explain Why They Like It So Much And What It Means To Them.
We Especially Like The Gentlemen Who Explains That Learning To Play Chess
Equips The Players With Lifeskills.
This Simple Truth About This Strategic Game Is One of The Reasons Our Logo Features A Chessboard.
Listen Below For Some Opinions From The ‘Caribbean Takeover At The Museum Last Month’
The Director of Royal Museums Greenwich Paddy Rodgers, And Police Behaviour Improvement Advocate, Former Superintendent, And Author of The Book ‘Closing Ranks’ Leroy Logan.
They Greet Each Other At The Caribbean Takeover, Greenwich Royal Park, Saturday May 18th 2024.
The Former Superintendent Is A Patron of The Caribbean Social Forum, Who Organised The Greenwich Park Caribbean Takeover.
Continuing Our Interview From The Opposite Column Beverley Explains That Ja’Nuka Caribbean Quadrille Dancing Provides An Opportunity To Teach British-Jamaican History In A Fun, Engaging, Different Way.
A Little Taste of The Music Providing A Chance To Enjoy A Fun Jig In The Style of Jamaican Quadrille Dancing
Rewind, Selector!
Come Again!
A Scene From Rockets & Blue Lights (See Opposite Column)
See Mi’ Yah! (Patois Meaning: See Me Here or Here I Am)
Movement. Community. Fellowship
In Episode 2 of The Excellent BBC Series ‘Clive Myrie’s Caribbean Adventures’ Jamaica’s National Costume And Dancing In Grand Colonial Houses Is Highlighted By Barbara, A Hostess At Devon House In Kingston Jamaica.
In This Episode Clive Also Vistits Usain Bolt’s Former Training Ground, Where A New Generation of Budding Athletes Are Working Hard.
Plus He Visits A ‘Dancehall’ School Where He Has A Go At A Totally Different Style of Jamaican Dancing Called ‘Dance Hall’ (Which Is Not For The Faint of Heart).
The Series Is Available On BBC iPlayer And We Totally Recommend It.
In Her 2005 Hit ‘Rude Boy’ Bajan-American Music Queen Rihanna @badgalriri Performs The Bogle (The Dance So Named After The Late Dancehall Star ‘Gerald Levy Bogle’ Whose Stage Name Was Inspired By Paul Bogle, The Jamaican Freeman Who Led An Uprising Known As The Morant Bay Rebellion In 1865 Which Became A Pivotal Moment In Jamaica’s Indepedence Story). Beverley Bogle Is One of His Direct Descendents (As She Explains In Our ‘Pods On A Page’ Interview Above Left).
@thereelclivemyrie
devonhouseja.com
@dancejamaica_academy
Boysie Roses ~ Bogle Dance
Photo Courtesy of The Ja’nuka Website: januka.co.uk (All Copyright Reserved. No Use of This Image Permitted Without The Express Consent of Ja’nuka: januka.co.uk)
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