Somewhere Dancing

In the face of frustration and disappointment, Marcella Kelshall's passion for dance keeps her going.

by Kelly O'Brien
With the swirl of the St. Thomas Carnival Parade pulsing all around her, in a moment of relative stillness, dancer Marcella Kelshall stepped into the square, completely alone. This moment was the culmination of three months of planning and rehearsing, but Kelshall's dance troupe, which was to have had its first performance in that square, ended up as a one-woman show - though not for lack of trying.
In the weeks leading up to Carnival, Kelshall, a dancer from St. John and long-time Carnival performer, had managed to assemble all the pieces necessary for a dance troupe - she had costumes, music, choreography, a truck, a DJ, even a donkey painted with zebra stripes. But the key element - dancers - proved remarkably hard to procure.
Throughout her preparations for St. Thomas' May 2 Carnival Parade, Kelshall struggled with what she refers to as The Human Element (for more on this, see our first article about Kelshall's dance troupe, "Birth of a Tribe"). Joining a troupe is a serious commitment of time and energy, and not everyone, Kelshall discovered, is up to the challenge.
"Discipline, self-determination, and clarity in what one's goals are and how to go about them, integrity - these things I take for granted in myself," Kelshall says. But the experience of trying to pull together a dance troupe on such short notice taught her not to take them for granted in everyone.
Still, in the weeks leading up to St. Thomas' Carnival, Kelshall was hopeful - she had strong choreography, the costuming was underway, she'd procured the zebra/donkey, and she worked weekly logistical miracles to get the dancers together for rehearsals. But that Human Element can be a formidable opponent.
As the day grew closer, the troupe's numbers began to dwindle. Some dancers had to pull out because of family commitments and even disapproval (Kelshall's dancing is traditionally inspired, but some of it can be considered suggestive). Others dropped out because they struggled to grasp the artistic concept behind the performance. But a lot of it, Kelshall says, came down to people's insecurities, and if a dancer can't get over their self-consciousness, they can't give the performance their all.
To deliver a good performance, says Kelshall, a dancer "needs to engage in something extraordinary, needs to transcend their headspace. It brings them into that moment. You can't just be reciting."
So when the day arrived, Kelshall found herself dancing through the streets of St. Thomas with just one other dancer by her side. (Tragically, due to a logistical miscommunication, not even Timmy the Zebra could join her. This, Kelshall says, is her biggest performance-day regret.) After dancing for hours, the crucial moment came. At the square in Charlotte Amalie, the flow of the parade briefly stills, and each Carnival troupe gets a chance to show off for the crowd.
Kelshall and her companion are mere steps away from the square - Kelshall already has a mouthful of fuel, ready to ignite as she opens the performance with a plume of fire - when her dancing partner bows out, leaving Kelshall to perform alone.
Mind you, she had considered this scenario - trying to start a new troupe just a few months before Carnival was always going to be a massive challenge, and Kelshall knew there was a possibility that she'd end up going it alone. So while performing solo was not what she'd been hoping for, Kelshall doesn't regret the experience. "As disappointing as it was, as I found myself dancing alone in the square - I'm glad I did it," she says.
What it comes down to, for Kelshall, is doing what she loves. "You have to pursue what makes you tick," she says, and for her, that is certainly dance.
At this point, Kelshall's plans for the future are unclear. You'll definitely be able to catch her dancing solo in St. John's Festival Parade (July 4th - don't miss it!), but beyond that, she's not sure if she'll try again to organize a troupe. One thing, though, is absolutely certain - Kelshall's passion for dance will continue to drive her. "Even if no one sees me," she says, "they can know for sure - I'm somewhere dancing."

July 2009