The Journey
Jazz Dance and Elroy Josephs
The film follows Sue Lancaster in her personal quest to fulfil the wishes of a dying man and establish a Jazz Dance Institute.
In 1997 Elroy Josephs died. Having no family or will, his life savings and proceeds from the sale of his houses –ended up with the Treasury. Now Sue is trying to persuade the Treasury to donate Elroy’s life savings towards the Institute, in time for 2008’s Capital of Culture.
Elroy left Jamaica in 1947, to pursue his career, as a black ballet dancer, in London. After decades in dance, theatre and TV, Elroy left London and his friends – including Elizabeth Taylor, to move to Liverpool where he worked for John Moores University, as the first Caribbean lecturer, and developed jazz dance with the community in Toxteth, Liverpool 8.
Seven was Elroy’s lucky number – he had his own Dance Company No 7, but it was in Liverpool 8 that Elroy brought Africa and Caribbean culture alive through Jazz Dance.
The Journey tells, through Elroy’s life story, a history of slavery and the struggle for freedom – but told through dance - and shows the trans-Atlantic connections between Liverpool, the Caribbean, America and Africa by talking to Elroy’s friends in Jamaica, London and Liverpool. |
