Jackie Guy

 Jackie Guy: one of Britain ’s leading experts in the area of African-Caribbean dance forms, Jackie has more than 40 years experience as an educator, performer, choreographer and artistic director. A member of the National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica (NDTC) for 15 years, Jackie trained in Jamaica under Alma MockYen C.D. 

In 1988 he was appointed Artistic Director of Kokuma Dance Theatre Company in Birmingham . Under his directorship, Kokuma won the Black Dance Award for Production and Choreography, and the Prudential Commendation Award for Excellence, Innovation and Creativity. 

In 1998 Jackie blazed a path in the UK for African and Caribbean Dance, within the field of education, when he was appointed Course Coordinator on the UK ’s first diploma course in African and Caribbean Dance delivered by Irie! dance theatre in partnership with Birkbeck University . Jackie has lectured extensively at various universities and colleges throughout Britain , and facilitated numerous community dance projects with the UK , USA , Canada , the Caribbean and, as part of a British Council initiative, in Zimbabwe .

Jackie was commissioned to choreograph the stage musical of the iconic movie The Harder They Come which premiered at the Theatre Royal Stratford in 2006. Following a triumphant run in London ’s West End, this production went on to successfully tour Toronto and Miami in 2009. 

In 2011 Jackie was awarded the first ever ADAD Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to the development of the practice of Dance of the African Diaspora in the UK.  

In 2013 he contributed Bankra, a reworking of a 1986 folk dance dealing with the cultural significance of the "bankra" (a large basket) that he originally created for the UWI Dance Society, to the NDTC's 51st season.

In 2015 it was announced that Guy would be awarded the Order of Distinction, Commander Class (CD) by the Jamaican government later that year.  The Order of Distinction is a national order in the Jamaican honours system. It is the sixth in order of precedence of the Orders of Societies of Honour, which were instituted by an Act of Parliament in 1968. The motto of the Order is "Distinction Through Service".

Jamaica’s High Commissioner Seth George Ramocan  led tributes to renowned dance choreographer Carlton ‘Jackie’ Guy MBE, CD, who passed away in London on Tuesday, November 23. He was 77 years old.