Dance send-off for Jean Coggins

WELL-KNOWN folk dancer Jean Gwyneth Coggins-Simmons was afforded the type of send-off she would have loved, with folk dancers engaging in energetic performances during her funeral at the Trinity Cathedral yesterday. Many local dancers, some from yesteryear, turned out in their numbers to bid a final farewell to  Coggins-Simmons during the two-hour funeral officiated by Rev Dr Knolly Clarke.

Mourners included dancers from the original cast of Coggins-Simmons’ production The Mating of Erzulie, which was held in 1971. They were led into the church via a drum procession led by Ja Ja Onilu and a floral tribute in dance by Les Effort Dance Company of Tobago. In his sermon, Rev Dr Knolly Clarke described Coggins-Simmons as a “disciple and apostle of the Lord of Dance.” “She followed the Lord of Dance throughout Trinidad and Tobago. She danced and danced and one went away with the message of the Lord. To dance is to pray. And she did it with integrity and dignity. Yes, she danced, she danced, she danced,” Clarke pontificated.

He then knocked churches in the country which he said unfortunately only used God’s gifts such as dance in limited times. “Had they used the artform a lot more, we may not have had so many dysfunctional youths in society where there is a culture of violence. Think what it would have been if she’d taught dance as a discipline in schools and what impact it would have made,” Clarke said. Looking at Minister of Culture, Joan Yuille-Williams, who was among the mourners gathered for the funeral, Clarke stated: “Let our schools learn to dance!” Earlier, in her own address, Yuille-Williams told the gathering that Coggins-Simmons was a lady of stature who gracefully danced on stage. The minister referred to the late dancer as an “institution and stickler for authenticity” in both drumming and dance. She ended her address by saying: “When the drums rolled, La Reine Jean will forever be dancing.”

Coggins who would have turned 82 in June, succumbed last Monday to a heart attack after ailing for sometime with cancer. She received the National Humming Bird Medal (Silver) in 1959 for her contribution to the preservation and development of folk dance. Delivering the eulogy, Coggins-Simmons’ nephew Richard Young told the congregation his aunt’s influence in TT dance was so profound, she left a legacy. “She was not confrontational, but a pacifist. Not forceful, but forthright. Her performance must be with integrity and with a purpose. She had a versatile interpretation of dance.”