Shelia Barnett dies

Co-founder of the National Dance Theatre Company (NDTC), Sheila Barnett, is dead.
Mrs. Barnett died at the age of 83 at the Andrews Memorial Hospital on Saturday, March 19, after a prolonged illness.

As a dancer, choreographer, dance educator, researcher and author, Sheila Barnett devoted more than five decades of her life to the development of dance in the Caribbean, including years spent with the pioneering Ivy Baxter Creative Dance Group of which she was a founding member.  

She was a co-founder and the first Director of the Jamaica School of Dance of the now Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts.  

With the NDTC, she doubled as a principal dancer and choreographer, creating 17 works between 1963 and 1989.

Mrs. Barnett was also a former Senior Education Officer of the Ministry of Education and was instrumental in introducing dance into the curriculum.

She was a major resource person on Caribbean Dance for ministries of education throughout the region and an expert dance educator and lecturer at various educational institutions including the Excelsior High School, St. Joseph's Teachers’ College and The University of the West Indies.

She also served as a Senior Adjudicator and advisor to the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission.

Mrs. Barnet was a recipient of national honours, Commander of the Order of Distinction, as well as the prestigious Silver Musgrave Medal and Centenary Medal from the Institute of Jamaica.

She is survived by her husband Felix, three children, Rona, Patricia and Joan.