In conversation with Cory Herbert

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This article was published 08/08/2015 (3936 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There’s fire, feathers, shouting, glittering costumes and feats of flexibility.

It is the limbo dance by Cory Herbert at Caribbean Pavilion during the first week of Folklorama 2015 — and it is not to be missed.

Herbert, 38, is showing awestruck audiences just how low he can go in the limbo dance as part of the pavilion show at the Centre culturel franco-manitobain. A series of five performances today between 5:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. cap his Folklorama run.

Herbert, from the island of Trinidad, and fellow dancer Cindy Gill have made the trek to Winnipeg for the third consecutive year to perform in the Folklorama shows. Herbert and Gill, 39, have been performing with the Northwest Laventille Cultural Movement dance group, appearing in shows and carnivals around the world, often more than 15 a year.

Herbert also plays the steelpan, a drum-like percussion instrument whose birthplace is Trindad.

Trinidad is also the birthplace of “Limbo Queen” Shemika Charles, 22, who set the Guinness World Records mark for lowest limbo dance of 21.5 centimetres when she performed on U.S. national television in 2010.

Herbert learned to limbo from Junior Renaud, known as the “Limbo King,” who is said to have danced under an bar set 20 cm off the floor.

Free Press: It seems as if the limbo would be something you’d have to learn as a little kid and practise every day until you get good enough to perform it as flawlessly and regularly as you do. When did you learn to limbo dance?

Cory Herbert: I actually started at the age of 19. That is considered older. I went to Japan as a pannist (a person who plays steelpans) and there were limbo dancers there. I found it interesting and I found I had the natural ability. I had played sports, mostly (field) hockey and was involved with pan (drums) and entertainment.

FP: Does the natural ability mean that you are quite flexible? It looks as if you would need to be in order to go as low as you can go. Or are your joints quite strong?

CH: I don’t train very much because I have natural ability. For me, it is the whole idea of not being that flexible and still being able to do it. There are people that are flexible and can’t hold their weight and move under the bar. I’m not that flexible but I can hold my weight and have that balance. So for me, it’s unique.

FP: How low can you go?

CH: Pretty low. How tall is a beer bottle? I’ve gone that low (a bar on top of beer bottles at each end).

FP: The world record is 21.5 cm. So, a standard beer bottle — 22.96 cm or 9.04 inches?

CH: I’ve done that, back in my youth when I was smaller!

FP: What is it about limbo that keeps you at it? How long can a professional performer expect to limbo?

CH: I love the fire and the excitement. I love it. Trinidad is known for limbo dancing. We call it the land of steel and limbo and calypso. Without injury, you can probably go into your late 50s, early 60s.

FP: I read that the history of the limbo dance includes the symbolism of the head emerging from under the bar as a triumph of life over death. The dance has also been performed at wakes when it would start low and move to high to signify the emergence from death to life. Which interpretation do you prefer?

CH: Both, really. From the high to the low is where you get a bit more excitement. It (the traditional meaning) doesn’t change.

ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca