Gombey Festival Honouree, 2020 Honouree, honoured on October 8, 2022
Born September 17, 1960, Ivan “Dancer” Trott is Bermuda’s oldest active Gombey Dancer. But you wouldn’t know it to watch him perform: his fast dance is still as intricate and energetic as it was in his youth. Ivan credits this to his disciplined upbringing, and his love and incredible passion for the Gombey art-form and culture. He began Gombeys at age 8 with the Warwick Youth Gombeys. In the 1970s, he joined the Richardson’s Gombeys under the watchful eye of his uncle George Richardson. In 1996, Ivan’s brother, Irwin Trott, began the Warwick Gombey Troupe, and Ivan has been dancing alongside him ever since.
He keeps up his energy by cycling, doing sit-ups, and practicing his dance steps, relentlessly. Even after 54 years of dancing, Ivan believes that Gombeys can always pick up new skills or refine the ones they have, “Back in my day, when Gombeys were still Gombeys, dancers could really dance!” Ivan recognises, though, that culture is something that changes over time and space, “I have seen footage of guys in St. Kitt’s doing junkanoo and ours is faster and different in the footwork. I admire their beat, but the way that we do it, it’s on a different level. I credit that to fellas like Henry ‘Grother’ Wilson, Gerald ‘Beasley’ Green, and Reginald ‘Shakey’ Smith.”
Ivan recalls that in his youth, captains would use their whips if someone took their hats off, if they stopped dancing, or if the crowds got in the way of the bow man. There was far more authority in the captaincy, and the music would be played at a higher tempo, with no young men in the drum line. Back then, nobody travelled by car but instead marches the entire way with energy, waiting for their chance for showtime!
His signature dance move is the heel-toe, a move performed on the balls of the feet and inspired by the classic tap dancers: the Nicholas Brothers, Sammy Davis Jr. and Fred Astaire. He says, “When you are light on your feet as a Gombey dancer, it looks more vibrant, more full of energy.” This light-footed charisma earned him the attention of CBS on one expedition to Mashantucket Pequot Schemitzun Pow Wow (Foxwoods), where they had him dance for the camera. Warwick Gombey Troupe has been particularly dedicated to exploring and showcasing the Native American influences in Gombey culture, and have travelled extensively through North America, the Caribbean, and Venezuela. This is a family lineage for Ivan, and the connection was fostered by St. Clair Brinkworth “Brinky” Tucker who introduced them to Everett “Tall Oak” Weeden, the activist and historian of Mashantucket Pequot and Wampanoag descent.
Ivan makes his own skirts and capes, his favourite being a red and black scorpion motif. His brother, Irwin, has made his favourite hat, a tribute to their deceased mother whose family connections got them both involved in Gombeys. Ivan says he will keep dancing as long as his brother Irwin keeps beating drums, and shared how crowds go wild when he shakes the peacock feather in his hat. Quite the peacock himself, he challenged, “I change the music when I dance. I make the drummers come up.”
