Gombey Festival Honouree, 2022 co-honourees, honoured on October 8, 2022
Mr. Philip “Marlo” DeShields was born on December 20, 1948. He began dancing at age 10 with Llewellyn Spence, better known as Merry Mice in Charles “Boxcart” Norford’s Gombey Troupe. Marlo quickly became well-known as an exceptional dancer and always looked incredible, with all of his suits made by Ms. Janice Warner. A favourite suit of his was decorated with a butterfly. One night, Mr. Norford noticed Marlo’s discipline, keeping his hat on all day, and his pleasant disposition despite the fact that they had performed for a long time. To reward Marlo, he took off Marlo’s hat, put his whistle around his neck, put the whip in his hand and instructed Marlo, “take us home gracefully.” This was, indeed, an honour from his Gombey idol.
Under Merry Mice’s leadership, Norford’s Gombeys performed at College Weeks, often at Fort St. Catherine. Eventually, Merry Mice moved abroad and Freddy “Blue” Lodge captained the troupe, with Marlo as his Chief. Marlo became well-known for his leadership of the troupe, and fondly recalled other members including the incredible dancer Charles “Nature Boy” Wade, Rudolph “Chocolate” Hewey, Studley “Cap” Wade, and Gary “Peter Lobby” Bascome, just to name a few.
In the 1970’s, the Gombey Fiery Act was created, with a collection of the best dancers from troupes island-wide. Bass drummer Al Wilson was in charge, while Eugene Herbert played the kettle drum. Marlo was just a youngster at the time, but recalls Gary Smith, Morris Iris, and himself dancing around a young lady Millie McCoy with fire under her arms. The act performed at many of the hotels: the Bermudiana Hotel, Belmont Hotel, Harmony Hall, and the Carlton Beach Hotel to name a few.
Marlo is humble about his contributions to the Gombey culture, maintaining that there are many others that also participated with him and kept the tradition alive. He continued dancing Gombeys until he was about 30 years old, and still loves the rhythm of the drum.
When asked about being honoured for his contributions to the Gombey culture, Marlo insisted that he could not receive the honour without co-honouring his friend Charles “Nature Boy” Wade. Likewise, Nature Boy would not accept the nomination without first ensuring that one of his dancing idols, Marlo, was also being recognized.
Dancing runs in Nature Boy’s blood: his father was an excellent tap dancer himself, and as a small child he always ran after the Gombeys. Llewellyn “Merry Mice” Spence saw him dancing behind their troupe one day and asked his mother if he could sign up for Norford’s Gombeys. Quickly, he became a tiny favourite, and was one of the youngest dancers to perform at Castle Harbour and other hotels at about age 4 or 5.
Born July 25, 1952, Nature Boy was a bit younger than Marlo and fondly recalls that he always made sure he used to get home, “I stayed on Curving Avenue and he stayed on Happy Valley. He would walk me home. In those days, we used to come out in the streets at about 8 in the morning! We would have a dress rehearsal at 7:30 AM and if anything was wrong, they would send you back home!”
Another early memory for Nature Boy came at age 7, when Boxcart Norford himself stood on his foot and he began to tear up: “He was a big fella! He took me aside and said, ‘Sonny, Gombeys do not cry!’ I haven’t cried since.”
In those days, they spent a lot of time in the streets, dancing all over the island. He fondly remembers a day they began at Tills Hill, heading to Warwick. The music was so sweet, it carried them all the way to Somerset. They came back by foot along Harbour Road. That same evening they ran into the Scraggy Place Group in Hamilton. Place’s had a dancer called Sparky and they danced against each other. Sparky shook his hand after: “Boy you are great dancer, you will be one of Bermuda’s best.”
Nature Boy and Wendell Darrell created a criss-cross fast-step that people do today, but says nobody does it how they used to; although he loves watching Shawn Caisey of HnH dance today. In his heyday, an individual dancer would perform for 20-30 minutes alone: “I didn’t used to show off, but I didn’t let myself get showed up. When I danced, I went into a zone with the music. Every beat of the drum, you should have a step for it, because the Gombey created that beat. I had a good Gombey tribe behind me.”
He recalls Rodney Wilson doing flips without ever losing his hat and Bootsy Dillas was the best spinner, with amazing splits. Nature Boy loves the Gombey drum, and hasn’t heard a better drummer since Henry “Grother” Wilson, although he loved the way Pickles Spence played, and Gerald Green used to beat the rim so hard! Other notable Norford’s drummers were Eric Charles “Shorty” Maynard and Reginald “Way-Way” Wainwright.
Janice Warner also made Nature Boy’s regalia, and when he was old enough to have a long, flowing cape, he was able to add more flare to his dance. In those days, Gombeys never revealed their identity partially-dressed.
He remained with Norford’s Gombeys until they passed the tradition along to the Warner’s Gombey Group. But in his day, the Gombey was the Gombey. The best time of Nature Boy’s life has been dancing Gombeys, even representing Bermuda internationally: “I know what I’ve done in the streets, I know what I’ve done for Gombeys. If you didn’t see me…. then you missed it.”
