Repertory Dance Theatre honours late broadcaster and dancer Eddison Carr

The Reper­to­ry Dance The­atre is pay­ing trib­ute to the late broad­cast­er Ed­di­son Carr, who, un­known to many, was among a group of tal­ent­ed dancers as­sem­bled by the late As­tor John­son as he es­tab­lished the school.

In com­mem­o­ra­tion of the In­ter­na­tion­al Day of Dance, which was ob­served on April 29, dancers from the Reper­to­ry Dance The­atre ho­n­oured Carr’s life, lega­cy and his con­tri­bu­tion to dance.

Carr died on March 14 this year af­ter sev­er­al years in broad­cast­ing, which made his voice one of the most recog­nis­able in the coun­try. Carr was al­so a hostage dur­ing the 1990 at­tempt­ed coup and tes­ti­fied dur­ing the Com­mis­sion of En­quiry in 2011.

But ac­cord­ing to his col­leagues at Rep, his con­tri­bu­tion to the world of dance was equal­ly “par ex­cel­lence.”

“To­day (April 29th), as we cel­e­brate In­ter­na­tion­al Dance Day, we ho­n­our the life and lega­cy of Ed­di­son Carr, a man whose gen­eros­i­ty of spir­it and depth of knowl­edge en­riched all who crossed his path. As a found­ing mem­ber of the Reper­to­ry Dance The­atre, he stood at the heart of Trinidad and To­ba­go’s artis­tic awak­en­ing. His gra­cious will­ing­ness to share in­sights—es­pe­cial­ly about the work of As­tor John­son—made him a liv­ing reser­voir of his­to­ry and in­spi­ra­tion.

“Ed­di­son’s pro­fes­sion­al­ism was ev­i­dent even two years ago, when he helped re­mount Grave­yard for the Liv­ing. Ar­riv­ing in tights and vest, warm­ing up with qui­et dis­ci­pline, he was pre­pared to pass on the orig­i­nal steps with care and pre­ci­sion. His pres­ence re­mind­ed us that artistry is not on­ly per­for­mance, but mem­o­ry car­ried for­ward.

“He was part of the very first lec­ture-demon­stra­tion at Town Hall Au­di­to­ri­um on Au­gust 7, 1972, where works like Vic­tim, Fu­sion, and For Bet­ter or for Worse were per­formed. Be­yond dance, he left a last­ing mark in broad­cast­ing, and he did leave one in voice cul­ture—serv­ing as a coun­sel­lor to thou­sands. Many, me in­clud­ed, found train­ing at his School of Voice Cul­ture to be an ex­treme­ly re­ward­ing ex­pe­ri­ence.

“Ed­di­son Carr em­bod­ied gra­cious­ness, gen­eros­i­ty, and pro­fes­sion­al­ism. His con­tri­bu­tions to dance, to voice, and to the wider cul­tur­al com­mu­ni­ty will con­tin­ue to echo. We re­mem­ber him not on­ly for what he achieved, but for how he shared—with warmth, hu­mil­i­ty, and a deep love for the arts,” said Al­li­son Seep­aul, Di­rec­tor, As­tor John­son Reper­to­ry Dance The­atre

Stephen Seep­aul al­so shared his mem­o­ries: “Al­ways very pre­cise with his lan­guage and dic­tion, even when wind­ed.”

Joan­na Charles said, “His pos­ture and turnout were al­ways in check.”

The Reper­to­ry Dance The­atre, al­so known as the As­tor John­son Reper­to­ry Dance The­atre, af­ter be­ing es­tab­lished by John­son, took dance to coun­tries like Guyana, Haiti, Do­mini­ca, Ja­maica, Mex­i­co, Nige­ria, Cana­da, the Unit­ed King­dom and the Unit­ed States. Fol­low­ing John­son’s death in 1985, the threatre con­tin­ued his work, be­ing award­ed a T&T Hum­ming­bird Gold Medal for the con­tri­bu­tion to cul­ture in 1989. In 1991, John­son was posthu­mous­ly award­ed the T&T Hum­ming­bird Sil­ver Medal for his own con­tri­bu­tion to cul­ture.

Rep’s next sea­son will be from Oc­to­ber 2 to 4, 2026, at Queen’s Hall.