Missing is a self-choreographed piece by Namron that he recently performed at a seminar called Time and Tide- Life Rhythms, that explored dance and older people. This one day event took place in Liverpool and was run by Merseyside Dance Initiative (MDI) and was an opportunity for organisations, practitioners and academics working within this particular field of interest, to network and share experiences related to dance and health. Namron was invited to attend and speak about his dancing life and his wealth of experience as a practitioner still teaching and performing into his seventh decade. He spoke about how in his youth he joked that once “he could no longer play the role of a prince with the spins and splits in the air, that he would stop dancing, that he didn’t want to play the role of king, where you just parade up and down the stage”. Now as a reflective statesman, carrying a history and legacy in every class he teaches and movement he performs, he is able to inspire and motivate his peers about the importance and need to continue dancing, in whatever capacity whether through devising of simpler movement and/or dancing to favourite songs “honestly and seriously, you have to force yourself mentally to do exercises or you become lazy and grow lazier in ways you don’t expect, a dog not walked grows fat”. It is his belief that through devising of simpler movement, gesture and heartfelt music, so much dance can still be created for and by older dancers and those that love the pleasure of moving.

He retold a story about his father who was known as Sweet Feet because of the way he moved and how, one evening at a gathering of friends, a song was played that his father use to dance to and Namron without thinking about it just got up, started moving and was lost in the moment, a friend commented to him “I have never seen you move that way” to which he replied “it is just how my father used to move”. Namron was suggesting that music that is embodied and familiar, songs of youth, can be used as a tool to inspire movement and can then be expanded and created into accessible vocabulary for older people whatever their capabilities.

In his solo piece Missing, Namron encapsulates this with such stillness and presence, the audience sees so much by being given so little. As he enters the stage with a walking stick in his hand, the performance space is bare except for a chair and the soaring music of forgotten spirituals, he moves with subtle yet deeply evocative movement vocabulary. At the core of his narrative is the missing of a son not seen for many years, yet Namron in his artistry goes further and creates imagery that speaks about growing older and the reflections between father and son. Every gesture, expression and movement carries a weighted emotion of form and metaphor, like his shadow beamed in silhouette and cast double sized against the stage wall. No movement is thrown away everything is self-contained and yet within that space a universe is created, as the performer gestures and twists his body creating shapes of sorrow, of remembrance and joy. When he performs the piece he wears a shirt and neck tie that belonged to his son as a source of closeness and comfort during the piece. This powerful and enduring piece is a cathartic and therapeutic experience for him. It reiterates the purpose and richness that dance has to empathises, translate and inspire the lives that exists within us all.