Shirley Campbell as 'Mary' in Eddy Thomas' 'And It Came To Pass' in 1963. In background is Bert Rose. - Contributed

Shirley Campbell, a founding member of the National Dance Theatre Company (NDTC), died last week in Miami, Florida.

No cause of death was given in the statement issued Tuesday by the NDTC. Campbell had no children and had recently retired from the Miami Herald newspaper.

In the 1950s, Campbell and her older sister Joyce were members of the Ivy Baxter Creative Dance Group. They joined the NDTC, which was founded by Rex Nettleford and Eddy Thomas shortly before Jamaica got its independence in August 1962.

Nettleford remembers Campbell for the infectious vitality which she brought to the stage.

Feisty

"She was a feisty dance performer," he said. "Very loveable and committed."

Barbara Requa danced alongside the Campbell sisters in both the Baxter and NDTC groups. Requa and the Campbells performed with the NDTC until the early 1980s, when Shirley Campbell emigrated to Miami. She said she last saw Campbell in July of this year when she visited Jamaica.

"She was a very good dancer, especially in folk forms, and had a strong personality," she said.

Before retiring from the NDTC, Campbell doubled as wardrobe mistress and taught the UWI Dancing and Gymnastics Group (later the University Dance Society).

A thanksgiving service was held in Miami last Sunday and a similar one will be held today at the Little Theatre, Tom Redcam Avenue, at 5:30 p.m.