KIMMY Stoute-Robinson eats, sleeps and breathes culture. Well, probably not literally, but the range of her expertise would lead you to believe so.
Throughout her life, she has been involved in dance and choreography, acting, stage management, costume designing and styling, directing and hosting. And with her decades of being immersed in TT’s rich culture, she sees herself as a cultural advocate and ambassador.
The 42-year-old grew up in Belmont and attended the Newtown Girls’ RC Primary School and St Francois Girls’ College.
She said she was a disciplined but active and inquisitive child.
“A lot of things would grab my attention. For example, my mom was a seamstress and used to attend sewing classes and take me with her…I would sit in the back and have my book and my own fabric and try to follow what they were learning," she told WMN.
This led to her sewing clothes for her dolls back then, proud of what she learnt – not knowing years later, she would become a stylist.
But she also recalled being fascinated by the beats and rhythms of African drums near her home as folk dancers rehearsed for the Best Village competition.
As this fascination grew, “My mom carried me across and started falling in,” she said.
“So from learning, jumping in the people nightly classes,” she started with a laugh, “...The dance teacher there turned out to also be the dance teacher at Newtown Girls. So when she realised, she told my mom that Malick Folk Performing Company was starting a junior company and that if I was interested, I could join.”
And they agreed.
In addition to dance, she got to experience drama and theatre there.
[caption id="attachment_1145680" align="alignnone" width="819"] Kimmy Stoute-Robinson during 2025 Carnival celebrations. - Photo by Nicholas Walker[/caption]
“You weren’t limited to just one discipline. And from seeing my talent there, they would also suggest things that I could do.”
Her involvement with the group soon opened doors to other performance opportunities like Calypso Spektakula's Women of Substance.
“I can’t remember the exact year but I was one of the youngest to perform in it. I remember Denyse Plummer, Denyse Belfon – all these stalwarts were performing. And then little me came to do a monologue.”
She got the chance to attend the senior group rehearsals as she was among those “advanced” enough in the performing arts to do so, according to her tutors.
It was there she got to participate in the very competition for which the rehearsals grabbed her attention – Best Village.
This, she said, brought her to her first “big stage” at the Queen’s Park Savannah.
Her talent also landed her a role in local author Earl Lovelace’s dramatisation of his book The Dragon Can’t Dance in 2002, where she shared the stage with late rapso legend Brother Resistance (Lutalo Masimba).
Young Kimmy also grew fond of portraying traditional Carnival characters including the pierrot grenade, jab molassie, baby doll, dame lorraine, fancy sailor and burrokeet, among others.
And over the year
