Students of Mona Prep performing on the Congo drums during a lunch hour concert at UTech in Papine, St. Andrew. -Winston SillTanya Batson, Staff Reporter
WHOSOEVER SAID that you cannot see music, had obviously never seen the hearing-impaired sing. The event was a lunch hour concert put on by the University of Technology (UTech) Centre for the Arts on Wednesday. To say that the day was sweltering is to understate the temperature endured at the Caribbean Sculpture Park at the UTech, where the Centre's lunch hour concert took place, but no one seemed to mind much.
Although the event was put on by the Centre for the Performing Arts, none of the performances came from students from UTech. Instead, they were put on by the neighbouring schools.
Pat Ramsey, who is in charge of the Centre for the Arts, noted that the Centre made the decision because the university needs to "bring in that community spirit". She noted that this concert was not the first of its kind.
"We had three before," she said, "where we just had Mona Preparatory, and we decided to embrace more." The "more" that was embraced is a part of what helped to make the lunch-hour concert exceptional.
In addition to Mona Preparatory school, the Danny Williams School for the Deaf, Papine High School and the Lister Mair Gilby High School performed. What was presented was an afternoon of music, dance and signs.
It was significant that students from Lister Mair Gilby and the Danny Williams School for the Deaf were included, because of the tendency to relegate the disabled. "Sometimes we tend to forget the disabled," Mrs. Ramsey noted. In keeping with taking the hearing-impaired into consideration, rather than just clapping at the end of performances, hand waves were also done.
The afternoon's performances were started off by the students from Mona Preparatory, who have been awarded a certificate of merit in the parish finals of this year's Jamaica Cultural Development Commission Festival. The show started with a literal boom provided a very lively round of drumming, on the Congo drums.
The drumming was followed by a song and dance performed by dancers from the Danny Williams school. The students first began a graceful rendition of I Believe I Can Fly, where they sang along to R. Kelly. However, towards the end, the singing was abandoned, and a full-fledged dance was performed.
The Lister Mair Gilby choir, which was possibly the highlight of the afternoon, then performed three gospel songs, including I Just Can't Give Up Now. The choir was dressed in sea-green gowns and white gloves, which added grace to their movements. It was a well-choreographed piece, inclusive of solos which hit the right notes.
The students from Papine also held their own with their two performances. When the young women presenting the first item took the stage dressed in white T-shirts and jeans, they looked as if they were about to unleash some 'bashment' on the gathering. The audience were not to be disappointed. The girls did an interesting dance to Mary Mary's Shackles, which, while using popular dance moves, was not remotely inappropriate.
The dancers were followed by Marsha Lee Baptiste, Odayne Rhoden and Rudolph Tomlinson, who gave a very good rendition of He Kept Me. The event was then brought to a close by the students of Mona Preparatory, who brought Latin music and dance to the stage.
