Tanya Batson-Savage, Freelance Writer
Harbour View Primary performing the piece Le Ultimata at the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission's Dancefest, held at the Ranny Williams Entertainment Centre, Hope Road, on Friday. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer
With an energetic, engaging display of budding dancers, the Jamaica Cultural Development's week of 'fests' came to an end at the Ranny Williams Entertainment Centre, Hope Road, on Friday night. DanceFest features the best that the national finals in dance at the performing arts festival competition has to offer.
It followed on the heals of Children's GospelFest (the youngest of the litter), Folkfest, Dramafest, Speechfest and Musicfest. The show garnered an impressive audience turnout, forcing the seams of the Ranny Williams Centre to stretch themselves to accommodate the burgeoning audience.
At 7:30, half an hour beyond the start time, although the show was well under way and the centre's seating capacity seemed to have been reached, a sea of people continued to flow in. Some sought additional chairs which had been provided, while others decided to stand their ground, at least until intermission.
The parade of talent that strutted, back-flipped, leapt and skipped across the floor easily explained the crowd's enthusiasm. The evening featured performances from the very young, to adult, issuing from a range of schools and institutions across the island. The dances ranged from creative folk, through modern contemporary and jazz, to the popular.
Some dances presented colourful displays, while others featured engaging choreography and costuming and others were quite exciting, presenting pulsating dance pieces. Tivoli Dancers' Fanfarade, Belmont Park Primary's Carib Fest, Jessie Ripole Primary's Colours and Institute of Jamaica Junior Centre's Street Parade were visually engaging works that used colours and/or props to great effect.
Jesse Ripole Primary, had the most dances of any single institution for the night, which highlighted their success at the finals as they bud under the tutelage of Dwayne Fullwood. Queens Preparatory also had multiple dances, Steps and Passa Gatha, choreographed by Delroy Rose. The JCDC chose to dedicate their latter dance, Passa Gatha to the late Louise Bennett-Coverly, and as one happy little girl bore a slight resemblance to the theatrical icon it was evident why.
Through their two dances, Ardenne High presented budding dance talent, interesting choreography and great costuming. Their first piece of the night Puppets in Action was a delightful, well-costumed piece which featured a puppet tale between a goat herd and a maid. Later, their dance drama Invasion presented a look at an invasion of Europeans on an Amerindian village.
Brigdeport Dance Ensemble displayed talent and vision with two pieces Hail Maria and The Tribe of Sambuca both choreographed by Derrick McCarthy. The latter dance was the closing piece for the night and brought a fitting end to an engaging night.
DanceFest, marks the penultimate leg in months of work that led to regional, then parish and finally national finals from which the best were selected. On Thursday, August 3, the most entertaining pieces from the competition will be on display at the annual Mello-Go-Round at the National Arena.
