"I'm in a dancing mood," Alaine stated as she talked about her upcoming appearance on the Shaggy and Friends Dare to Care concert on January 2 on the lawns of Jamaica House.

The songstress, who was overseas for the previous show, nonetheless saw recordings of the performances and said she was very excited to be included in the lineup this time around.

"It's great to be part of this show, this fantastic venture by Shaggy and all the people involved," said Alaine. "What I saw of the last show was just awesome. It's such a wonderful cause that it lends itself to great performances. The whole production looked to be first-class."

She's looking forward to delivering one such performance herself and says in addition to a brand new song, she will be doing some ... wait for it ... dancing.

"I'm just getting myself away from the negativity," she offered in explanation. "It's been a truly great year for me, and I'm at a place in my life now where I can appreciate my blessings even more; where I have good people around me to support me and where I can just go forth and do what I know I'm meant to do, which is make people happy through music, and to shine."

Her quest to shine has taken her from French Guiana, through the Caribbean and into North America and as far afield as Holland and Japan, the latter market where she released he latest full-length CD, Rub-A Dub, and did a month-long tour.

"Oh the Japanese, they just love this music. The energy there is still tremendous and I just had a blast performing there," she said.

And Alaine in turn loves giving her energy to the audience.

"People can see through you real quick if you try to fake it, so I'm always about being genuine and believable," she said. That credibility, said Alaine, is a hallmark of a great artiste, whether male or female, but the question of the state of female artistes and of the music in general inevitably comes up.

It's inspiring, she said, to see and be a part of the renewed prominence of female artistes. As far as the overall sound is concerned, Alaine said she'd like to hear more variety in musical expressions from Jamaican acts.

"If you're giving a voice to only one group of people or only one topic, then it becomes tiresome," she explained. "It's great to have things, but what about the person who is trying hard to make ends meet for his family but still keeps a positive attitude? Who will be that voice?"

Alaine will be lending her voice to a number of tracks going into 2010 and says with her second album released (Japan only), she'll be focusing on singles for the moment. If she continues at this rate, she'll have thousands more dancing along with her come January 2.