Dimanche Gras pageantry

FOR Davlin Thomas, if there was one word you had to use to describe this year’s Dimanche Gras it should be pageantry.

Traditionally, the annual show would determine the winners of Carnival and is usually held at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port of Spain. Over the years this has changed with the Dimanche Gras morphing into a production.

There have been issues with Dimanche Gras, ranging from the length of the show to a shrunken audience.

This year the National Carnival Commission (NCC) decided to take on producing the show itself, after hiring various producers over the last few years.

The commission’s vice chairman, Davlin Thomas, told Newsday in a phone interview that this year’s show is estimated to be three-and-a-half hours long. There is also going to be a pre-show which starts from 5.30 pm-7 pm and then the show itself runs from 7 pm-11 pm. Thomas is also an award-winning producer and artistic director.

The theme of the production, he said, is Buccoo Reef...the beauty beneath the surface and it is a metaphor which calls on people to “forget the rough seas on the surface and focus on the beauty below.” He added that the metaphor is also being used to “situate all of the fruits of our spirit: the culture, the pan, kaiso, soca.”

Buccoo Reef is one of Tobago's most popular tourist attractions.

Thomas said the show will showcase Carnival 2019 champs –such as the King and Queen of Carnival and much more including Machel Montano, Nadia Batson, Farmer Nappy among others.

He said the NCC hired designer Elwin Thomas who provided the commission with a number of Carnival costumes that “are manifestations of aspects of Buccoo Reef.”

He also said there will be a lot of choreography as everything is choreographed and there will be at least 100 dancers in full costume on stage.

For those who missed the various Carnival shows in the build-up to Carnival, Thomas said Dimanche Gras “is an opportunity to see the best of the best from the shows.” Sunday’s show will be “mostly visual.” The pre-show, he added, creates a family atmosphere and will have giveaways for the audience.

Describing the show as being a Carnival Dream Team, Thomas said, “When some of the larger costumes, like the Kings of Carnival, are doing their portrayals you will have a mega soca artiste doing the music for them.”

Asked what makes this production of Dimanche Gras different, Thomas said, “fundamentally, the approach. This one begins with the audience in mind, with the end user. The user story. What is the user going to experience in this Dimanche Gras?”

Thomas said in a lot of the previous Dimanche Gras productions its organisers were “looking for the best” but that this one was “a celebration of us, of the best.”

This year’s budget inclusive of infrastructure and costuming was $2 million.

Thomas said the NCC hopes to get all of the stands filled for the event.

“People express their patriotism in different ways. Some people plant a flag in their yard. In this country when we put together a show like this to the extent that we have gone through the effort of having from Machel Montano, who is at the peak of his game, across to all the champs and so on in every field.

“We are saying let us focus on that beauty and let us express our patriotism by attending.”

He said in 2010 a similar production was done and it was sold-out. “We are looking at people giving us a resounding response by attending and putting us in a situation where we have to put more stands.”

Thomas said ticket sales are going well so far.