NCC plans digital Dimanche Gras – but no competition

There will be a Dimanche Gras show this year, but there is no competition, only a scripted show. Like most shows during the pandemic, it will be online.

The show is called Trinidad Carnival Beyond Virtual, and will be produced by NCC deputy chairman Davlin Thomas.

In a release, Thomas said: “This year’s show will present historical TT, from the 1880s to present, as a magical real space where the past and the present converge...It presents an opportunity to reminisce and reflect.”

Colin Lucas, CEO of the National Carnival Commission, said there will be no competition this year, but the NCC will put on a spectacular show with all the Carnival elements involved. Traditionally the Dimanche Gras show on Carnival Sunday night has included the finals of the Calypso Monarch contest and the kings and queens of the bands, as well as performances by the winners of Panorama and other Carnival competions.

"It's going to be an exciting production...There will be pertinent aspects of the Carnival with spectacular costuming and elements of pan...We are in this to blow people's minds" Lucas told Newsday on Tuesday.

He said the NCC has been working on the show for the past two months.

Though the government allowed for performance spaces at half capacity, Lucas said the NCC did not want to create something where people could gather by the dozens, so it decided on a scripted show.

A budget has been allocated to pay the perfumers.

Lucas is not certain if the show will be broadcast on television, but it will be hosted on the NCC's new digital platform, Trinidad and Tobago Carnival World, which will go live on February 12. It was designed by Raxtive Ltd, an interactive digital media company.

The platform will have a digital museum showing Carnival events through the decades, different shows and a marketplace where artisan vendors can sell their craft.

"It's a one-stop shop for everything Carnival. There will be access to other cultural things, like information on local food and drinks, tourist attractions – you could even go to Store Bay on the site."

Lucas said the NCC always had an idea to create something for the digital space, and the pandemic speeded up the plan.

A release from the NCC said TT Carnival World is working in tandem with groups such as Pan Trinbago, Trinbago Unified Calypso Organisation and the Carnival Bands Association. Content for the platform will include women in Carnival and the evolution of key historical Carnival characters and events.