Cedar Grove dominates schools’ dance festival

CEDAR Grove Primary School walked away with the lion's share of prizes in the grand finale of Spark, the Schools Festival of Dance which took place at the Southern Academy for the Performing Arts (Sapa) on June 12.

The Palmiste-based school dominated the primary school category from among the five schools that qualified to participate in the finals.

Ten secondary schools from across the country also participated in the competition – Diego Martin Central; Holy Name Convent, Port of Spain; Bishop Anstey High School East; Moruga Secondary; Ste Madeline Secondary; Vishnu Boys Hindu College; San Juan South Secondary; St Joseph's Convent, St Joseph; Pleasantville Secondary; and Bishop’s Centenary College.

It was the first time primary schools have been part of the festival.

The festival was organised by the National Dance Association of TT (NDATT) in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and the Secondary Dance Educators Association of TT.

In her opening remarks, NDATT president Alette Liz Williams noted that Spark is a re-imagining of the former Secondary Schools Dance Festival, which was first introduced in 2009.

“This year, for the first time, primary school dancers are officially part of the festival, expanding the reach and potential of the platform to discover and nurture emerging talent from earlier stages of development.”

She explained there was a pause during and post covid, but when they decided to reintroduce the programme, “the MOE challenged us to expand, to include primary schools to give the young talent a space for their expression.”

The target, she said, was to discover their artistic abilities and the opportunity to perform before their peers.

“We did not know how many of them would have performed on a stage this size or before their peers and a large audience.”

But there was no need to worry as the children in the five to eight, and nine-plus categories boldly braved the stage capturing the admiration of the audience with their expressive moves and interpretation of the dances.

The categories included contemporary dances, classical, traditional folk, traditional Carnival or folklore character, and creative dances.

The stories ranged from school violence, a call to save the children, dealing with human trafficking, the journey of enslaved Africans, a battle with cancer, among others.

Cedar Grove students Mia Achat-Ali performing Cherub, and Maya Rubuz who performed HELP, both contemporary dances, captured first and second places in the five to eight solo category.

In the nine-plus solo category, Cedar Grove also won three of the top four prizes. Amaliya Bghagwandas who did a classical dance called Celebration, placed first with 76 points. Her peers, Aijah-Marie Williams, placed third with 69 points with a traditional folk dance called, African Pride, and Stephanie Sookbir, fourth. Santa Flora Government Primary School student Reneece Phillip placed second with a traditional folk dance called D’ Journey.

In the groups nine-plus category, Cedar Grove won three of the six prizes including first, fifth and sixth place.

The Athenian Pre Secondary School walked away with second and third places with a traditional and folk dance respectively. Monkey Town Government Primary secured fourth position with a classical dance called Des Rangila, while Arima Girls’ RC, also performing a classical dance called Subterfuge, placed fifth.

Williams thanked sponsors and supporters who came to witness this iteration of the festival, as the financial expectation from the MOE was not forthcoming.

“Pulling off the festival was essentially a labour of love,” she told Newsday, “Because we are a volunteer-led association. Many people, friends, family members, people in the network gave finances, resources, their time and energy for this programme to come off.

“I am grateful for the teachers, students and schools who answered the call and decided to come into the competition and pour their hearts out.”

She said hopefully, next year will be better.

Special guest judge was Marisa Benain, founder of Plié for the Arts in Jamaica. Benain’s involvement is part of an ongoing collaboration with the NDA to strengthen dance education and performance opportunities across the region.

Two dancers will be eligible for selection to travel to Jamaica for a workshop and attend the gala performance of the final stop of the Amalgamation Tour with Alvin Ailey II on August 30.

Benain will return in August with her company to lead an interactive seminar and workshop with Alvin Ailey II dancers on August 25, followed by two public performances on August 26.

The entrants were judged by a panel of adjudicators – Emelda Lynch-Griffith (head judge), Sonja Dumas, Dr Satnarine Balkaransingh, Aaron Charles, Jason Le Maitre, and Derreck Cassanova.