Lindeners brave rains to cheer on children’s Costume and Dance Competitions

Feb 05, 2012 News

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Even incessant rainfall on Thursday could not stop the mammoth crowd that

converged at the Mackenzie Sports Club Ground from thoroughly enjoying the Children’s Mashramani Costume and Dance competitions hosted by the Region 10 Department of Education.
The children certainly outdid themselves; at least most of them, and the support from parents, teachers, relatives and friends, was overwhelming.
The rain, which punctuated far too many performances and drizzled throughout others, didn’t seem to bother the excited children though. They simply skipped unto the stage, and did their thing- gyrating and contorting their bodies with an abandon only the young can contrive.
And their appreciative and captive audience repeatedly sounded their approval in thunderous applause.
In the words of Regional Education Officer, Carol Benjamin, “It was a splendid display of talent!”
The Physical Display for the Primary Schools in the 6-11 years old category saw Regma Primary reigning supreme, with their “Tantalarific” routine earning them 125 points, beating Coomacka Primary, which came in second with 116 points.
They also captured the first position with 66 points in the 5-7 years dance category, while One Mile Primary placed second with 60 points and Mackenzie Primary came in third with 55 points.
Regma, which throughout the years has always performed consistently well, had to however be content with the fifth position for their group dance in the 8-10 category after One Mile Primary walked away with the number one position with 58 points.
Mackenzie Primary and Amelia’s Ward tied for the second spot with 55 points each, while St Aidans Primary copped 52 points to capture the fourth spot.
Meanwhile, at the Nursery level in the physical display, Coomacka Primary stamped their authority with 102 points with their nearest rival Oronque Drive who placed second gaining 93 points.
Amelia’s Ward and Pine Street Nursery came in second and third with 79 and 57 points respectively.
Pine Street Nursery with their costume, “We mashing with pride’, excelled in the individual costume category with 109 points, convincingly beating their nearest rival Ituni, who came in second with 86 points by 23 points.

West Watooka Nursery and Watooka Nursery, were third and fourth with 77 and 67 points respectively.
In the area of dance, Wisroc Nursery scored 56 points to cop the coveted top spot, while Republic Avenue and Watooka Day tied for the second position with 51 points.
Oronoque Drive came in fourth with 50 points.
The competition continued on Friday, with Regma Primary continuing their winning ways, copping the number one positions in both the group and individual dance categories.
Other schools securing the coveted top spots were Wisburg Secondary with “Mash Spirit” winning in the 14-17 group dance, Linden Foundation with their flounce routine “Jasmine Gulley” in the 11-13 category and Christianburg/ Wismar Secondary with their interpretive dance “Evolving roots”.
On both days, the Mackenzie Sports Club was packed to capacity, despite the inclement weather.
In an exclusive interview with Kaieteur News, three of the judges from the panel of 12 shared their thoughts on the event.
One of them Michelle Craig, a school teacher and experienced dance and physical display instructor, pointed out that this year was the best in terms of the high standards displayed in both the dance and physical displays. “It was tough judging. This was the best in years I would say, this was the best 14-17 competition, we’ve ever had. There was not just one outstanding school or two outstanding schools, everybody obviously came out to win. However there is still room for improvement,” she hastened to point out.
Craig stressed that those teachers who are involved in the dance choreography and physical displays, should attend the Costume competition finals in Georgetown, where they would get an understanding of what the judges are looking for.
All three of the judges were adamant that the current system of having judges from Georgetown only, to judge the costume competition which is a national event, should be scrapped, as it is unfair.
“They need to recruit judges from outside of Georgetown. There are people, equally competent to judge, who live outside the capital, and these persons should be included on the panel of judges. Not to do so, is totally unfair,” conceded one of the judges.
Judge Michelle Craig has thrown out a challenge to choreographers, who work with students for the Mash competitions to start working with their charges early, and not to wait until a week or two before the competitions to do so.
Craig and her colleagues are also appealing for the establishment of a School of dance in Linden, where students could go and properly learn the requisite dance techniques, to enable them to compete at a higher level.
“We need a place, like how they have the school of Dance in Georgetown, we need that in Linden. You can’t teach dance on a concrete foundation, you have to teach dance on a wooden surface,” Craig emphasized.  That call was reiterated by her counterparts. (Enid Joaquin)

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