Highlights from NIFCA Performing Arts Gala Offer Diverse Talents in Music, Dance, and Theatre

This year’s NIFCA Performing Arts Gala was a smorgasbord of satisfying award-winning artistic treats.

Titled Reflections, the four-hour show held recently at the Wildey Gymnasium served patrons 20 performances, 18 of which were the gold and silver award entries in the disciplines of music, dance and theatre.

The other two were poems by Dr Denise Charles (I Saw An Old Man) and Kenneth Jack Lewis (Boys Eating) which are included in the National Cultural Foundation’s first audiobook Kaleidoscope And Other Writings launched last week Sunday.

Starting with the lively silver award-winning performance of Tombres De Alba, a drum piece from the Haynesville Youth Club, and ending with the exhilarating double gold award-winning Christ Church Foundation Steel Orchestra’s Soca is Life, the gala was a reminder that excellence abounds in the 246.

This event is where people who might not have attended the finals of the specific disciplines get to see first-hand what the panel of judges did and scored accordingly. It also provides a platform for the performers to showcase their talent without the pressure of competition conditions before, perhaps, a larger audience.

And what a show it was, with performances from the gold awardees affirming the judges’ decision that they were deserving of the top awards.

In music, Skyy Dowridge blew the audience away with an awesome rendition of My Way, one of her two entries this year. Master of ceremonies Margaret Allman-Goddard said the 12-year-old singer received the highest gold award in music this year for this entry and a silver award for her performance of United in The Caribbean.

Reigning Junior Soca Monarch Kymani Mr Showman Devonish, who also copped a gold award, delivered a great performance of the classic John King song How Many More, and St Luke’s Academy students were delightful and animated as they sang Mama in Bridgetown that includes the folk song (I gine tell me mama don’t send me down dey) and Mighty Gabby’s Bridgetown and Emmerton.

Double silver awardees The Cyptones, accompanied by their St Cyprian’s Boys’ School band, thrilled the audience with another entertaining performance of Icons of Calypso, a medley that pays tribute to Red Plastic Bag (Can’t Find Me Brudda and Volcano), Mighty Gabby (Jack), Mighty Grynner (Leggo I Hand) and Edwin Yearwood and krosfyah (Yardie). They always seem to enjoy performing this and audiences enjoy it even more.

In theatre arts, poet and spoken word artist Akeem Chandler-Prescod performed his hard-hitting, thought-provoking piece Monsters Aren’t Real with the aplomb that demonstrated why he won the only gold award in this area for the second consecutive year. Vivid imagery and provocative metaphors were his weapons of choice as he showed his linguistic prowess that earned him another nomination for the Prime Minister’s Scholarship and one for the Founder’s Award.

Cuthbert Moore Primary School returned to the NIFCA stage with a bang and earned themselves a silver award and other awards in the process for Transformation, a rhythm poem written by teachers. The witty and relevant piece looks at the proposed education transformation while calling for other aspects such as nutrition, societal violence from a child’s perspective.

Veteran performer Alister Alexander evoked laughter with his silver award-winning story of Joshua Pow so too did NIFCA newcomers Northern Lights Drama Group with their silver award short play titled Under the Streetlight which stirred memories for older patrons of days spent outside under the streetlight where stories of folklore such as the Heartman and Steel Donkey were often told.

Poet Malachi Hope, a first-timer, got a silver award for his sobering entry titled There Was A Boy, which tells the story of male, from boy to adult, and his start and end in a life of drugs and violence because it was the only one he knew.

Also earning a silver award were newcomers BPS Stars whose short play Silence The Violence, recorded and shown on the big screens, warned of the dangers of the thug life and beseeched those involved to do change and do something worthwhile so they would keep out of jail.

The dancers were also a delight to watch as their choreographies told stories through movements, costumes, and facial expression.

One of the most riveting performances of the show was executed by the multi-award winning ten-year-old urban/street group Multifarious Dance Crew. Breakin’ the Cycle, created for member Jamal Dawe’s UWI capstone thesis presentation, examined the stigma and cycle of violence and drugs experienced by some males and offered hope. Not only did this receive the only adult gold award in dance this year, but it copped the group the Madame Ifill Award of Excellence, other awards, and nominations for others.

Also basking in gold glory are the juniors of the 32-year-old troupe Dancin’ Africa who paid tribute to the Spiritual Baptists in the lively number choreographed by Keisha Amory-Lewis. Passing The Light earned them multiple awards including the only Junior gold award in NIFCA dance and the coveted Gene Carson Award for Excellence in Junior Dance.

Also in the dance spotlight were J.O.Y Production’s Psalm 91:11, which looks at temptation and how quickly individuals can fall into it. Its choreographer Ysobel Jones received the Richild Springer Award of Excellence in Choreography in addition to a silver award and other prizes.

There was also performances by the Barbados Dance Theatre (The Calling), Efflorescence Dance Collective whose The Butterfly Effect was a tribute and “thank you” to the late Gene Carson, and NIFCA debutants, the Wesley Hall Junior School dancers’ The Cry, who all received silver awards. All the pieces were well received. (GBM)