…Georgetown Children’s Mashramani Competitions continue
COORDINATION for little children, adults too sometimes, is a task, but the ‘dance off’ during day two of the Georgetown Children’s Mashramani Competitions at the National Cultural Centre (NCC) yesterday evidenced much practice by children whose main focus was simply fun. The energy was tangible and the lift in the atmosphere knocked those entering the hall of the theatre with full force.
Pulsating music, coupled with smiling, singing, dancers made for a great day two – the Dance and Masquerade segments.
The entries came under three themes: fantasy, religious beliefs and interpretive; and each group, large and small, between ages three and 10, was mixing it up on stage, wowing the audience.
Chairperson Travis King did his bit to step-up the hype and threw in a few dance moves of his own, as well as a tune here and there, inciting the crowds to sing – and shout – along with him.
The NCC was abuzz with the keyed-up school children who screamed in support of their schools and screamed for schools they did not support; the long and short of it was a lot of screaming –and that is the story before the performers were on stage.
The performances – played out by characters decked out in a kaleidoscope of colours – themselves elicited their own plethora of hyper responses.
The tots from Gaystock Nursery danced deliberate moves, going up on tippy toes every now and then with an entry ‘Glory and Praise’.

Smyth Street Nursery dancers, draped in wide, floor-length skirts , manipulated their costumes with an intense concentration that only waned coming to the end of the performance – not because it was the end, but because they were finally getting accustomed to the stage.

A shame though, there are no encores in the competition.
There was still ‘Rejoicing’ though by Precious Jewels Nursery, whose choreography was much more than laudable, as they brought such energy to the stage, it was contagious.
The crowd mimicked it with cheers, and waves and some were even in a very unabashed way dancing in their seats – not your average shy school children.

Unabashed indeed – instead of shy children, one saw ‘Rockin Robins’ in an entry by St. Agnes Primary titled ‘Garden Fun’.
Children – robins among other things – brought innovation to the popular song ‘Rockin Robins’ and put their spin on the song in a most interesting way, lots of fun to see.

Joining the ‘Rockin Robins’ were the ‘Aristocrats’, the St. Stephen’s Primary group, whose entry was titled ‘Cats Mashing’.
At the end of it most all of the audience got the message – ♫Everybody, everybody, everybody wants to be a cat♫ – Mashramani and all.
Mash came alive with an entry , ‘Mash Alive’, by St. Agnes Primary, whose large group of dancers did not mean a better performance, but definitely did something to keep the energy alive with all the jumping around.
‘Holy Ghost Fire’ by St. Angela’s Primary definitely did the trick though, with the right music and the choreography that were impactful, if that word does justice to the performance.
The crowds definitely caught the fire, so to speak.

Not to be left out was the North Georgetown Primary School with their entry ‘Culture of Umbrellas’.
The umbrella party held their own well, the dancers using the stage well – not crashing into each other.

North Georgetown Primary School came back in another category and outdid themselves, coupling the classic song ‘A whole new world’ with choreography that bordered on the adult.
The entry titled ‘Love of Beauty’ ended with the young boys carrying their girl partners  off the stage – excellently performed.
What was probably most interesting was the shift from the routine with a surprisingly brilliant entry titled ‘Toys’ by F.E. Pollard Primary School.
Much more than a dance, it was more of a theatrical performance that blended something akin to ballet with other styles of choreography.
The piece played out what appeared to be a fight between three children and their very much alive dolls, which ended quite fittingly with a ‘happily every after’.
The audience awed by the classy performance was  jarred back to another reality, ‘Soca Time’, an entry by Stella Maris Primary.
The dancers teased the audience and built the anticipation with a slow, starting song that soon turned into a burst of energy.

The shifting continued,keeping viewers  at the edge of their seats with the variation in the performance that took the spectator from one extreme to the other.

St. Margaret’s Primary’s entry was titled ‘Celebration Time’ and was an exhibition of good choreography.
All the performances underscored this year’s theme for Mashramani, ‘Showcasing our culture, sustaining our pride’, and today the dances and masquerades continue with entries from the education sector’s teenagers.