By Tamica Garnett

A NEW Miss Guyana Universe will be crowned this evening, and judging from the preliminary competition, it could be one tough night of competition, and we might add, a tough night in getting things organised, lest we are left to drown in mediocrity.
The talent segment last Tuesday was marred by technical difficulties and the uninspiring evening gown segment all worked to put together a colourless event.

The Preliminary Competition and Talent Night, held at the Pegasus Hotel, was supposed to give us a good idea of how things will all play out on pageant night, but for the sake of the new franchise holder, Jyoti Hardat, a former contestant herself, we pray it is vastly different tonight.

“I was expecting more, especially of the talent segment. It should have been a little bit more talent,” one patron stated.

The evening ended and most were still waiting for the excitement of the night to begin. Thank heavens for the swimsuit segment, otherwise the whole thing would have been an utter disappointment.

Official creative director and pageant coach, Derek Moore, noted that despite the new face of the organisation, securing sponsorship for the pageant was particularly challenging, which severely hampered the evening being as grandiose as he would have expected.

Nonetheless, Moore commended the young ladies for using their own ingenuity to market themselves and raise funds.

“We don’t have the money, and I mean getting sponsors it was a really, really hard task. But you know what I am so pleased about? If you look on social media, each one of these young ladies went out there, they did their own videos about themselves, they went and did their own fund-raisers, so I am happy that they took the initiative and went out there to do something for themselves, and didn’t just sit back and wait for someone to give things to them. So that was a plus, that is what we look for in our winner,” Moore stated.

The night’s activities came to an abrupt end with the talent show when the music was cut during Denisha Rogers’ dance number. Ironically, she was dancing to Deitrick Haddon’s “Well Done” but had to make an impromptu, yet graceful exit off the stage.

The talent segment, which was optional to the delegates, and featured exactly half of the young ladies participating, started off with Malika Russell’s musical performance of Kelly Clarkson’s “A Moment Like This.” It was an apt song for the occasion, but just not apt for Ms Russell’s vocal abilities. Loaded with Clarkson’s signature high notes, the song was clearly a poor song choice.

Next in line was Soyini Fraser performing a dance to Phil Collins’s “Another Day in Paradise.” Of the seven performances, five were dances. Apart from Rogers and Fraser, there were Ariel Basdeo, Ayanna Whitehead and Xameira Kippins.

Outfitted in a saucy, frilled two-piece ensemble, Basdeo gave a decent effort in her bid to dance a salsa. Whitehead performed an interpretive dance to Andra Day’s “Raise Up.”

Kippins prop of a pink oval netting nest that she emerged from at the beginning of her dance, appeared, to say the least, unnecessary to her performance. The prop, we later learnt, represented a womb.  Nonetheless, it did not take away from what was otherwise a reasonable performance, as she romped about the stage in a, literally, head-to-toe, skin-coloured body suit, while dancing to Christina Perri’s emotional song “Human.”

And then there was Rufieya Hussain’s dramatic delivery on domestic abuse, which was in a category all its own. The performance of the former Miss World finalist was blemished only by the sight of the attendant in the background trying to steady Husain’s accompanying aid. In a country where the scourge of domestic violence continues to prevail, the piece was most fitting. Domestic violence was also Hussain’s platform when she took part in the Miss World Pageant in 2014, when she placed in the top 10.

Part of her account read: “The tongue has the power of life and death. When we think of domestic abuse, we think of it as physical, but the scars heal and the words remain. We can use make-up and cover up, but it is the words, words that are repeated over and over again, time after time, that it messes with the mind. Psychological abuse is as real as you and I.”

For their efforts, the winner of the talent category will receive one quarter of a point towards her final score in the pageant, a move that was not well received by the audience who thought that was not enough, given the work the young ladies would have had to invest.

Nonetheless, more rewardingly the winner will also proceed on a scholarship to the prestigious New York Academy of Arts for some much-needed talent training.  The other delegates in the pageant, not featured in the talent segment were Aysya Kelly, Ashley John, Iman Jaisingh, Meleisa DeFreitas, Odessa Grogan, Keleisha Kelly, and Ashley Cameron.

Off to a Late Start
Building on a reputation of the tardiness of pageants, the evening got started as dashing host Sherod Duncan took to the stage almost one hour after the scheduled 6:30 p.m. start; half of the audience were yet to arrive anyway.

After a brief opening by the deputy mayor, the audience was treated to a video compilation of the girls’ recent retreat to the Hurakabra River Resort, in Essequibo, which was part of a collaboration with the Guyana Tourism Authority.

In the short video clip, the audience got a peek of some behind-the-scenes footage as well as a first sight of the beauties in their swim wear as they each introduced themselves. Patrons then got to see the gorgeous ladies live and in person, as they soon entered the stage in their swim wear: beautiful bikinis designed by renowned swim wear designer Kandice Pelletier.

Several left lasting impressions with the crowd, while it was evident that Kippins had quite the support group in the audience.
Next up was the evening gown category, where gown after gown, the audience waited to see one of those stunning evening wears that the Miss Universe Guyana Pageant has been known for. While there were a few that stood out, the evening gown segment, overall, did not move many.

“Seriously I expected more. Since this is a Miss Universe Pageant I was expecting to see better evening gowns and I was very, very upset with the evening gowns that they had there; out of the 14 delegates I think, two were really, really pretty but for the rest it was a no-no. So kudos to Ashley John, I think she had a very pretty dress and she looked really good, she is one of my favourites,” a female patron said.

From the preliminary rounds, the top 10 finalists in the pageant will be selected and will be announced at the beginning of the Coronation night.
The 10 finalists will then go back through the swim suit and evening gown segments, where Moore noted the choice will be up to the girls if they will be donning the same or different evening gowns from the ones displayed Tuesday night.

The final five will then be selected and will then compete in the “Final Question” segment and based on this Guyana’s representative at the January 1, 2017 Miss Universe Pageant will be selected, and reigning Miss Universe Guyana, Shauna Ramdyhan, will hand over the crown.
Moore encouraged patrons to come out to the pageant, noting that the proceeds from the ticket sales will go to helping the winner prepare for January’s Miss Universe Pageant in the Philippines.

“We need this, we need to support these girls.

“Whoever is crowned Miss Guyana Universe this year will be representing Guyana in the Phillipines, so we need that support from the audience so we can have our delegate that is representing Guyana well prepared, and the only way we can have her well prepared is if we have the finance to do it.”