–as Region 4 goes for broke at dance, masquerade

IT was a day of cultural revival and storytelling in motion yesterday as the annual Region Four Mashramani Children’s Dance and Masquerade Competition entered day two.

Held at the Enmore Community Centre Ground, the day’s activities saw both individual and group performances from the various schools participating in the categories of Masquerade ‘Flounce-Off’ and Band Presentation as well as Dance.

Speaking on the subject of masquerade was Event Coordinator Collis Nicholson, who said he was very impressed by the day’s performances.
“We would have seen dance and masquerade at another level,” he said.
“The traditional steps for dance and masquerade were in order; they were on par and… I’ve seen that schools have been evolving in that art from.”

For this segment, the students were graded on the variety of the traditional steps, the style, the costumes, the methods of picking up coins and their overall look on stage.
“We fully know that masquerade has been dying and it’s a part of our tradition, but yet, we see the schools in Region Four are really grappling with it and they’re moving it to another level,” Nicholson said.

Meanwhile, the categories for the dance segment were: Religious belief, Interpretive, Legends and Tradition and Social Commentary.
Said Nicholson: “We would have seen participation from all different levels of the secondary schools, and we would have also seen a rich diversity of how they would have cooperated what they learnt in the classroom on to the stage.”

After tallying the day’s performances, the judges revealed that snatching first place in the Masquerade ‘flounce-off’ and Band Presentation Category was Golden Grove Primary, which will represent the district at the regional level.

While in the categories social commentary, religious belief, interpretive and legends and tradition, President’s College, Hope Secondary, Covent Garden Secondary and La Bonne Intention Secondary won first place respectively.

President’s College will go on to represent at the regional level in this segment, after racking up the highest dance points overall.