GUYANA’S creative arts industry is overflowing with exceptional talent, and dance is no exception.

However, apart from school competitions during Mashramani celebrations, there aren’t much opportunities for young dancers to showcase their skillful abilities.

Given the aforementioned, Jemal Ellis, a renowned dancer from the Euphoria Dance Crew, organised an all-styles dance competition dubbed, ‘All-Styles Battle Fest’, which was held last Sunday at the 704 Sky Lounge.

Fourteen local dancers took part in the competition for the title of All-Styles Battle Fest King and Queen, and the two winners each took away the grand prize of $50,000. Tony Starks and Akela Anderson emerged King and Queen, respectively.

In an interview with ‘The Buzz’, Ellis said that the event was created with the aim of keeping dance alive in Guyana.

“There are a lot of young dancers that are really gifted, but there isn’t much happening for them, to give them that push and motivation to help them grow in dance,” Ellis said.
“I also used the opportunity to promote unity among dancers. Even though it was a battle, they all respected and supported each other,” he added.

The young man said that another purpose of the battle was to have dancers compete and push each other to grow in dance.

“I believe that competition pushes one to work on their craft and become better over time, especially if their passion is to become great. This will also help in preparing dancers for the international starts,” he said.

There are a number of international competitions that happen every year. Competitions such as World of Dance, Hip Hop International, Dancehall International, Urban Dance Come, etc. One of the reasons why our dancers don’t get to competitions and be successful, is mostly because we are missing that whole competitiveness. We don’t know what it’s like to have steady competition,” Ellis told ‘The Buzz’.

“All Styles Battle Fest will now be an annual event thanks to the amazing sponsors, dancers and audience that played an important role in making Battle Fest a success,” he added.