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| ECDT Festival May 27, 2012 A Captivated Audience |
September
- December 2011
PAASA
(performing arts after school activities) started at Jamaica House
and Rosedale Basic Schools in September, by October Happy Hearts Prep
and Kindergarten was on board. Altogether we were working with over
80 students through our PAASA grograms. With the additional schools,
came the need for dance teachers, this led to the engagement of
Maxine Buntam, Verman Thomas and Tamika Coke (mentorship program)
this formed our team for term one. It was clear that because there
was no audition process, my selection of the team based on
recommendations of others did not work well and they (the dance
teachers) could not be relied upon to continue the program for
the rest of the year. Financially it was not viable to support two
teachers and introduce a mentorship program at the same time.
Nonetheless we managed till the end of the term.
Happy
Hearts Prep staged their first Christmas Dance Theatre show, It was
the most ill-organized event and I left very disgruntled, more so
that I was associated with it (the shoddy show) but it was a sign of
what was to come. Rosedale and Jamaica House also had their Christmas
program and our dancers were the highlights of the event. Happy
Hearts students were guest performers at the Jamaica House Basic
School Christmas show, initiating the first of a number of integrated
experiences and exposure that students in rural and urban areas would
later come to enjoy through our programs.
During
this period Mt. James students dance program came to a cessation. By
the end of the term, I felt as though I was working solo, none of the
three dancers on the team made themselves available for any of the
events staged at the end of the term in all stakeholders schools. I
became acutely aware that they did not share the same passion and
commitment to the program. The decision was then made to hold an
audition in January and replace the team with one reliable worker and
a possible substitute teacher.
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| ECDT Festival Team |
Auditions
held and Denise Reynolds, Graduate of Edna Manley School of Dance
came on board. We also saw an increase in our project partnerships,
Stony Hill Prep & Learning Centre joined us for one month and
Mount James All Age School came back on board. We were now able to
engage a third teacher Rudolph (Junior) McFarlane as the students now
needed to be prepared for JCDC (Jamaica Cultural Development
Commission) 2012 competitions.
A
number of workshops conducted by Kofi Walker were accomplished during
this period with Glenmuir Preparatory School - Clarendon, Ken Wright
Primary – Portland, Providence Prep - St. Thomas and Sam Sharpe
Teacher's College – St. James. Rudolph McFarlane assisted with the
workshop in Clarendon and also teaches the students at the Mt. James
All Age School, west rural St. Andrew.
In
March AIR & PAASA started classes at the YMCA in Kingston, only 5
students enrolled at the centre throughout the period, however, that
did not stop our determination to continue our community dance
program. Walker repeated his visit to Ken Wright Primary in
Portland. Rosedale Basic school entered JCDC Dance Auditions for the
first time and achieved a merit. Happy Hearts Prep and Kindergarten
was not as lucky and did not make it beyond the first eliminations,
their exit from JCDC also saw the termination of dance in this School
and Stony Hill Prep. Both schools' cited sustainability as the
reason for terminating the dance program. It may have been the case
for the later but not the forma.
In
April, AIR & PAASA team members Denise Reynold, Junior McFarlane
and Kofi Walker did a presentation at the Caenwood Teachers College,
for the Early Childhood Commission Teacher Training Workshop. Our
students capitalized on this performance opportunity during the
vacation. Students from Rosedale Basic, Mt. James All Age and Donald
Quarrie Secondary Schools came together for the first time and within
a few hours proudly represented themselves and their schools. Their
performance sparked heated debates and desires from teachers, all of
whom thoroughly enjoyed the presentation.
May
– June 2012
Walker
during this period performed his duties as an Adjudicator to JCDC
Dance competitions for a number of parishes St. Thomas, Manchester,
St. Elizabeth, St. James, St. Catherine, St. Mary and Falmoth
Trelawny. This was capitalized on and a number of groups were invited
to participate in what is now our first ECDT (Early Childhood Dance
Theatre) Festival, staged on May 27th, at the YMCA. Over
270 performers participated in a day of dance workshops and sharing.
Presenters were:
- Toddlers: Denise Reynolds, Tristan Rodney, Tameika Jackson and Kamarae Williams.
- Children: Kerry Smith, Debbie Smith, Christina Gonzalez and Yvette Gale.
- Teens: Floyd Carson and Rudolph (Junior) McFarlane
- Teachers: Anthony Carson, Nicola Walton-Robertson and Kofi Walker
Thanks
to the generosity of friends, parents, teachers, the YMCA staff, the
students and AIR & PAASA Team... this event was just one of the
best we have executed. Considering we had no capital to budget this
event, which would cost over $225,000.00; we manage to pull the event
together with $60,000.00 That’s just amazing a feat if you ask me.
The turn out was superb, we had standing audiences and captivated
ones from start to finish, Parents danced with their children and the
crowd rose to their feet as Silver Bird Steel Band Orchestra
played and dance simultaneously
to their own drums. See list of participating schools here.
We
have come to the end of the term, Jamaica House Basic School was the
top performers of all our schools entered in JCDC National Dance
events this year and were featured in JCDC evening of excellence and
also made it to the National Dance Finals. They are our top
performers this year taking gold and silver for both their dances in
the JCDC 2012 Dance Competitions.
Sandals
Resort International invited Walker to work with the Entertainment
Managers looking at dance from the 1950s to now. 10 Entertainment
Managers participated in the event and all gave pleasing feedback.
Hakeem Barrett was Walker's assistant for this activity. This was a
really nice way of closing out the season.
This
year we did not have a summer camp as previously planned... we are
very sorry for this; circumstances beyond our control. However, you
will hear more news leading up to September.
We
would like to thank all the principals from the schools who have
given us this opportunity to develop dance in their schools. In
particularly those in the rural communities. Dance and the
experiences that comes with it, has always been more than just
therapy for not being so academic or not too sportive and this is in
reference to 'community dance.' With the Jenny Jenny excitement
Dancing Dynamite has given dance a new look in Jamaica... more young
men sees this as an opportunity to become employed or to be engaged
positively in the community. Little children embraces dance with much
openness and honesty; whether engaging themselves with each other,
testing their limitations and or seeking approval, early childhood
dance is just a joy to experience. To all the groups who made it to
ECDT this year, you are pioneers of a very good idea. Hopefully, we
get funding to make it even bigger next year. Thanks very much for
your participation and exuberance on stage!
Schools
and individuals who wish to participate in our programs can contact
Kofi on 405-2800 or email airpaasa@yahoo.com
or add us on Facebook.
Visit our photo gallery here
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