AIR & PAASA 2012 Year In Review

Quest Dancers at TAF - Dance Picnic

We have come to the end of 2012 and thank you all for your support throughout the year! What a year 2012 has been! I was particularly happy to be a part of this year's election, serving the public as a Poll Clerk. Civic duty aside, AIR & PAASA was my main agenda! My intention to further extend our program to areas that would support our interests and performing arts activities was achieved on many levels and as such, I must thank all persons involved; students, artists, teachers, principals, parents, sponsors and friends. Denise Reynolds joined me in January and prove to be of great asset to the company.

At the beginning of the year we were hopeful about our rural arts program, unfortunately the lack of funding and economic constraints prevented us from pursuing this vision for 2012. Nonetheless much was achieved with our rural groups. Happy Hearts Prep and Kindergarten for the first time participated in the JCDC (Jamaica Cultural Development Commission) Dance Festival Competition; so did Mt. James who won a bronze medal. Fantastic efforts from this group and I congratulate them on their achievement. 

Denise and I enjoyed our tenure at Stony Hill Learning Centre for the month of March. We then focused on the urban schools; Jamaica House and Rosedale Basic Schools. Both schools through our training program, also entered the JCDC Dance Festival. Jamaica House Basic School made us proud by winning two medals; Gold for their folk and Silver for their popular dance items. This ended our summer term on a high note, as they were able to Dance at the National Dance Finals. Another first for one of our partner schools.

Efforts continue to be made to improve the program. In March we started the YMCA classes, this was not well attended but the venue was ideal for an event and ECDT (Early Childhood Dance Theatre) Festival resulted in May. This was very successful for a first time event of this kind. Some 280 children and youths from as young as 3 years old participated in the event and we were able to cover the operational expenses.

Unable to run our Summer Camp this year; we instead use the time to rejuvenate and focus on expanding and improving our consultation to schools. In addition to adjudicating for a number of JCDC dance events; Denise and I were able to enjoy an out of town venture Port Maria as a kind of retreat and treat. Adjudicating for St. Mary is always great pleasure, the students put out their all in anticipation of our visit. I must also thank JCDC Portland, St. Thomas, Montego Bay, Falmoth and Mandeville for inviting me to the dance adjudication process this year, kept me extra busy. ECDT also benefited from this and so did the teachers and students who participated.

September we welcomed on board two new partners to our program, Quest Prep and Sun-Rays Educational Centre. These were really good marriages. Quest students expressed a strong desire for dance and percussion! They too made us proud, not only were the students learning our materials quickly but were fortunate to present themselves on Smile Jamaica TVJ for the Christmas. Firm Fitness Club (Saturday Dance program) and Sun-Rays like Rosedale, started the program late in October and with the visit of hurricane Sandy, time lost cannot be gained, as a result, students did not have enough time to master their work. Despite this they were able to perform at Sun-Rays Educational Centre's Christmas concert and the Theatre Arts Fair - A Christmas Dance Picnic held at the Royal Botanical (Hope) Gardens. This was not well attended, but the students, parents and friends all enjoyed the experience.

We introduced football to our list of activities and this seem to be popular with students and parents at Rosedale Basic School. We hope to continue this part of our program in the coming year.

Challenges are in everything you do!!! This year that was presented in many ways. We are certainly hampered by lack of funding, as such, programs were cut prematurely and administrative duties were lacking. When we need to send letters we often have to depend on the schools to print and this can be at times inconvenient. Other sensitive documents are done at a print shop but that is just a few examples of our challenges. Accounting is not my strong point, so I do see me spending time at the Tax Office this year trying to work out how to see AIR & PAASA improve on management and governance in all areas for 2013. 

Once again, thank you for your support during 2012! We are open to your suggestions and input so do drop us a line.

Here's wishing you the very best for 2013 and we hope you will continue to support our programs this year and beyond.

Jamaica House Basic School - Our Pilot School

AIR & PAASA - 2012 GROUPS
Groups that worked with us during 2012

• Jamaica House Basic School  (68) 
• Rosdale Basic School (43)
• Happy Hearts Prep & Kinder  (22)
• Stony Hill Prep & Learning Centre  (45)
• Glenmuir Prep  (25)
• Providence Prep  (10)
• Mt. James All Age School  (12)
• YMCA  (5)
• Sun-Rays Educational Centre (11)
• Quest Prep (47)
• Firm Fitness (Saturdays 9:30 - 11) (7)

* 295 students worked with one or more of our team members during 2012.

TAF - A Christmas Dance Picnic 

AIR & PAASA - 2012 ARTISTS

14 Artists who have worked with us during 2012

• Denise Reynolds
• Rudolph McFarlane
• Webster McDonald
• Christina Gonzales
• Dallmane Wilson
• Dale Harrison
• Yvette Gayle
• Anthony Carson
• Floyd Carson
• Tamika Jackson
• Nicola Walton-Robertson
• Kerry Smith
• Debbie Smith
• Kofi Walker

Sun-Rays Educational Centre

Contact: Email: airpaasa@yahoo.com / Mob: 876-405-2800

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Firm Fitness Club Dance Classes resume January 5, 2013! 9:30 - 11:00 AM

Give us a call for details.

Give thanks and see you all in 2013!