AIR-PAASA Faced The Music And Danced

Dance is a delicate balance between perfection and beauty…! After all the political rhetoric of recession, the economic bitter medicines and tightening of the purse strings. AIR-PAASA Foundation rolled with the punches and came out of 2013 rather victorious. Despite our efforts to increase our clients and student population and after several attempts; potential clients did not follow through with establishing the PAASA program in their schools. Our current schools also saw a decline in student participation and the Saturday program at Firm Fitness Club did not yield enough students to continue it in the September term. While not everything we wanted to do this year was achieved. Our main goals and activities were completed with an increase in participation and support; much better than in previous years. With that we were able to stage our “Early Childhood Dance Theatre Arts Festival – Happy Feet, Healthy Beat” at the Edna Manley College for the Visual and Performing Arts. We had in excess of 165 participants in our workshops and performances. The feedback from all participants’ including audience was overwhelmingly positive. Thanks Dr. Nicholeen Degrass-Johnson for making it possible. Workshop Hosts for ECDTA 2013 Festival were: • Denise Reynolds – Early Childhood Dance Workshop • Shelly-Ann Rowe – Children Dance Workshop • Yvette Gayle – Children Dance Workshop • Rudolph McFarlane – Teen Dance Workshop • Makeda Solomon – Theatre Arts Therapy • Anthony Carson – Choreographic Workshop for Teachers Participating groups included 1. Retreat Primary School – St. Mary 2. JJAOPA Dance Group – St. Thomas 3. Faith Builders Early Childhood School – St. Ann 4. Browns Hall Primary School – St. Catherine 5. Jonathan Grant High School – St. Catherine 6. Fruitful Vale Primary School – Portland 7. Kenwright Primary School – Portland 8. St. Andrew Technical High School – Kingston 9. Jamaica House Basic School – Kingston 10. Sun-Rays Educational Centre – Kingston 11. The Academy – Kingston 12. Firm Fitness Club / Devon House – Kingston After ECDTA Festival, we concentrated on ending the school year with little fanfare. Jamaica House Basic achieved 1 gold medal from JCDC (Jamaica Cultural Development Commission) this year, thanks to our CDA (Community Dance Artist) Denise Reynolds. 12 students attended our summer dance program. This low turnout in numbers did not deter me from running the camp as planned. As a result we were featured in Caroline Lewis’ Petchary’s Blog. We were very pleased and happy for that. At the start of the new school year, we were prepared to have a busy term; again with prospects of taking on new schools and possibly 2 team members, to assist with what I had anticipated to be an extremely demanding term. Nina McCalla answered our request to have a new Community Dance Artist. I thought it would be a good idea to take on a male CDA as well, but those efforts were futile. In the end it was more trouble and more costly than it was worth. Nina proofed to be quite an asset to the team and by the time we staged the Dance Picnic, I was pleased with our choice. Again after several meetings and discussions had with a number of new potential schools, only 1 new school join the AIR-PAASA family, welcome Hopie’s Pre-School. They turned out to be quite rewarding in the end. Within 10 weeks (10 hours) they learned their dance routine and were able to perform their dance twice in December. The Academy also were able to continue the dance program through the help of a sponsor and were also gleefully maximising the opportunities to train and perform. Sun-Rays Educational Centre Christmas Concert was overwhelmed with 82 dancers at their event this year. We had students from Jamaica House Basic School, Hopie’s Pre-school, Quest Preparatory School and The Academy School (for Special Education Students). The concert was hosted by Diahann Campbell Chairman of Jamaica’s only Synchronised Swim Club – Synchro Stars. She later gave me some very valuable insights on how to move forward with the works and governance of AIR-PAASA. The dance picnic was just one big amazing challenge and without a doubt I had to “face the music and dance…” though I had initially started organizing the event from September, the first obstacle was the venue. Last year we paid $12,500.00 to Hope Gardens to host our Dance Picnic; but this year after depositing $15,000.00 to them, I was given a contract for $96,000.00 with a number of liabilities that could see me paying Hope Gardens, additional fees exceeding that! I quickly found an alternative which in the end was perfect. The Castleton Gardens had the right ambience and atmosphere for a Dance Picnic and the area chosen for performance had an umbrella of bamboo trees covering it, with cascading clear Wag Water River along the embankment of the park as far as the eyes can see. It was luscious! In less than 24 hours to the Dance Picnic, I received messages on my phone saying both bus driver and caterer of the event has cancelled. From 7:30 PM to well after midnight, I was doing damage control to critical elements of this event. It was not sweet music in my ears on Friday 13, December 2013. That anxiety continued into the morning, the substitute bus was practically full when it left Quest Preparatory School on Mannings Hill Road. At Half-Way-Tree it could not hold the amount of persons who showed up from Kinston, St. Catherine and St. Thomas. We were in luck, a parent arrived in a bus which I quickly took advantage of. Though the food was 1.5 hours late; Ricardo Esson of Paradise Catering Services did a super amazing job to produce my exact menu for 120 persons. The sound system took longer to set up than I would have liked, but again we have worked with Fatalic Sound System before and appreciate that the challenges were no fault of theirs and allowed the process to take care of itself. By the end of the day we had parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends either dancing, singing or beating a pan or bucket with sweet traditional melodies. One of the most precious moments is having this 15 year old girl with an awesome voice, from the St. Catherine 4H club sing 2 beautiful renditions for us… it felt like a modern version of medieval theatre. Performing in and among nature have always appealed to me; so it was not surprising to see the old ladies and young children got up and join me with the electric slide… I was pleased that we have managed to pull this event together with everyone leaving feeling refreshed and happy. Dance Picnic Team • Denise Reynolds • Nina McCalla • Travis Richards • Rudolph McFarlane • Jermaine Thomas • Kofi Walker • Ricardo Esson To Our Sponsors This year we have been truly blessed… our sponsorships increased! Without your generous help we could not have achieved our mandates. I cannot say how grateful I am that you have helped to sustain not only a beautiful program which is beginning to get some attention, but you helped us put smiles on many children’s faces throughout the year. Your contributions ensure that we continue to provide this type of discipline to children at a very early age… it also help motivate us to see to it that we achieve what we set out to achieve, regardless of the challenges, you facilitated AIR-PAASA so that throughout 2013 we could Face The Music and We Danced!!!! We whole heartedly thank you. On behalf of my team, students, and their family, we wish you the very best for the New Year. • L.D. LeMay • J.R. Dyer • Vicki Parker • Dionne Christian • Ingrid Anderson • George Meikle – Author of: “In Praise of Jamaica” • Dr. Andrea M. Nelson-Royes - Author of: Transforming Early Learners into Superb Readers • INC Limited • News Talk - Fresh Start FM96 • Emma Lewis – Petchary’s Blog