By Chaos, Freelance Writer
Ashe dancer Jihan mesmerises as she danced last Saturday night at Redbones the Blues Cafe, Braemar Avenue, New Kingston during 'Jazz With A Twist'. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer
REDBONES THE Blues Cafe, 21 Braemar Avenue, New Kingston, continued in its vein of offering entertainment with a difference last Saturday night.
This time around, the event was called 'Jazz With A Twist'. It was a double launch for two companies which masqueraded as entertainment, but the disguise was quite effective. The companies were the Nirvana Day Spa and the lingerie etc.-themed My Secret Closet, both of which are located at 39 Lady Musgrave Road, Kingston 5.
Held on the lawn of the venue, there were few people dotting the white chairs which were spread orderly across the lawn under a grey night sky with a few large clouds which seemed grim in their determination not to budge from where they were.
The clouds' disposition was at odds with that of those who were present, since a relaxed atmosphere seemed to be the order of the night. After a number of poets had delivered their lines, Mischa Griffith and Montana Solomon were called to the stage by the MC, Michael Anthony Cuffe.
Griffith, a first-year student at the Edna Manley School for the Performing Arts, was stunningly sultry and demonstrated wonderful voice control as she delivered jazz versions of songs such as Bob Marley and The Wailers' Turn Your Lights Down Low and Fly Me To The Moon. Solomon, however, was less technically proficient and gifted, demonstrating a lack of breath control for example, on songs such as Love Inna De City. He did not, however, lack for enthusiasm. The singers were backed by Cooper on the keyboard; final-year student at Edna Manley, Davol Fletcher, on bass and Randevon Fletcher, who is a graduate of the institution, on drums.
The first of two exquisite dances by Ashe performer Jihan followed. Starting off on a massage table, she displayed grace, agility, power and style as she took the dance into the aisle which divided the venue. Dressed in a sheer, short pink negligee courtesy of My Secret Closet over a leotard, she was all smooth lines and poetry in motion as she evoked gasps of wonder from the small crowd. An intermission followed, and after another beautiful piece by Jihan, this time dressed in black, it was time for the introduction by Cuffe of Nirvana's proprietor, Gloria Chevannes Aquart, who was introduced rousingly to the stage by Cooper on the keyboard.
After making a gaffe which few seemed to notice by stating that Nirvana was the Vikings' concept of heaven (it is actually a Buddhist belief) she introduced the concept of Nirvana before there was a 'therapeutic massage' demonstration, including a topless 'model' (flat on her stomach on the massage table) courtesy of masseuse Verona.
Apparently the demonstration was effective, since, despite vocal commentary from Aquart at the urging of Cuffe, the model said she was feeling 'sleepy' at its end this despite being naked to all intents and purposes in front of a group of strangers.
Natalie Bowen, who conceptualised and owns My Secret Closet, was up next. After introducing the concept of the venture with a voice any radio announcer would kill to have without a second thought, she did the voice-over as four models put on an mini-fashion show wearing a number of sexy pieces designed by Victoria's Secret and My Secret Closet. The pieces displayed and the models were an immediate hit with the male and female sections of the audience, perhaps for different reasons as they became skimpier and skimpier, but no less classy, each time the models came out.
The night came to a close with what Cuffe called an 'Open microphone' segment which never really got off the ground - not that anyone cared as they browsed the My Secret Closet booth or found out more about Nirvana before making their ways home.
