Balmagie Primary School delivering 'Born Again' in the Creative Folk (9 years and under) Category.
-Ricardo Makyn photo
Tanya Batson-Savage
, Freelance Writer
THE FIRST two days of competition in the National Finals of the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission Dance competition ended with Lannaman's Preparatory (Kingston and St. Andrew) being dubbed the most outstanding junior school in the competition.
The announcement was made on Tuesday at the Little Theatre, Tom Redcam Avenue, St. Andrew after the final of the junior performances, and several of the intermediate pieces. Between Monday and Tuesday, nine trophies were presented to performers in classes one through three.
Performers in class one, six years and under, are separated from the other performers. Performers in class two (nine years and under) and class three (12 years and under) fall in the juniors category.
Day two featured 24 junior performances, mainly in the creative folk category, which featured 12 performances. Lannaman's Preparatory tied with Mona Preparatory (Kingston and St. Andrew) for the trophy for Best Creative Folk.
Interestingly, the Tivoli High Dance troupe (Kingston and St. Andrew), which have been dominating the festival for years walked away without any trophies. Two additional schools in the junior category were awarded trophies. The Queens Preparatory earned the trophy for Best Modern Contemporary with 'Convivial'.
POPULAR DANCE ENTRY
Hemmingway Preparatory earned a special prize for their popular dance entry 'Night Jammins'. The winner of the Best Popular Dance was presented on day one to Portmore Missionary Preparatory.
Three additional trophies were presented on day one of the competition. At the end, Jesse Repoll Kindergarten walked away with two trophies. Included in the light haul was the Paulette Cousins trophy for most outstanding kindergarten. Jesse
Repoll also earned the class one trophy for Best Creative Folk Dance. Gem Glow Kindergarten danced away with the Best Popular Dance trophy for class one.
Day two also featured performances in class four jazz, modern contemporary dance, creative folk dance and jazz. National Dance Co-ordinator of the JCDC, Mrs. Maria Smith noted that the competition had been separated into three days of performances because of the teachers' concern that the students, especially those from the rural areas, would get home too late. The final day of competition combines performances from the additional intermediates and the senior groups.
