Union Island group receives KCCU sponsorship for National Dance Festival

THE GROUP, Union Island Cultural Conquerors, received support for new uniforms and drums at the launch of the 15th National Dance Festival on July 31, 2024.

The Dance Festival is sponsored by the Kingstown Cooperative Credit Union (KCCU) whose marketing officer Ruth Stowe explained how the assistance was arrived at.

She told those attending last week’s launch that after receiving approval from her General Manger, and in response to Dorris Hooper and Dana Prime’s story about the impact of hurricane Beryl on their participation in the festival the decision was taken to provide support.

“When Hurricane Beryl hit St. Vincent and the Grenadines and we returned to our houses to find our uniforms hanging in the tree soaking wet, we had a total of 10 uniforms for our group. This is the only uniform that survived Beryl,” Prime said, pointing to the uniform she was wearing.

Prime related that their drums were destroyed, leading the team to initially doubt their participation. However, persuaded by Cultural Officer, Maxine Browne, the duo committed to attending the festival.

“Even if we are burnt out, tired, and trying to recover, we know that dance is our happy place, and when we hear that drumbeat, there’s no better feeling than hearing our drums.”

At the ceremony, several dancers shared their stories about the importance of dance in their lives. One of them was Joel Bute, who stood against gender stereotypes in dance. His encouragement was, “Just follow me.You don’t have to be feminine or put on a feminine stature to dance.You could make it masculine, and it comes out very good, even sometimes better than the young ladies. So just be bold. There’s nothing to fear about it. I know there’s a stigma saying that you might be gay or so on, but that’s not the case.You can be expressive”.

Bute of the Poetic Heart Dancers group shared that dancing has tailored him into being a more expressive person. He described the journey that began in his primary school years as “life-changing.”

Dance Development Officer in the Ministry of Culture, Claydonna Peters outlined that the ‘Dance-piration’ Festival will be held on weekends in September and October.

The preliminary rounds are set for September 14, 21, and 28, leading into the finals on October 12, featuring a special performance by the St Lucian group ‘Cash Dance Group.’

Peters outlined that the festival will have five dance categories: traditional, creative, modern, social, and hip-hop. Trios will perform in the modern category; and duos in the social, modern, and hip-hop categories; while solos will have the chance to compete in the modern and hip-hop categories. There will be participation from an array of primary and secondary schools, as well as junior and senior community dance groups.

Groups in the primary schools, and junior community groups will be awarded gold for scoring between 30 and 40 points; silver for 19 to 29 points; and bronze for 10 to 18 points. Secondary school groups that score between 45 and 60 points will receive gold; 30 to 44 points will receive silver; and 15 to 29 points will receive bronze. Additionally, ile senior community groups that score between 85 and 100 points will receive gold; between 75 and 84 points will receive silver; and 65 to 74 to points will be awarded bronze.

The launch included performances from seasoned dance groups that will take part in this year’s event. Last year, 13 groups participated in the festival. Peters told SEARCHLIGHT that she was unable to provide a precise number of schools participating this year; however, she said more groups than participated last year have shown an interest in being part of the festival.