Twigs, cricket, dumping and more

Dance and music made for the majority of the night’s performances at the National Independence Festival of Creative Arts Performing Arts (NIFCA) semi-finals at the Alexandra School on Saturday night.

However, it was the multiple NIFCA gold award winning Coleridge & Parry School Choir and several of the school’s students who gave most of the performances of the night. The school choir sang Flying Free, Secret Place Medley and You Will Be Found. Meanwhile, the five-member Coleridge & Parry Small Vocal Ensemble made up of students who have all expressed an interest in pursuing a career in singing and music sang Writings on the Wall. It was well received.

Coleridge and Parry students who gave solo performances included Elijah Ifill who sang Limp, while Yasmin Daniel Hobbs sang Skyfall and Turning Page.

Fellow schoolmate Israelle Campbell sang I Wanna Go while 11-year-old Roneisha Alleyne who is the lead in the school choir and has been singing from the age of six, sang Never Enough and The Climb.

Kiah Shurland who has been singing from age three performed two songs. Shurland who loves calypso and live bands was also a contestant in the Junior Calypso Monarch Competition and sang a calypso piece entitled No Party and the gospel song You Say.

The theme The Tradition of Excellence Continues was evident through the night’s performances which included the 30-member Ignatius Byer Primary School Junior Choir which sang Our Feelings and an original piece entitled Let Me Be A Child.

The Roland Edwards Primary School gave two theatrical pieces, one entitled My Bajan Mother and the other, written by Principal George Francis, was called Land Reclamation. It spoke to how indiscriminate dumping was negatively impacting on the environment, the ozone layer and adding to pollution. It also touched on how the society was dumping morals, the church and God leading to social decay and the need to reclaim families and the youth.

First time entrants to NIFCA, the Barbados Youth Advance Corps, did a theatrical piece entitled As A Twig where they encouraged the adults to work with young people at the tender stage so they can grow straight from the stage of a twig rather than waiting until the tree was too old to bend.

Also doing theatre was the group Northern Synergy who performed You Can Do It, where they compared a healthy life to the game of cricket. The trio encouraged the audience to consume a healthy diet, find organic selections, and get active and to exercise to add length to their life innings.

Performing traditional dance pieces were the group Ayo Creative Ventures whose piece was called Sister Sister and Dance Strides Barbados with Affinity.

The Haynesville Youth Club with the usual drum accompaniment performed the rhythmic Ase Oshun while the Covenant Dance School did a dance piece entitled Hills and Valleys choreographed by Valerie King.

The Anomaly Dance Academy performed a non-traditional dance called School Days where the participants all clearly had fun in the energetic piece which showed why school days are considered the best days. (LK)