A hip-hop duet performed by dancers Avasa Jagan and Gabriel Thijs captured the attention of the audience and kept them at the edge of their seats when the Let’s Dance, Dance Studio held its fourteenth annual dance recital at the National Cultural Centre (NCC) last Saturday.
Exceptional choreography by This and the manner in which it was smoothly and flawlessly delivered was definitely a crowd favourite that attracted much talk even after the show.
Held under the theme “May Blossoms,” a variety of dances comprising ballet, Indian classical Kathak, contemporary jazz, funk, contemporary gospel, contemporary African and dancehall were among the performances that took to the stage.
A Tchaikovsky piece, choreographed by Avasa Jagan was an intermediate ballet solo performed by Jason John which opened the show. As John gracefully manoeuvred on stage, it seemed his body was boneless, leaving many with dropped jaws as he curved and formed himself into many different intricate positions through his dance steps.
An Indian folk dance and Beenie Man’s “Dancehall” were also among the night’s better performances.
In spite of these few stunning performances however, the overall show lacked the hype that many were expecting as they constantly compared it to previous years. The scantly populated theatre as some lamented, spoke volumes of the fading phase of last Saturday’s show when compared to previously held ones.
The little ballerinas who performed during the first segment of the show were everything but well coordinated. Their movements were for the most part delayed from the other, but they were nevertheless a delight to watch as they added their unique flavour to the show. Eager to perform, the expressions on their faces happy, they graced the stage with their presence confidently strutting their stuff displaying their innocent smiling faces and a wealth of energy. But it was not only the tiny ballerinas, as they were performances by the adult dancers that also lacked coordination and the ability to arrest the attention of the highly expectant audience. The jazz piece performed by the adults was one such performance that saw each dancer doing his/her own thing, perhaps this was meant to be so, but it made the performance seem disjointed.
Jazz seemed not to have been highly favoured by most of the audience as opposed to that of the more Caribbean type dances such as the soca and dancehall.
Let’s Dance performers and dancers from the Tutorial High School who performed a soca piece, saved the night to some extent as they gyrated to the music’s tempo adding spice to the programme which saw several persons moving to the rhythm in their seats.
Nadia Jagan, Founder and Director of the dance studio said that team work has enabled Let’s Dance to reach a whole new level of performing arts in Guyana.
The night’s proceedings ended with a variety dance choreographed by Nadia Jagan and performed by all the dancers.
