By Jairo Rodrigues
Who has the moves like Jagger? Dominic Alleyne and he has $500,000 to prove it.
The only male finalist and second runner-up of the recently concluded GT&T Feel the Beat Competition, Dominic is a classical dancer. He aims on changing the stereotype by proving that he is just as good as all the dancers out there.
Dominic Careem Alleyne was born on 18 March, 1993 at the St George’s Hospital in London, England. He spent a very short time in his birth land before he moved to the land of many waters to stay with his grandmother in Kitty.
Dominic has two younger sisters but he rarely spends time with them and describes himself as a lonely child since he would always seclude himself “in a nice little spot” and seldom have interactions with visiting cousins or the few neighbourhood kids. Nevertheless, he said, “My childhood was pretty normal. Growing up with my grandmother and being the only child in the house, I would have gotten my way most time.”
Dominic had his first dancing experience back in 2008 when Guyana hosted the tenth Caribbean Festival of Arts. Although he was not a member of the National School of Dance he performed with them. Thereafter love struck, he participated at the National Dance Company Season 29 – an annual dance company show, which exhibits performances learnt within the year. He then joined up with some schoolmates and represented Tutorial High at the Mashramani Dance competitions. After he graduated he joined the Let’s Dance Studio.
Dominic never involved himself in any other extra curriculum activities, he said “Dance was an adventure and I took it upon myself to learn technique. I believe it to be my ultimate challenge and goal to become the best dancer.”
He heard of the Feel the Beat via advertisements and promotions and decided to go along with some of his other dance mates just to see what it was about. With the staunch support of his dance director Nadia Jagan, who he looks up to, Dominic set about proving to other national dancers that he, as a classical dancer, can break boundaries, excel and can do anything when it comes to technique. “I wanted to put people in their place,” he said. “A lot of people from Feel the Beat believe that being technical was probably not the best thing and I begged to differ. A lot of them thought that I wasn’t able to do what everyone else was doing, I was being classical and I wanted to prove to them that this classical dancer can do anything.”
Inspired by the passion he has in his heart for dancing, he also said a driving force behind him is his director who gives him the pure knowledge and understanding of dance.
When asked to describe his time in the competition, he said, “At first it was pretty exciting knowing you’re in something that’s going to benefit you in the end. Most times things do not work out the way you want it to but I stayed and fought the fight and I’m happy I made it to the end… overall a very good experience for me personally.”
There would be any competition if it wasn’t for the three judges. When asked to comment on judging experiences, Dominic noted, “Clive is a pretty good person but I don’t agree with him most of the time but that’s just being human…he is hard most of the times but I guess it was for the good. Ms Vivienne is frank and she understands the dancers well. Jovan, at first I questioned her judging abilities but overall she was pretty good.”
At the result of the competition, after Dominic was announced as the first runner-up for the title, The Scene had asked him what he thought of the position and Nadata’s winnings. “I believe that everyone wanted to win that million dollars and I just didn’t cut it… but I’m cool with that position. I’m really happy for Nadata. I was abit disappointed with myself when they said I was second but then it came to me that it was ok to be second… and I’m pleased happy with that” he said.
Dominic plans on continuing dancing. He wishes to go and study abroad and intends to use his $500,000 winnings towards pursuing that dream of investing in the performing arts, but only after he has given some to charity.
What Feel the Beat has encouraged Dominic to do, is to encourage Guyanese to appreciate dancing and to encourage fellow dancers. “People out there think that there is no future for dancing, you can’t just say you’re a dancer and you don’t put work into it – you can’t settle for less, you have to push for more and that’s the mentality we as a people need to take,” he said. “When we are trying to develop something we need to work together and not back bite each other, it’s a known fact that dancers are more self-centered than models. We can’t do it alone, we all need to appreciate the arts and be good citizens.”
He is currently a teacher and office assistant at the Let’s Dance Studio. “It’s not as easy as people think. Teaching dancing can be very challenging but I love doing it. I love to teach classical ballet and Caribbean dance to children,” he noted.
In his spare time he enjoys the night life and club scene from time to time but would rather hang with friends and have good conversations or just relax, because he’s not all that big into excitement but prefers a simple lime on the seawalls.
“Thank you to all my fans, friends and family… your support was what I wanted to take me throughout the competition,” Dominic said.
