Dance contest seeks entries
As festivities for the month continue, the September Celebrations Committee is sponsoring a competition featuring local dances at the City Centre. Celebrations coordinator Glenn Tillett says that there’s some good fortune awaiting the winners.
Glenn Tillett, Coordinator September Celebrations Committee
“We have a dance contest Friday night. The first prize is for couples and group categories, $1,000 each. And we notice we are not getting contestants. We are wondering if perhaps Belizeans are a little shy about getting into the contest. It’s a simple contest. The groups will go out and they get one shot to display what they can do best. The couples will dance Garifuna music, Creole music, Brukdown and Latin. Do the steps to the Garifuna dances, Paranda, Chumba and Punta. Do the five mandatory steps for Brukdown, which would be wheel and turn, shuffle, bram, shine me shilling, and the steps for the Latin dances, Salsa, Merengue, and Bolero. And they have a chance to do an elective. We think it’s a fairly straightforward contest and right it’s wide open and we’d like to encourage Belizeans who know how to dance and take pride in their prowess to enter cause it’s going to be fun.”
The contest starts at 7:30 Friday night. Prices are $10 for reserve and $5 for general admission.
In related September news, the Independence Day jump up that is usually held on Albert and Regent streets is no more. The Celebrations Committee is moving the festivities to the Newtown Barracks in hope of turning it into a safer, more family friendly event.
Glenn Tillett
“The decision came from after we looked at what was going on the 21st downtown. We had a lot of complaints following last year about congestion, about security and just the general way the area looked. We examined several different spots. We looked at Fort Point; we looked at Saint Martins de Porres, Yarborough field and Lopez Mateo’s Park. We looked at the Newtown Barracks area, and after some measurements we thought that would be the better area to have the street fest. We have more space, they’re less concerns about security because the area can be blocked off in such a way that there aren’t a lot of exits and a lot of entrances and we’re gonna put off a little extra in terms of security.”
Tillett says that the 21st will be better than it has been in previous years because all the music, food and drink stalls will be easily accessible. The celebrations committee plans to utilize all the area from Calle al Mar to the Fisheries Department.
