BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE Children’s Dance Theatre (CDT) held a successful dance recital on Sunday (Apr. 10) at the Sir Cecil Jacobs Auditorium to celebrate their 21st anniversary.
Just Dance began promptly at 5:00 p.m. and featured over 100 dancers including children from three groups - Sparks, Starlights and Rockets – dressed in fabulous costumes performing well choreographed routines from various dance genres.
After the singing of the National Anthem, Rockets, the senior group, gave a stunning performance to Lady Gaga’s ‘Just Dance’ moments after an entertaining and dramatic presentation was done by Khalifa Pencheon, who encouraged everyone to “just dance”.
The dances complemented the theme well as the youngest group, Sparks, let everyone know they ‘Can’t Stop The Beat’ while Starlights said they ‘Gotta Dance’.
There were also guest appearances by The Fireflies Dance School, CFBC Dance Ensemble, reigning National Carnival Queen Iantavian Queeley, Range and CDT Alumni.
The recital also featured video tributes from past CDT Alumni and special congratulatory messages.
One of the highlights came when former National Carnival Queen and CDT Alumnus Nicole Gumbs led other Alumni in a special dance feature.
During a presentation titled ‘Always Dancing’ that was done by Starlights and Rockets, CDT’s Director Lelia Julie Martin sent a message to all those persons who said, “I can’t dance.” She told the audience they are indeed dancers because they have been dancing everyday of their lives.
Explaining what she meant, Martin said a person dances whenever he/she receives good news, they dance while in the shower, and when they need to ‘go’ to the bathroom really bad they also dance.
CDT has solidified the art of dancing as one of the premiere art forms in the Federation during their 21-year existence.
They have inspired the formulation of other groups while former students strive to become more advanced in the art form.
Martin has been contributing to the development of the arts in St Kitts and Nevis for many years, and not only did she form CDT, but she was also a founding member of the Vivace Dance Company. She also provides invaluable leadership to the Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College Dancers through her choreography and tutelage.
“All of the dances were truly spectacular. I can’t praise the dancers enough for their behaviour backstage and how brilliantly they performed onstage. All the choreographers worked very hard, the production team did very well and our guests performed splendidly,” Martin said.
Martin extended gratitude to the children’s parents for their patience during the long hours of rehearsals and also for coming out in their numbers to support them.
“To the CDT fans who continue to support us over the years, we are indeed grateful for the kind words of encouragement and praise and we endeavour to continue to showcase dance as often as possible, for our country needs these types of events,” she said.
Heidi Slack and Sonji Isaac are the tutors for Rockets, Martin and Shanda Labega for Starlights, while Xia Claxton, Krystal Glasford and Martin are all tutors for Sparks.
In terms of an encore presentation, Martin said she was unsure if there were to be another staging of the event. She also declared that she was aware that many persons were turned away at the entrance because the auditorium was filled to capacity, as tickets were sold out four days in advance.
