By Tanya Batson, Staff Reporter 
Prodigal Son
IT IS Christmas, and for many, that means that craft and grand markets are a must. Following this trend, the Praise Academy of dancers presented its 'Grand Market and Mini-Concert' on Saturday.
In truth, the market was not so grand since there were only approximately 12 stalls and the concert was not so 'mini' it lasted for two hours. Despite the size of the market, however, there was some variety in what was offered, as products ranged from music to bathroom supplies.
However, most persons seemed to be more interested in the evening's entertainment than purchasing goods. The concert was broken into two segments, the first beginning at 6 p.m. The night was kicked off by a rousing performance by Prodigal, Goddy Goddy and Mr. Gallimore, who performed together. As Prodigal went into Woe, three young women, who seemed to be the most moved by the rhythms, began to 'Log On'.
The depth of their enjoyment, however, was highlighted when the sound system began to give trouble during I Wish. It went out all together and the 'gospeljay' stopped singing. However, the three young women, who were joined by several of their friends, refused to have their vibe broken and thus continued to chant without any accompaniment from the 'gospel-jay' who seemed unable to keep up with them. They had almost finished the tune when a man asked, "So oonnu naah stop chat?", which made them break out in laughter and cease the chanting.
Finally, the sound returned and the three gospeljays continued with their performance. Goddy Goddy went into Warfare, encouraging the crowd to say "I ain't fraid a no ghost." However, as he was ready to really begin the song, his cell phone went off. Without missing a beat, he asked Gallimore to answer it.
While his performance was good, the spotlight was soon stolen from him as several tots awaiting their turn on the stage started dancing and attracted all of the audience's attention.
One thing that was clearly evident from the night's performances was that gospel music has crossed all musical borders. Almost all musical genres were represented. One of the more outstanding pieces of the night was I've Got Everything performed by Davidic I and II. The dance started out with a dramatic presentation, which depicted Santa flocked by two 'sketels'. Unfortunately, this detracted from the dance in part because the sound deserted them once again and it completely lost its relevance. Nonetheless, the actual dance was one of the night's most imaginative pieces.
The tiny ones ruled the night, however. Two of their performances which really stood out were Happy Birthday, Jesus and Jesus A Number One, both of which received encore calls.
Happy Birthday, Jesus featured several little girls dressed in party dresses and sporting party hats, who all presented presents to Mary and the baby Jesus.
Jesus A Number One was a very energetic piece, to which the audience responded very well. In response to the dance a woman noted to her companion, "Mi wish me coulda dance y'nuh, Caa me woulda teach mi pickney dem how fi dance. But it look like mi have 10 big toe."
The night's real emcee, though he arrived only for the second half of the show, was rather entertaining. He engaged in a routine where he jokingly implored the audience to give him money. The audience went along with it willingly and when he informed them that he needed the money because he recently began attending a tertiary institution, one woman yelled, "Go sell Star!"
