By By Chaos, Freelance WriterEACH YEAR the third-year social marketing students of the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication (CARIMAC), as an integral part of their course, take on a project aimed to benefit a target audience chosen earlier in their first semester.
This year, the chosen beneficiaries are the Haitian refugees and the children at Sophie's Place, an extension of the Mustard Seed communities. The group, headed by Natalie Bailey, staged as one of their fund-raising activities a variety show at the Students' Union, University of the West Indies, Mona, St. Andrew, last Saturday night. It was titled 'Creative Youths in Action for Charity'.
INTERESTING THINGS
With a focus mainly on fashion, there was a display of clothing from a number of designers. However, this was no normal fashion show since, in addition to the normal 'attitude' displayed by models, there were also a number of interesting, for want of a better word or two, 'stances and dances', including one where a number of dancers from the University Dance Society formed a pyramid that would not have been out of place for a cheerleading squad. Under a dark sky with just a hint of the moon, the models strutted, posed, climbed and did a number of interesting things with their bodies that made sure every eye was focused on them.
The lines displayed included Minka, Cooyah, Resuiji, La Pluma Negra, Watabongoklaat and Mpressions. The last was of particular interest since it is the brainchild of a second-year psychology student, Zoya.
Not limiting itself to fashion, the show also included a fascinating dance by Neila Ebanks, a former dance instructor at the Edna Manley School of Dance who recently returned to the island after completing a Master's of Arts degree in England.
EAR-SPLITTING
One of the other MCs was the poet Steppa, who used his ear-splitting 'Listen to Steppa!' trademark phrase to ensure that the audience was paying attention as he performed his duties, throwing in a few lines of verse here and there. Also of note were a set of drummers who did far more than beat the skins, since they threw in a few contortions and even a handstand or two into the mix.
The programme was eventually closed with a performance by poet turned rock singer Italee. Wearing heels that looked like they could double as a deadly weapon, she put in a searing set which mixed a little bit of poetry amid some rock ballads which put one in mind of an early Alanis Morissette and were all her very own compositions both words and music.
