Entertainment

Sadeke Brooks, Staff Reporter

Synchronised swimming and music were cleverly mixed at Music 'N' Sync on Sunday evening at the Hilton Kingston poolside in New Kingston.

The show started on time with the national anthem, before Noreen Greenwood's operatic rendition of How Great Thou Art.

She was followed by violinist Nadje Leslie, who played Rucumbine and Don't Worry. The young woman danced to her own beat, feeding the audience with her energy. The L'Acadco Dancers followed with a piece called Tribute that was dedicated to Professor Rex Nettleford, who passed away recently.

Dancing of another form followed, as the Island Aquatics Synchro Swimmers displayed their underwater dexterity. The girls, some as young as seven years old, danced gracefully in the water. There were group pieces, as well as solo efforts to disco, Latin and alternative music.

Although very young, the 12 and under girls were not afraid to give a good show. Girls in the 12-15 age group showed more experience, as they moved to dancehall rhythm, even performing to Assassin's Hand Inna Di Air.

Between the displays, Jodian Pantry performed Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You. She had to cut short her rendition of Jennifer Hudson's If This Isn't Love, as there were problems with the CD player.

Afterwards, Noddy Virtue sang Neil Young's Broken Arrow. But he also faced difficulties with the CD player. "The CD player a scratch mi up but him cyaa mash mi up," he said.

Later, Pantry joined Virtue for Bed Of Roses.

Voicemail was full of energy. The group members taught the audience to do dance moves such as 'Nuh Behaviour' and 'Rubba Bounce'.

While most of the older persons sat in their chairs unresponsive to the group, some younger persons were well entertained doing dance moves like 'Jiggy' and 'Willie Bounce'. Eventually, the group had the entire audience singing and shouting. Although Voicemail wanted the audience to get its money worth, their performance was cut short by the organisers because of time constraints.

Ending the performance segment was pianist Orville Hammond, drummer Desi Jones and guitarist Dale Haslam. The trio was very passionate, mixing jazz with other genres of music.

The show ended with a grand finale of the synchronised swimmers and the trio of musicians.