Venue challenge impacts Community Dancefest

One challenge which has impacted Community Dancefest 2016-2017 is the availability of venues.

Chief Community Development Officer, Patricia Hackett- Codrington disclosed this while pointing out some of the other challenges encountered. The dance competition, which is normally held each year on Errol Barrow Day, was staged last Saturday but not in its usual format.

“There were a number of things that contributed to the fact that we didn’t have Dancefest as we normally have it. One was the number of activities that were held [in 2016] around October, November starting out with the 50th anniversary of Independence celebrations and secondly, the fact that the gymnasium is out of commission [for renovations].”

She added, “Even having this show, we wanted to have this show on [January] 21st because you know when you have an activity and you miss it then it is hard to catch back up. So we decided we would have this one off show but we wouldn’t have it on the 21st and then we had difficulty getting venues…Venues have been a problem in getting the show to come off.”

Hackett-Codrington said though there were challenges, keen interest in participating in the annual dance competition has still been shown by dance groups. She is hopeful that this interest will be maintained and that it will increase during the staging of the 13th edition of the Caribbean Festival of Arts (Carifesta) in Barbados from August 17th to 27th.

“We are going to meet very shortly and start to plan for the 2017-2018 season. Hopefully by then with all the infrastructure that is going on to work for Carifesta…and coming out of Carifesta too, we will be able to put forward a better show because Carifesta will bring to the community a whole set of activities which would energize them and then we can really look to move forward.”

Hackett-Codrington spoke to this publication on the side-lines of last Saturday’s Community Dancefest Showcase in the Major Noot Hall of the Combermere School. This event was presented by the Community Development Department of the Ministry of Social Care Constituency Empowerment & Community Development.

The large audience in the hall enjoyed dance performances by several groups that have competed in Community Dancefest over the years. These included Haynesville Dancers, Dancin’ Africa, Israel Lovell Foundation, Praise Academy of Dance Barbados, ADL Adrenalin Dancer and Reactive Squad. There were also guest performances by members of Pearls Dance Academy and Louise Woodvine Dance Academy.

“Tonight is a showcase of the previous groups that have done well and we just brought them together to keep the momentum, to let them know that the Community Development [Department] is still interested in them and to let the public know that we are still interested in having the activity,” Hackett-Codrington said of the night’s Showcase.