Culture

“Work in Process” finds international success

In 2020, the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) assisted thousands of creatives with their projects through the COVID 19 Creatives Grant Fund. One of the projects made possible from this is the international award-winning film “Work in Process”.

Behind this film is dancer Stefanie Takei-Taylor. She is a Barbadian citizen who was born and raised in Los Angeles. She pursued her undergraduate education at NYU Tisch School of the Arts gaining her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance.

Thirteen years ago, she moved to Barbados and never left.

“I lived and worked and danced in New York City for a while before coming to Barbados for a Masters… I was only supposed to be here for two years and I ended up falling in love with the country,” she said.

Since then, Stefanie has worked and taught at many local dance schools. Her primary dance disciplines being ballet and modern. She has previously taught at the University of the West Indies and is the former associate director of Barbados Dance Project. Currently, she teaches ballet at Barbados Community College and is the owner and principal of Powerhouse Studios.

Her love for ballet started at a young age. From her mother’s explanation, as Stefanie was around two years old at the time, she saw the Nutcracker and decided she was going to become a ballerina. She enrolled in dance classes and her passion grew.

“From the time I was really little, it was only ballet. I was just ballet focused…and by the time I finished high school in the US, I was dancing 20 something hours a week,” she said.

In addition to ballet, Stefanie teaches and performs modern dance. Up until COVID, she was performing and teaching for Barbados Dance Project. She toured to various places including many times to the COCO Dance Festival in Trinidad. Her last international performance was at Jamaica Dance Umbrella in March 2020.

With travel not allowed, the COCO Dance Festival announced they were doing a dance film festival. Therefore, creating a piece for this show titled ‘Alien’ became her goal. This was the birth of “Work in Process”.

This led her to the NCF’sCOVID 19 Creatives Grant. Stefanie worked on a new vision and tried to get everything together for the piece but she was met with various challenges and setbacks due to lockdowns and the volcano incident.

“[We] couldn’t rehearse again so then it was crunch time because I really wanted to film it,” she said.

Stefanie wanted to make “Work in Process”, a site visited piece and found Jaryd Niles-Morris who was the director of photography, co-producer and co-editor of the film. They had a vision of making the piece mainly in St Lucy. However, after picking out the sites and creating some of the choreography for the landscapes, the aftermath of Hurricane Elsa forced the film to be postponed.

The project ended up being filmed at an indoor location. Each scene was picked within 15 minutes of its filming.

“Work in Process” was her first dance for camera project and it has garnered success internationally. It was viewed in various places, such as at MidWest RAD Fest and Dance Camera North, and has won awards over the past few years. In 2022, the film won Best Music Short at the 5^th Annual Nederland International Film Festival. A few months earlier, she also won at the Near Nazareth Festival.

Being selected for this Israeli film festival was one of her biggest thrills.

“I feel so honoured that my vision would have touched so many people,” she said with a smile.

Outside of being a grant recipient, Stefanie has worked with the NCF for a long time.

In 2022, she was part of NIFCA Rebirth of a Nation. She expressed her appreciation for NCF’s dance officer, Alicia Payne-Hurley and the overall support of the organisation.

“Alicia Hurley does a phenomenal job of really pushing… all forms of dance…she really works tirelessly and she makes sure that she tries to come to every show and be encouraging to all artistes.

She added: “Every project that I have ever tried to do, I usually reach out to NCF for support and they’re always so nice and so generous…whether it’s grant money, props, a facility or costume, they are always supporting local artists and I think in a small country that art is sometimes overlooked… it’s really heartwarming,” she said.

She was keen on encouraging others to seek assistance and use the opportunities available.

“You will never know unless you try, the worst somebody could say is no or better luck next time or rethink this a little bit more… NCF always has phenomenal opportunities out there and I think people should take advantage of it, they’re doing a great job,” she said.

Presently, Stefanie is putting on Powerhouse Studio’s end of term show, For The Love Of Dance, which will not only be a recital but will showcase more professional dance on the island as well. For those that missed it, her NIFCA piece, Spring, will also be redone for the show. This will take place on July 8^th at the EBCCI UWI Theatre.

Additionally, Barbados Dance Project and Powerhouse Studios are launching a choreographic incubator for young artists. This residency programme will give selected choreographers ages 18-30 studio space to create, mentorship from national and international artists, and performance opportunities to showcase their work. (PR)

Culture

BPS Crop Over Do-Flicky Costume Competition Winners Announced

Five winning teams have emerged from the recently held prize-giving ceremony of the inaugural ‘Barbados Postal Service (BPS) 2024 Crop Over Do-Flicky Costume Competition’.

The winners hail from the Post Offices of St. Joseph; St. George; Welches Road; St. Philip and the General Post Office in Cheapside.

The overall winner of the competition is the eight-member team of the General Post Office’s Accounts Section, who each received an Island Safari Tour. Second place went to the Welches Road Post Office, third was the St. Philip Post Office, fourth was the St. George Post Office and fifth place went to the St. Joseph Post Office.

Winning Teams (flanked by BPS management), of the inaugural ‘BPS Crop Over Do-Flicky Costume Competition’, from the GPO; Welches Road PO; St. Philip PO; St. George PO and the St. Joseph PO.

Postmaster General, Joann Busby, in her address to the winners, stated, “We look forward to many more events like this in the future, celebrating both our history and commitment to excellence.”

Concept Creator of the competition, BPS Marketing Officer Neiai Hall said, “This competition aims to showcase the creativity and cultural expression of our staff, through costume design and performance. The theme of the competition is rooted in our rich heritage and the vibrant spirit of Crop Over.

On left – ‘BPS Crop Over Do-Flicky Costume Competition’ 2nd Place Winning Costume, On right – ‘BPS Crop Over Do-FFlicky Costume Competition’ 3rd Place Winning Costume.

“We have encouraged participants to design costumes that not only display their creativity but also incorporate elements that represent the services offered by the BPS”.

The judging criteria consisted of Sustainability; Creativity; Depiction of a BPS Service; Originality; Portrayal; Video Creativity and Originality; Practicality and Inclusivity and Descriptive Write-Up.

Plaques were presented to each of the winning teams and the St. Joseph Post Office also received the Postmaster General’s special award for Outstanding Advertising Video in the competition. (PR/GIS)

Culture

LAST LAP WEEKEND – Ended with Pic-o-de-Crop Finals, Foreday Jump and Kadooment

AN INCIDENT FREE FESTIVAL By David Harris

After two months of activities that included early morning breakfast fetes and late-night parties, the golden anniversary of the Crop Over Festival ended with the Grand Kadooment on Monday.

Over 10.000 revellers in 18 bands danced on the new route which began at the Helipad in Bridgetown and ended in front of Kensington Oval. The street parade was changed its 9 a.m. start to 10 a.m. by the National Cultural Foundation after the Barbados Meteorological Service placed the island under a severe thunderstorm watch.

Eventually, the Blue Box Cart band got the parade moving at 10.07 and the masqueraders began wining and chipping on the streets of Bridgetown.

Only 13 of the 18 bands on parade judged, among the revellers were Barbadian superstar and National Hero, the Right Excellent Robin Rihanna Fenty and former West Indies captain Brian Lara.

Some bands were still heading towards the Mighty Grynner Highway just before at minutes to 9 o’clock. Aura was the last band to reach the highway before the police ended the parade.

The Grand Kadooment ended an action-packed weekend that included the Pic O De Crop Finals at the National Botanical Gardens in Waterford on Friday night, the Foreday Morning Jam which began in Bridgetown in the wee hours of morning and the Grand Kadooment on Monday.

Fans were primed for thrilling contest between the defending monarch IWeb (Ian Webster) and Adrian “AC” Clarke who placed second in last year’s Pic O De Crop competition; but it was AC who captured the crown for the third time after IWeb who appeared to have forgotten the lyrics of the De Village Ram in the second half of the competition.

Clarke performed at number 16 (immediately behind IWeb) and stamped his authority on the competition with an impressive performance of the self-penned Going Fuh Crown, the judges awarded him 133 points, 28 more than Sir Ruel who came second.

Adrian Clarke the 2024 Calypso Monarch

His impressive performance won the first prize of $100,000 or a Nissan E Powe X- Trail valued at $136,000; Clarke told journalists after the competition he had opted to take the vehicle instead of the prize money. Clarke, 52, first won the crown in 2001 and in 2008.

Sir Ruel was the most outstanding performer in the first half with A Single Bullet, he wrote the calypso in memory of his brother Dario Jon-Luc Holder-Branch who was shot to death in February this year. The former Junior Monarch amassed 105 points and won a cash prize of $40,000.

*Sir Ruel, Pic of de Crop, 2nd place winner*

Perennial finalist Chrystal Cummins-Beckles placed third with De Proposal, the multi-talented musician, arranger and composer was awarded 97 points and the $20,000 prize.

Billboard placed fourth for the second consecutive his calypso earned him a cash prize of $15,000; and first timer Tae, the youngest competitor in the final took the fifth position and $10,000 with A Big Cirus.

Calypsonians placing from the sixth to tenth position received $8,000 each, those coming 11 th to 18 th got $6000.

The competition started 51 minutes after the scheduled 8 p.m. due to technical hitches with video presentations, and one contestant (Kid Site) had to start over his song because of problems with the audio. The second half started just after midnight and ended at 2.10 a.m.

In commemoration of the 50 th anniversary of the Crop Festival there were performances by former monarchs the Mighty Destroyer. Red Plastic, the Mighty Gabby and Edwin Yearwood.