DAWN BEACH--St. Dominic High School (SDHS) may have lost a title they have held for more than a decade, but they compensated by winning the overall Performing Arts Champion title at Teen Times Talent Showdown 2015 on Saturday night.
The event, which sold out for the 13th consecutive year, was hailed as the closest Talent Showdown ever with different schools winning multiple performing categories. The winner was not clear until St. Dominic was announced as the overall winner at the end of the show and was presented with the Teen Times Cup by Minister of Education and Youth Affairs Silveria Jacobs.
As an indication of how close the competition was, St. Dominic won first place in only one of the six categories, but placed second in the remaining five categories, giving it enough accumulated points to take the overall champion title. It was the only school that scored consistently in the top two positions in every category, which is evidence of great preparation and attention to detail, according to organisers.
St. Dominic did lose its most prized possession: the Drama category. The school had a run of 13 consecutive victories in this category until Charlotte Brookson Academy (CBA) scored the upset this year.
While SDHS staged an impressive skit about the dangers of drug usage, CBA took emotions to another level when it touched on a “taboo” subject: child molestation and rape. It was good enough to win the category over SDHS by a 451 to 437 score.
SDHS came out on top in the Spoken Word category. Performed by Iris Hakkens, Shanna Vasilda and Manar Mohammed, the piece touched on a girl’s insecurities with herself, the demons she fights within regarding excelling and going for it, compared to being defeatist and never striving for anything.
In the dancing category, reigning dance champion Milton Peters College (MPC) came into Talent Showdown a depleted group, having lost three of its best dancers who helped take it to victory last year. Nevertheless, down to four dancers, the champions clearly focussed their attention on the criteria that garner the most points in the dancing category: timing and precision. They capped their victory with a flare by ending their routine to Soca music in Carnival costumes.
Teen Times introduced a new category this year, one that featured performing teachers of the competing schools.
“This is an interscholastic competition. These students are not competing for individual prizes. They compete on behalf of their school. So we thought it was only right for teachers from the schools to be included and help their students win,” Teen Times Coordinator Mike Granger said.
The teacher category was well received by the crowd, which saw four teachers compete in singing and dancing. In the end, teacher Alexandra Stroud of CBA won for her rendition of Etta James’ “At Last.” SDHS also placed second in this category with a dance presented by teachers Jennifer Halley and Jerry Vanterpool.
MPC went on to win the rapping category for the second straight year, CBA won the singing category and Marine Caillet put on a technical display of dancing to win the Individual Dance category. For her efforts she won US $1,000 and a trip to New York, while the SDHS students, as champions, won US $5,000 for their school.
The show also featured a number of guest appearances. The island’s top modelling group Hott Strotterzz performed while the judges compiled the results and was well received by the sold out crowd.
“This is a labour of love for us. It’s so incredible to see the amount of talent we have on this island and how hard they work for the opportunity to showcase these talents. We are extremely happy with the event and the fact that so many parents and teachers were there this year in support. It meant a lot to us and to the students,” Granger said.
He went on to thank the persons and companies that made the event possible, including The Daily Herald, Roy Marlin and Delta Petroleum, Domino’s Pizza, Genesis Music Group, The Westin Dawn Beach Resort and Spa, parents, teachers and the performing students.
“Lastly, to my crew of Teen Timers, you guys are awesome and continue to do awesome work for your community. Stay positive,” Granger concluded.
