Features
Carol Quash
No man is an island, especially when it comes to the entertainment industry. And young dancers and choreographers Chandel Carrington, Alyssa Branker, Jamila Zahra and Annalize Seepaul are grateful to have learned this lesson early in their creative careers. Because although they are all trained and experienced in their respective dance genres, they have found that combining their experience and knowledge has helped to continue to push them to the top of their game. Over the years, the four have collectively danced alongside a number of soca artists locally, regionally and internationally, choreographing some of the routines themselves.
In 2021 they toured with Aaron “Voice” St Louis on his Vibes with Voicey concert tour in several US states, taking on the roles of both dancers and choreographers. Together, they choreographed By Any Means, Woman and Out and Bad. The 2023 carnival season is proving to be a busy season for them as they have been contracted to dance exclusively at the artiste’s live shows.
The Caribbean Woman
Carrington, 30, is a business analyst by day, a radio host on Hott 93 on the weekends, but a dancer through and through. And although she’s trained in a variety of dance genres, she told WMN her forte is Caribbean, hip hop and femme.
“I’ve been dancing since I was four years old and I love it. I started with Carol La Chapelle. Then Marcia Charles Dance Theater where I learned folk and African dances. Then I went on to Xtreme Dance Academy where I was exposed to more new. age styles. “
Eventually, she said, she began teaching at Xtreme and began her own initial choreography.
“In 2021, I started a company called Danse by SB. Scotch Bonnet is my nickname. My focus is on people who want to have fun and the healthy aspects of it. So I choreograph routines for events like bridal showers and weddings .For me, it’s all about the excitement when people learn to dance to their favorite song. I also do routines for things like employee wellness programs. I work on demand, so I’m called and I adapt to the needs of the clients mine. It’s going well so far.”
Carrington said she has danced for just about every soca artist “under the sun,” among them Destra Garcia, Patrice Roberts, Erphaan Alves and Marvin “Swappi” Davis. She has been dancing with the Voice for six years.
“Going on tour during the end of the pandemic was exciting and scary at the same time. Because while the US had eased the restrictions, at home we were still very scared. It was an adjustment, but it was very exciting. After all the dance sessions in internet, dancing in person was exciting.”
But she was only able to perform in Miami and New York due to her work commitments.
For this carnival, she said, someone else is doing the choreography and the group’s focus is more on the dance.
“It’s extremely difficult to do both, so we’re focusing more on the performance side because the season is hectic and we have a lot of shows.
She said one of her biggest choreography achievements last year was choreographing the Angostura Chills CPL cheerleaders under Edge Agency Ltd.
“We got a lot of compliments on the energy and dynamic moves, and from the comments we were definitely the team with the most vibe.”
Zumba Queen
At just 24 years old, Branker is a certified Zumba instructor, but she also does other dances like folkloric, ballet and tap. Wine and champagne product specialist at AS Bryden Ltd told WMN that she has worked with a number of different companies to help with health and fitness programmes. Before Covid19, she organized Zumba classes in gyms.
I do sessions on request, with individuals or companies. I recently started my own fitness site, AZ Fitness. The name will tell you that it’s a wholesome, head-to-toe fitness program.
Branker studied economics and Spanish in college, and is currently pursuing massage therapy and spin certification.
“Spanish helps with my Spanish speaking clients in my Zumba classes. It makes them feel more at home.”
She said she choreographs all her own routines for her classes and incorporates soca to give a Trinidad and Tobago cultural flavor.
Having previously danced with Erphaan Alves, she said the US tour with Voice was a great experience and opportunity to improve her skills and collaborate with like-minded creators.
“We worked together to create original pieces for his songs. We are similar but have different styles and added our own unique routine. We work well together and it came naturally to all of us.”
And, she said, even though she’s not directly choreographing the routines for their carnival performances, they still have input through suggestions, some of which have been used.
“We have a lot of shows coming up before his headline show, Vibes with Voicey, Mecca – Carnival, on February 16.
Golden Xers
Jamila Zahra and Annalize Seepaul are the founders of Golden X Creative Studios, launched in 2022.
“We do choreography and creative concepts for players in the entertainment industry – dancers, artists, producers, music videos, dance productions etc,” Zahra told WMN.
“We take your song and create an entire dance production around it.”
She said they work with other creatives — makeup artists, stylists, videographers, etc. — to put the productions together.
“We’re also expanding into doing dance classes and workshops. We have a big workshop coming up soon, where we’re going to teach technique and stage performance and presence, and how to have fun with it.”
Zahra has a BSc in management studies and a master’s degree in international business development and innovation. She is a brand and marketing coordinator by profession and said that has helped with Golden X’s creative projects.
“We’ve done two big projects so far. There’s a riddim called Red Dawn featuring Preedy, Allison Hinds, Lil Bits, Patrice Roberts and Ricardo Dru. And there’s the Puppet Master riddim featuring Yung Bredda, Lady Lava and Rane Blackman Producer Nikholai Greene approached Golden X and, as dancers and choreographers, we created two promo videos for those riddims.”
Both she and Seepaul were on the Vibes with Voicey concert tour, which took them to stages in Miami, Atlanta, Washington DC, Boston/Rhode Island and New York, and gave them, with Branker and Carrington, the opportunity to showcase their skills of dance and choreography.
Zahra leans towards hip hop, commercial and soca genres. But in terms of teaching, she said that “I can do everything except ballet.”
Seepaul, 24, is a graduate of TT University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Performing Arts with a specialization in dance and a focus on choreography and teaching. She has learned urban dance, which is a mix of hip and hop and femme. But, she said, she also has a soft spot for classical Indian dance.
After the tour, the two spent three weeks in the US and attended the Miami Carnival, where they were asked to create a dance choreography for a set for Rocksteady, a Jamaican female DJ.
They have performed and appeared in music videos alongside a number of other local and regional artists, including Darryl “Farmer Nappy” Henry, Nailah Blackman, Olatunji Yearwood, Damian Marvay, Nadia Batson and Teddyson John.
They’ve also had their many moments in the spotlight on the International Soca Monarch stage, and Zahra graced the Machel Monday stage for three years.
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