Carnival Queen Alana: This year was my best

Dimanche Gras 2004 was the first time in the history of Carnival that a designer had copped seven King and Queen titles in four years, and it was also the first time that a queen attained four consecutive wins. Though elated, designer of the winning costumes Follette Eustace said he couldn’t take the credit as a “master designer” since “somebody else might come up” after him. Southerner Alana Ward made a beaver-trick, copping title number four with “If You Love Something, Set It Free” from the band Legends. In 2003, she won with the portrayal “Fire in D Sky,” in 2002, “Dance the Butterfly” and in 2001, “It’s All in the Game.” “I always thought you had to be in this for five to ten years. As I was telling Follette, it came too fast,” said the 22-year-old. “This year I’ve learned how to better move my costume and I now learn the stage properly.” The congratulations are still pouring in, she said. “This year was my best year. People recognise me when they hear my name. People are stopping me in the streets and telling me congratulations. That makes me feel I’m reaching my goal. I’m getting there.”

She was grateful for the continued support of her parents, her team at the camp as well as Shurwayne Winchester who opted to accompany her on stage prior to attending another engagement that night. “My mother would be the one saying make sure yuh eat properly, take your vitamins and my father would say make sure yuh win, dance yuh mas,” she told Sunday Newsday. What does the future hold for Alana, who is also a real estate agent? She said: “I’m living and enjoying life. I’m building my house and I want to finish everything and prepare for next year (Carnival).” As regards marriage, she confided: “It’s there. I don’t know when but it’s somewhere.” Her king, a content Curtis Eustace shot from 19 points behind leader Geraldo Vieira, Jr in the semi-finals to seal a hat-trick with “Drums of Freedom” — a win he dedicated to his deceased uncle Gordon Eustace. “The feeling is good, I’m happy, more so since I came from behind to win,” said Eustace. “It’s perseverance that did it, in knowing what the outcome is supposed to be and having the confidence in the people around me to switch it.”

He said that additions and changes to the body suit and head piece of the costume were made for Dimanche Gras. While he gave credit to his uncle, Follette, he said that presentation on stage from start to finish was crucial to winning the title. “My entrance was made with the drumming followed by the theme from the Lion King and we played ‘Bonnie and Clyde’. While the introduction is important you have to grip your audience throughout your performance and you do that by switching the music. I usually spend days in record shops in Toronto until I get a song to fit the part.” Eustace, who has lived in Canada for 16 years said that he has had to make many sacrifices every year when he returns for Carnival. He had a few words for his critics who felt that his wins were not justified, particularly as he is a Canadian resident. He lamented: “I work very hard. My statement to them is come Carnival Monday morning, as far as I am concerned, I am in the back seat. They (costume designers) live here and they have whole year to build their mas. I have six weeks... When yuh leave yuh family (wife of ten years Shelley, and two children, Jonathan, six and Christine, two) for a month yuh don’t come down here to lose. If yuh fail to prepare, prepare to fail.”

Owner and operator of a banquet hall in Canada, Eustace said he sustained a loss of income as he had to shut down his business while in Trinidad. He described the $60,000 cash prize money as “ridiculous” saying that Kings and Queens put out much more, “added to that I bear the cost to ship my costume abroad to display it at other Carnivals. And when I go to Carnivals in different states, when they ask me where I’m from I don’t say Toronto, I say Trinidad.” His uncle, however, complained about the “harassment” meted out to them year after year by police officers and security personnel guarding the stage at Dimanche Gras, who debar them from overseeing the costumes. He said: “We are given 15 arm bands for our team and these officers are telling costume designers and masqueraders that we can’t see the costumes. Imagine you spending months building a costume and you can’t watch it cross the stage. These personnel are not being briefed properly by the NCC and NCBA and that needs to be addressed.”