‘Fan dem off’ the dance floor

Dance tutor Atiba Selman and his team at Alpha and Omega are keeping up with today’s dance trends like the ones featured in music videos and made popular by Sean Paul, Usher and Michael Jackson. What are we talking about? Well, by now you’ve heard about ‘thunder clap’, ‘rockaway’, ‘dutty rock’ — all Jamaican dances. How about the ‘chaplin’, ‘shelly belly’, ‘scooby-doo’, ‘shaggy’, ‘fan dem off’, ‘doh say nutten’ and the ‘pony tail’? These are dances that Alpha and Omega have been offering during the holiday period at their New Street, Port-of-Spain location on Mondays and Wednesdays and at the Barataria Regional Complex, on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3-5 pm.

When flyers advertising “latest dance moves” were passed around, calls from not only youths, but older heads expressed interest in learning to dance. “When one woman learned that the current class is made up of young people, she hesitated. But we invite persons of all ages to join the class,” said Marsha Kinsale, Alpha and Omega manager. The “bubble nut” dance, made popular by Machel Montano at this year’s Carnival, focuses on the movement of the buttocks and can be considered somewhat suggestive. However, according to Kinsale, “if the actions look indecent, we make them stop right away. Parents are usually here to monitor their children.” Selman added: “In order for us to teach you how to dance, you have to move certain parts of your body, but we try not to make it look too vulgar or lewd.”

The class is made up of 24, a greater portion of which are girls between the ages 10-26. Selman is assisted by dance tutors Trishawn Parris, Andell Griffith and Nathaniel Cole. Afryea Charles is co-manager. Their aim is to showcase the talent of the youth in hip-hop, dancehall, pop and soca dances. “Even though some of those dances like hip-hop and dancehall originated elsewhere, people of all cultures have adopted things that are not their own. You can’t stifle what you’re good at just because it is not Trinidad culture,” stressed Kinsale. Selman has introduced his own “styling”, that of the “velma” and “captain crunch” dance moves. For the “captain crunch”, he went down on his hands, with feet in the air doing a body twist — similar to the break dance move “king tuck” in an upside down position. The “velma” is patterned after the cartoon character bearing the same name in ‘Scooby-Doo’. “Velma has this way of walking, with shifty feet like if she was chipping, but very rapidly,” Selman informed. Selman and Parris have been dance tutors for over five years. They teamed up recently to capture the first prize at Uptown Boogie dance competition. Selman, 21, was always amazed by the footworks of American entertainers Michael Jackson, James Brown, Sammy Davis Jr and Usher Raymond.
 
“I started dancing since age five, doing Jackson moves. I formed ‘D Matrix’ dance group in 1996 and later ‘Alpha Meta’. Now we have Alpha and Omega which not only teaches dancing but is also a dance group. I can’t tap dance like Sammy Davis, but I’ve incorporated his slide.” Selman glided an outstretched leg along the wooden dance floor. His improvisation in dancing is resultant of “how I feel and according to the song.” Selman was also a member of “Necessary Art” art and theatre studio on Dundonald Street, PoS. At the end of August, students of the Alpha and Omega dance class will get the opportunity to put on a freestyle concert display, which incorporates all the dances learned, for parents.