Fighting against bullying is the focus of Zante’s 2020 Children’s Carnival Band. The band, billed as Mas with a Heart, will feature a dramatic presentation titled Inaru’s Gift. The costumes in the band each relate to a story, written by Zante Director Dara Healey. Designer Nia Thompson said the story starts with the Blue Devils … Continue reading
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Author-inspired traditional mas comes to life… Baby dolls a family effort (January 23, 2020)
Tracey Sankar-Charleau’s Red Thread Cycle – All the Dead, All the Living baby doll mas band is an addition to the mas-woman’s brilliant portfolio of Traditional Mas portrayals. The title of the mini-band is taken from a section in poet Shivanee Ramlochan’s debut collection, Everybody Knows I Am A Haunting (Peepal Tree Press, 2017). The … Continue reading
Children make mas at Camp Zante! (June 27, 2019)
“In order to return focus to our Carnival and traditional artforms, it is important to vest the knowledge of these traditions in our young people and lay the foundation for preservation of the cultural artforms that are intrinsically T&T.” Vacation camp Zante! founder, Dara Healy made the statement as she explained why the camp focuses … Continue reading
Looking beneath the surface of traditional Mas (March 22, 2019)
The mas presentation Belmont Baby Dolls, conceived by choreographer and designer Makeda Thomas, was an attempt to reinterpret the Baby Doll mas in a way that subverts the usual presentation. The small band performed on the road on Carnival Monday and Tuesday 2019. Thomas said her main inspiration for creating the band was seeing how … Continue reading
George Bailey’s legacy lives on (February 6, 2019)
An atmosphere of energy and purpose surrounds the Bailey mas camp, as descendants and peers of legendary mas man George Bailey prepare to launch the band Bailey Dynasty Mas. The presentation, Tribal Fantasy, is being built by Bailey’s brother Albert, niece Leeann and grand-nieces Allendra and Amanda, along with Dexter MacLean and Geoffrey Serrette. The … Continue reading
The sky’s the limit for Lil Bitts (January 31, 2019)
“I’m a creative body and I feel like artists should not limit themselves.” This is the reasoning behind Shivonne “Lil Bitts” Churche-Isaacs’ expansion of her creativity into other spheres, with soca releases, a section in Ronnie and Caro’s mas band and performances with the National Theatre Arts Company of T&T. Churche-Isaacs has released two soca … Continue reading
Santimanitay – playing mas in a whole new way (April 23, 2017)
The launch of the Trinidadian board game, Santimanitay: Race to the Stage, featured live-action representations of the characters featured in the game, as well as traditional mas characters such as Jab Molassies, Pierrot Grenade and Midnight Robber. The launch event at Daaga Auditorium, UWI St. Augustine on April 5 drew a large crowd of appreciative … Continue reading
Stick-ey Desires musical continues at UWI (April 2, 2017)
T&T’s first original soca musical, Stick-ey Desires, will be performed this April by students of the Department of Creative and Festival Arts (DCFA), UWI St. Augustine. Head of Department and Director Louis McWilliams said the play centers around Peter, a mas-man who plays in a steel band, his decision to move to New York and … Continue reading
Independent Mas speaks (March 19, 2017)
Independent mas practitioners gathered at Granderson Lab in Belmont on March 7 to talk about their experiences during Carnival. They discussed ways of rethinking Carnival and its past, present and future configurations. Speakers on the panel included host Atillah Springer, designer and leader of the Vulgar Fraction Independent Carnival Mas[querade] group Robert Young, Wendell Manwarren … Continue reading
Edinburgh trip benefits T&T artists (October 2, 2016)
Three T&T arts practitioners – Patrice Briggs of Arts-in-Action, Damien Whiskey, who portrays the Midnight Robber, and Mtima Solwazi of the Oral Tradition ROOTS Foundation, represented T&T at the 2016 Edinburgh Arts Festival. The opportunity was part of a program by the Division of Culture in association with international organizations ACPCultures+, World Cultures Connect and … Continue reading
