There was song, dance, drama and poetry when the 18 eighteen quarterfinalists of the Miss Guyana Teen Scholarship competed at the preliminary competition at the St Joseph High School last Saturday night in the run up to tonight’s pageant.
The talent segment opened with 15-year-old Quissieana Odle doing a dance followed by Devya Singh singing a Spanish song with subtitles projected in the background. Carolann Correia came next with dramatic poetry and dance that focused on environmental issues. Niara Amsterdam performed a cover of “This Is Me” and Ashley Sands followed with a dramatic poem about an abused girl who found her way eventually. Queen’s College student Sarona Fraser serenaded the audience with her cover of Rihanna’s “Stay”.
Christel Mangra did an interpretive dance to the Jessie J song “Who You Are”. Daniela Aravjo did a dramatic poetry/ dance fusion to Jessica Reedy’s “Better”. Ariel Alexander did an interpretive dance to “We Are the World” and “Heal the World”. Shazeena Ghannie did a dramatic poem on suicide, while Tamasha Oxford did a dramatic monologue of a girl pleading with her dying mother to get batter because she needed her and finished with a steel pan instrumental. Kizza McLeod did an interpretive dance depicting rising from stigma and becoming a doctor. The youngest of the contestants Rayshana Gillis did a dramatic poem on teenage pregnancy. Ramiesa Ganesh’s piece displayed the ignorance of gender preference and she finished with a dance to Missy Elliott’s “Work It”.
However, the talents that were adjudged the top four were performed by Nia Williams, Jasmaine Assanah, Omaiah Hall and Naheeryah Newland. Nia did a spoken word piece called “Black is Beautiful” along with a dance to “This is Me” from’ The Greatest Showman. Jasmaine also did a dance to “This Is Me”. Omaiah did a cover of “Listen” and Naheeryah’s was a calypso on child abuse.
Next, the contestants performed a ballroom dance with their escorts to “This Is Me”, which seemed to be the anthem for the evening. The top four contestants in this segment were Carolann, Sarona, Jasmaine and Omaiah.
Pageant Director Wasim Khan stated that the girls were taught the basic dance steps for ballroom by dancer Paul Charles. In addition, each contestant has a designated Disney princess and will perform the song from that Disney film with their dance partners using their own choreography at tonight’s final.
Apart from talent, the other preliminary categories were an essay competition, runway (personal style and stage performance) and a multimedia presentation that showcased the contestants’ community outreach project based on their passion.
This evening after the introduction, 10 finalists will be announced. However, all 18 quarterfinalists will have the same opportunity to showcase their ballroom dancing skills and compete for the Best Gown award in the Evening Gown category. Eventually 5 finalists will move on to the Final Question with their previous scores erased.
The preliminaries were judged by Schemel Patrick, Chenille Bowen, Anastasia Sanford, Utieka John, Renee Chester, Nicola Robin, Sharda Lall, Nigel Niles, Luana Falconer and chief judge Tamika Henry-Fraser. Tonight’s pageant will be judged by four new judges along with the chief judge and will see one teenager crowned as the first ever Miss Guyana Teen Scholarship winning a full scholarship to pursue any area of study she desires.
The competition commences at 8 pm at the National Cultural Centre. Tickets cost $1,000, $1,500 and $2,000 and can be purchased at the NCC, Medical Choice Pharmacy or from any of the contestants. For more information persons can call 624-2465. The NCC dress code will be in effect.
