Play, Dance Bongo, is final act in National Performing Arts Festival

The curtains came down on the 2024 National Performing Arts Festival, after two weeks on November 30, 2024.

Dance Bongo, a stage play written by Eroll Hill and directed by local artist, Jaykel Mars, was the Festival’s closing act.

From Left: Cheryl Johnson(right) receives award from Nandi Williams-Morgan, BOSVG rep and Linton Samuel (right) receives award from Nandi Williams-Morgan, BOSVG rep

During a question and answer segment following the play, it was revealed that Mars had a challenge in finding a person to play the role of ‘The Stranger’, the person/messenger who goes to a village and causes confusion as most of the villagers would want to see him dance.

The initial actor he had playing that role was Jason Browne who had to pick up other job roles after the passage of Hurricane Beryl, on July 1, 2024. He was replaced by Faben Gurra, a Trinidadian film maker, who gave up the role due to unforeseen circumstances.

With just two weeks left until show day, Mars was left with no option other than to cast himself as ‘The Stranger’, a role that captivated many who were present at Peace Memorial on the night of curtains of the festival. Jeremy, played by former junior Soca Monarch, Deondre Simmons, and titled the ‘best dancer in the village’ was Mars’ supporting actress.

The play was derived from the Spiritual Baptist religion where the ‘Bongo’ dance was performed mainly by men to settle disputes, as well as an act when someone from the village died, to allow the passage of the spirit from one world to the next- usually called a ‘Wake’.

The stage act began with a consecration/sanitisation ritual outside of the hall, where bystanders and commuters indulged in some of the singing; it ended with a pilgrim journey.

After the act concluded, the Department of Culture, along with the Bank of St Vincent and the Grenadines- both sponsors of the National Performing Arts Festival, honoured two local practitioners for their contribution to culture and the arts over the years.

Being awarded were the former head of the ‘Todd and Dem’ drama group, Linton Samuel, who has over 50 years of stage experience, and Cheryl Johnson who started moonlight games in her home community of Mt Greenan, that fanned out to Sans Souci and became a staple there.

Johnson who still shares about Vincentian culture with visitors to her Bequia restaurant, spoke briefly after receiving the award, to encourage others to pass on ‘Vincy’ culture.

She recounted an attempt at a bus stop in the capital to play a folk game, ‘ship sail’, after buying corn from a nearby vendor. Most of the young people she asked, ‘Ship sail?’ were puzzled and did not know what she was talking about.

“It was not until I found somebody from a rural area, and the person said ‘sail fast’, and I say, ‘how many men on deck?’, and then we talked about that,” Johnson explained.

She told the audience that it was simple games like that which should be taught to children at a young age.

“Brighten the corner where you live. Wherever you are, you can do something, you can help somebody- do something … it’s the thing we do for humanity,” was what Johnson left with the audience.

Johnson’s granddaughter and great granddaughter were part of the Dance Bongo cast.