In the wake of the controversy over the judging of the Adult Band last year, organizers of the Carnival road parade have unanimously agreed that this year, the judges’ decision is going to be final.
During the Carnival road parade in 2016, Afrikulture Stilt Walkers was judged the Adult Band of the Year, however, an injunction was filed by the Thunderbirds Carnival Band and Karnival Korner Karnival to prevent the Discover Dominica Authority (DDA) from giving the group the prize.
Deputy Chairperson of the Road Parade Committee, Charlene White-Christian vowed this is not going to happen again.
She said representatives of the groups competing this year met with the Road Parade Committee and they all agreed that there would be no injunctions or protests after results are announced this year.
“Because, the participating bands, they see it as their way of giving back to Dominica’s culture and to provide a package for the enjoyment of Dominicans who would like to have fun. It is not a time for fighting, it’s not a time to be upset with each other,” she said.
She said that the groups have agreed to work very closely with the Road Parade Committee, the Dominica Festivals Committee, and the Police to ensure that “their members are well kept and everything goes very smoothly for the parade.”
The groups to be judged are Ole Time Sake, Hysteria, Mercury, Afrikulture Stilt Walkers, and Amnesia, in that specific order for the parade.
The three main judging points are at the Cruise Ship Birth, in front of the Monument at Bayfront (Where the fountain once was), and opposite Cocorico.
Competing bands will be judged in the areas of Visual Impact- 30 points; Creativity and Authenticity- 25 points; Clarity of Theme-15 points; Carnival Spirit- 10 points; Originality- 10 points; Order and Organization, Patterns and Images- 10 points, totaling 100 points.
A year after???? .well all you take long papa to make a decision..Why did Mr. PIPER SIT SO LONG ON THAT ONE.
1) there must a criteria for a” band” and more so child vs adult
2) are all judging points basically on Bayfront
3) it’s all well and good that bands for this year agree….but the list of participating bands doesn’t include the two who are causing the uproar
this is the attitude of the authority, that “when challenged just by pass the rules in order to get ones way”. reflects on the governance of the country! how could one be always right and not willing to accept fault? this is bad for our society.
With all due respect ms white-chtristian, i think you all are missing the point. All that halabola about judges decision is final, and contribution to culture is besides the point. The issue here is that the stilt walkers CANNOT be considered a BAND. and that is the issue. Quite frankly you all sound quite conceited and autocratic. Who are u to say categorically that there will be no injucntion and no protest. People who may feel agrieved have all the right to protest in whatever way they see fit. Will and come again.
The need to follow the criteria
She said that the groups have agreed to work very closely with the Road Parade Committee, the Dominica Festivals Committee, and the Police to ensure that “their members are well kept and everything goes very smoothly for the parade.”
And how does this solve the issue of playing/not playing by the rules?
I am a Dominican who has been residing in the Virgin Islands for the past 50 years. The first time I saw stilt walkers was when I experienced my first carnival here. Stilt walkers take part in every carnival or Festival parade. From St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. John, Tortola and Virgin Gorda they make an appearance.
However, they are not judged with the other competing Troupes (bands) they are judged in a different category. In DA if there isn’t enough categories to place them in, they should just be awarded a special prize. In my opinion that would eliminate all the controversy with the other bands (troupes)
It wold have been so much better to include the rules. No injunctions etc is not the answer to the problem. It’s simple – did the winner not play by the rules? If they did not, then end of story.
No problem with that as long as they amend the criteria to fit in with this and all bands observe these rules (not guidelines) accordingly.