Dancers compete for a position as a back-up dancer for Etana during a lunch hour concert at the Philip Sherlock Centre at the UWI, Mona last Thursday.

Fyah performs after she won a spot as a back-up dancer for Etana. She performed at a lunch hour concert at the Philip Sherlock Centre at the UWI, Mona last Thursday.

Kelly-Ann Robinson performs during a competition held at a lunch hour concert at the Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts at the UWI, Mona. The competition was held to select back-up dancers for Etana.

Oris Shaw, one of the persons selected as a back-up dancer for Etana performs during a lunch hour concert at the Philip Sherlock Centre at the UWI, Mona last Thursday.

Francine Black, Staff Reporter

It was a keenly contested final among dancers vying for three spots as back-up dancers for the 'strong one', Etana.

The finals took place at the weekly lunch-hour concert held at the Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts on Thursday. After two rounds of intense competition, Oris Shaw, Kelly-Ann Robinson and Fyah were selected as winners of the competition.

assessed the contestants

Judges Renardo Lewis, Onajé Bell, Kameica Reid, Michael Holgate and Etana assessed the contestants on their execution, musicality, stage presence and technique.

choreographed pieces

In the first round of the competition, four dancers, who were selected at eliminations held at The Gleaner Company's North Street offices on Tuesday, performed choreographed pieces to an Etana tune.

First up was Fyah, who danced to a combination of Warrior Love and Roots. Next was Tyrone Miller, who danced to More and More,while Kelly-Ann Robinson did her interpretation of Wasting My Time. Sasha Rowe was the final performer with, Don't Forget.

In the second round, some members of the audience, who were interested in being a part of the competiton, were allowed to join the participants onstage and compete for one of the spots. Four women obliged and joined the competition.

Kameica Reid, dancer and choreographer, with the assistance of Onajé Bell, taught the contestants a choreographed piece. The contestants were asked to reproduce this piece and were judged on how well they did this.

Teaching the contestants turned out to be difficult for some. Miller, who many from the audience believed was a strong contender, had a hard time grasping the moves.

Rowe also had a difficult time, as although she performed the moves, she still needed to be sharper. Fyah, Robinson and the four who joined the competition learnt the moves better.

execute the moves

After Reid was confident that the dancers were prepared, the eight dancers were placed in groups of two and asked to execute the moves in those groups so the judges could do a final elimination.

Fyah and Rowe were the first two. However, Fyah forgot a step and got thrown off. Sasha continued to do the moves and both managed to find their rhythms and finish the piece as it was first choreographed.

Miller and Robinson were next and although for the most part Tyrone did his own thing, he enjoyed doing the 'Nuh Linga', which earned him lots of cheers from the audience. The two other teams also performed well.

After brief deliberations, Etana announced the winners of the competition and then did a mini performance with her new dance team behind her.

She told the audience that the dancers will be performing with her locally and abroad and she did the competition to give fresh new faces a chance to shine.