The first round is a presentation of the all dancers both to the massive and to the judges. No elimination.
For the second round, girls dance alone for 30 seconds. Judges vote and 10 girls out and Chiara Colitti aged 17, the youngest among them, is out as well. That is the proof of the judges’ impartiality towards any particular beat, style, region and dancer.
At this point, the official rules of the contest lets the dancers change their clothes. During the third round, the 12 girls left in competition dance in pair for a minute. No direct elimination. Judges, as in the previous round, score each dancer using a points system out of ten. They look for the following attributes: 1) Timing and ability to stay on the beat 2) Choreography 3) Technique 4) Outfits/appearance.
Then, 6 girls in and 6 girls out of competition. From my reporter position, on the right side of the stage between the sound and the judges (where sometimes “MissTake” the Pirates Production’s Artist Coordinator scolds me because I stop her way…), I notice the massive is not agree with judges who have eliminated dancers like Talita, last year second runners up and the 2002 Italian Dancehall Queen; or like the “mad Giorjah” or Francesca, classed fourth in 2005 competition.
The fourth round begins on the tune “Miss Fatty” chosen by Tommy (I-Shence’s silecta) as the all tunes of this contest. The atmosphere is really hot. I can feel the tension among dancers. Jocelyne, Joice, Modeste, Nadia, Samantha and Veronik are the 6 girls who have to dance this song for a minute each. The venue is busy. People is longing for the judges’ decision. Modeste, Samantha and Nadia stay on the stage, but they have been eliminated! Their last performance in front of 1000 euphoric viewers…
“Man from Mars” by Tony Matterhorn, starts the fifth round. Girls have changed again their clothes and now they are really fighting for the crown. First, Jocelyne, Joice and Veronik dance alone, then all together another song: “Badman Forward, Pull Up”. Joice does not Know this Jamaican dance; therefore Jocelyne and Veronik go to the next final step.
The atmosphere is hotter and hotter. Surprisingly, a lot of deeply moved girls are looking the contest in the first row… The sixth round, the called “Move fi Move” comes up! The audience can vote at this point. “Willy Bounce”, “Dutty Wine”, “Hot fuck”: three Jamaican dances. Jocelyne and Veronik are dancing together. They performances’ length depends both on the audience and on the MC. But suddenly, Veronik feels a sharp pain in her right knee. Maybe she can not dance anymore. Raina, one of the two presenters of the contest, says to the massive who the 2006 Italian Dancehall Queen is. This question send the audience into ecstasy. Applause, trumpet, whistle, fire. That is the show. That is the dancehall atmosphere!! First, Jocelyne looks like the winner. She comes from Perugia, thus a lot of friends of her stay among the audience. Anyway, nothing to do: that match finished as a draw. According to the official rules, signed by presenters, dancers and judges, in case of an equal number of votes, judges can choose the winner: Veronik is the winner, the 2006 Italian Dancehall Queen! Obviously, some people are not agree with that judges’ decision that arouses little controversy… From NewYork, Puma outta LP International starts his danz and ends that blazing night…
Interview to Enrico Vicari Pirates Production’s General Manager
done in Bologna, Italy on January 14, 2007
Giulio: Hi Enrico, I congratulate you on having well done the 2006 Italian Dancehall Queen Contest first. Second, why did you have changed location for that competition? Why you must left Rome (Villaggio Globale) towards Perugia (CRAL club)?
Enrico: Well, I think that problem is really difficult to understand if you are living out of Italy because it is a problem standing inside the Italian situation… But I try to well explain it to you. Changing the venue of the Italian Contest is linked to places like the “Villaggio Globale” based on different self-managed realities dealing with politics.
With Artist Coordinators’ permission we fixed the date on Saturday 25th of November, 2006 and we rent the venue. Besides, we started promoting the event with thousands of flyer all over Italy. One day the boss gave me a call saying the Dancehall Queen Contest was arousing too much internal controversy among the different groups working at the “Villaggio Globale”. In particular, this event was seen by feminist movement like a pornographic and sexist competition. Thus, they did not want to let it… there was three weeks to the show only!!!
As I said above, I think that problem is linked to the reggae music’s Italian development. Reggae music is largely played in self-managed places like the “Villaggio Globale” and that is a positive point. On the other hand, the negative point is that Italian people have decontextualized the phenomenon of reggae music and they have took just little things of this culture without seeing its roots, its values and its spirit of contradiction as well. That is to say that Italian people can see reggae culture as peace, love and unity, but they do not see (or better they do not want to see) dancing to dancehall reggae music as an expression of the soul and they do not see dancers as artists, but they are. Music is not Jamaica’s only gift to the world. Reggae dancing gave the Jamaican youths a voice and something to call their own; therefore, to Jamaicans reggae dancing is a very significant part of Reggae music and often given the same importance as the music itself.
Taking into account these words, I think that we Italians should stop judging our culture and our way to feel the body, dancing and sensuality as the best in the world. I think we should stop choosing what is right and what is wrong before going deeply inside another culture. According to that, I think it is wrong every kind of censure.
Well, the Italian Dancehall Queen Contest left Rome and we the promoters challenged bitter controversy. Some time ago, even we had to cancel Italian tours of Reggae singers who are very famous in the world because of this strange kind of Italian censure.
Besides, I think that question might be exploded this year because of the bigger success of the contest in Italy than some years ago. Nowadays, a number of Italian dancers love Jamaican dances and longing to know them and learn them! At this point Giulio… I ask to myself: Is it still possible to pretend Reggae music is just Bob Marley and no more? Or rather, is Jamaica something more complicated, something that should be known before judging?
Anyway, we moved the Italian Dancehall Queen Contest over Perugia with the collaboration of I-Shence and BashFire, two Italian Sound Systems from Perugia, and more than thousand people from all over Italy was there in order to support their gyals dancing. For the first time in Italy, we have made an official DVD of that night that is going round the world…