Who is In The Dance?

Tuesday, October 04, 2011

SAID to be the Jamaican remix of Soul Train and American Band Stand, In The Dance definitely displays the different elements of Jamaican dance culture at their best.

In The Dance, which aires on Fridays at 9:00 pm on Television Jamaica, is the first show from the region to be globally syndicated.

It airs throughout nine Caribbean countries; and is shown throughout 22 million households within Europe, Africa and Asia through a partnership with Trace TV.

The show has been credited for being a first-class production that is 100 per cent Jamaican. They have also recieved much applause for the fact that the dancers, the set and the music, all display our Jamaican culture on a world stage.

But who is In The Dance?

With masterminds, executive producer and creator, Chris Smith alongside 21 Entertainment Productions, the four-year dream of feeding the world's interest in the Jamaican culture came true.

After auditions were held to seek new faces and some fresh dancers, the excellent team managed to shoot 12 episodes in just a week. Some of the dancers from season one like Fluffy Krissy, Global Bob and Queen Lateesha passed through to share their high energy with new faces this season like Adonis Outerspace, Raddy Rich, Daney Bop, Clever K and SWA.

Just wrapping up its second season, TEENage sat down with The Wizard, one of the show's music producers, who works with newcomer Leonardo Carmichel and singer/songwriter Courtney John.

This team deals with all of the music production for the show, and The Wizard told TEENage that she believes she copped the job because of her eclectic style and creativity.

Sharing that she is somewhat a self-taught musician, she stated that she was exposed to music from the toddler years, and that she has been making beats from the age of 10.

She went on to explain that she decided to further her studies at the Edna Manley College of the Performing Arts where she perfect her skills and pursued a major in drumming.

Currently working with Calabash Productions and having gotten involved with the production of In The Dance through 21 Entertainment Productions, The Wizard continues to show off the uniqueness of her talents in music.

When asked about what inspires her, she explained that just about anything can influence her to try a new beat or combine instruments.

So far she has created riddims such as the Money Magnet Rhythm and the Boom Skeng Rhythm. She has worked with various artistes including Tifa, Bugle, Nelly Furtado and Fefe Dubson; and as a result of this some of her work will soon be available on i-Tunes.

Describing herself as a brand, she says that there is much more to expect from her. One such thing is a series of workshops throughout various Caribbean countries and around the world.

The workshops will not only promote the show In The Dance, but will also promote Jamaican culture.

Newcomer to In The Dance, Leonardo Carmichel also gave us some info on who he is and where his love for music is coming from.

He explained that he is a singer/songwriter, who also studied drumming at the Edna Manley College of the Performing Arts. He didn't stop there though as he was also involved in the UWI Singers and the Steel Band Orchestra.

When asked about how he got involved in In The Dance, Carmichel explained that it was The Wizard, who pushed him to do it. He proudly expressed how great an experience it has been for him as a writer especially with the chance to work with The Wizard and Courtney John.

He told TEENage that when working on the music for the show, they took into consideration the culture of dancehall music and the fact that the music is for people to party to, so it has to be fun and high energy.

He told TEENage that "...a song generally writes itself, you just have to be a conduit."

He then mentioned that they take quite some time putting it all together single by single, and ended up with about 40 songs; from there they selected their collection to be used for the show.

With a solid production team and creative musicians leading the pack, it's no surprise that the show doing as well as it is.

Be sure to check out their moile app for In The Dance, and to keep up with all the happenings with the show and new moves on Twitter: @inthedanceshow and on Facebook/InTheDance.

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Who is In The Dance?