LAST Tuesday, the TEENage Expressions Tour made its latest stop at Rhodes Hall High School in Hanover. Though it was off the beaten path, the pick of original talent made it definitely worth the journey

The talent on this tour was not limited to the usual singing, dancing and dub poetry, we also discovered a couple of disc jockeys who kept the vibes pumping even before the start of the performances.

The first student to hit the Expressions Tour stage was Sean Downes, who impressed both the judges and the female students with his original song, I Play the Game of Cheating.

Kevon Whyte serenaded the ladies later with his original song What If I Should Be, which got a great forward from the crowd.

Shanna-Kay Williams, a reggae star in the making, was well received by the crowd with her inspirational, original song, Puddung Di Gun. The song had the crowd swaying, then cheering during her deejay segment.

Next came the first drama piece, in which Shantel Brown poured out her emotions, and professed her love and appreciation for her mother in her dub poem Mi Love Yuh Mama.

Tiona Watson’s vocals impressed the judges and students next, with her original love song I Am On The Rugged Road. Following Tiona’s rendition was another original love song by Abbegayle Virgo. Virgo serenaded the audience, with A Relationship Ain’t Easy, which granted her a loud round of applause.

The next item, another dub poem entitled Mama by students Kelene Salmon, Antwone Marks and Layla Allen, though good, was a little too low for the audience’s ears, but in good sport, they applauded nonetheless.

Tevin ‘Powa’ Daley took to the stage to screams from the audience and performed his inspiring original song Education.

The show then paused for the now-famous Pronto Cornmeal Porridge Mix Eat-off. The competition, which started out with a handful of students and teacher Lloyd Sterling, a favourite for the win, quickly whittled down to the winner — student Sean Downes.

Then dub poet Shantal Brown gave us a non-competition treat by returning to the stage, to sing Adele’s Someone Like You. This gave way to another mini-competition, the Flow/Seprod Shuttle Relay. Grade 11 student Kelene Shaw emerged the track star, winning the competition, and a beautiful Seprod basket.

Following this refreshing break was the last vocal performance of the day; Demar Salmon impressed the crowd with his original dancehall song, Bad Mind.

The first set of dancers then took to the stage. Star Girlz (Trena Elliot and Debbe-Ann Gooden) moved to a slew of current dancehall hits, but their moves were not enough to rouse the crowd.

While the final dance group prepared for the stage, teachers were called up from the audience to take part in a faculty-only dance competition.

Information technology teacher Miss Whyte, lab technician Mr Morgan, and physics teacher Mr Deacon danced to the music until the DJ dropped the current hit Swaggin and Mr Morgan started to pop and lock, passing it to Mr Deacon, who proceeded to ‘shell dung di place’.

Finally it was time for the last performance. The Plazma Boyz (Demar Salmon, Leon Moncrieffe, and Ojay Haye) entered the courtyard to screams from the audience. Their well-choreographed routine kept the audience cheering, especially when they finished with their dancehall version of the soca hit Go Dung.

While the judges deliberated, a DJ competition was held between teacher Raynard ‘DJ Ray Ray’ Morgan and sixth former Francois ‘DJ Head’ Phillips. In the first round the DJs were allowed to play out a selection for 10 minutes each. By the end of the round DJ Head had easily won over the crowd. But round two, ‘tune for tune’, was even more exciting and harder to judge. Both DJs had the crowd in a frenzy with each selection, but at the end of round two DJ Head was ‘The Last Man Standing’.

The DJ competition maintained the excitement long enough for the tour winners to be announced. In third place was Tiona Watson, while second place went to crowd favourites, the Plazma Boyz. And taking first place, and the chance to perform her moving dub poem Mi Love Yuh Mama at the Expression Tour finals in June was Shantel Brown.

The afternoon closed out with the guest artiste Rhodes Hall High School had been waiting all day for, artiste on the rise, Pattexx! The students sang along to Pattexx’s hits Cook, Summer Time, serenaded a TEENage writer, leaving the concert on a high with Party We Seh.