Raymond Lawrence and Ophelia Marie Applaud Dominica’s Sterling Performance at CARIFESTA

Raymond Lawrence and Ophelia Marie applaud Dominica’s sterling performance at CARIFESTA. Lawrence is the country’s chief cultural officer and Marie is acclaimed to be Dominica’s Lady of Songs. Both led a delegation of about 40 performers to participate in the just-concluded CARIFESTA IV event which took place between August 16 and 29 at Trinidad and Tobago.

According to Lawrence, the event was an overall success and the Dominican delegation performed excellently each time they took the stage. The cultural officer appreciated the Skerrit-led administration for enabling the delegation to represent the country powerfully at the event where more than 20 Caribbean nations were represented. Dominica at one time shared the stage with Martinique, Guadeloupe and St. Lucia to make a joint presentation.

“All in all, we got some very excellent reviews from people who saw and heard Dominica’s presentations, especially the performances and our country nights, which is an evening where each country displayed what they had to offer,” Lawrence explained. ‘Our presentation was very well received and was a resounding success.”

Apart from the presentations, Dominican arts and culture were also put on display. Various Kalinago crafts were showcased and hundreds of ethnic artifacts were displayed at trade booths. Movies by Alwin Bully and Michael Lee were also screened to a very appreciative audience with great rave reviews. It is expected that in future participations, Dominican fashion and cuisines among other cultural values will be presented to the world.

In fact, delegates and sponsors hope that Dominica will be able to host future iterations of the regional event.

Ophelia Marie expressed deep appreciation to both the government and delegates for the success of the representation. She said the national representatives neat, organized and very hardworking with every aspect of their individual performances. She said she was glad to be part of the team.

“We were a contingent of 40 persons because Dominica wasn’t making any joke this time and everybody played his part,” Marie stated. “The first aspect that I witnessed was the opening and when Dominica came on that stage, that community just lit up because they were looking so neat, so organized and so serious about their resilience. We were supposed to have four in all; two in Tobago and two in Trinidad itself and every time the feedback was really very good.”

Although Lawrence and Marie said the delegation faced a few challenges, they disclosed this year’s representation was the best for the Dominican delegation in terms of performance and overall acceptability.

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