Emergency Crew puts on dazzling dance performance |22 August 2022

The dance group ‘Emergency Crew’ recently put on a two-hour dazzling dance performance in front of an enthusiastic crowd of fans and other music lovers in a packed International Conference Centre.

“It’s been a very long time since we haven’t seen a dance performance at that level.  It was great. We had a wonderful and joyful evening. Hats off to the dancers and organisers of the show,” said a group of cheering young ladies.   

The show by Emergency Crew was entitled ‘Dance Revolution’ and the group’s leader, dancer and dance instructor Ronny Marengo said they had wanted to see how the public react to the ‘Dance Revolution’ in terms of the level of dance in the country and also to test the students’ performances and abilities in front of a crowd taking into account that they had only six months to prepare for the show.  

The different music genres performed by the group included hip-hop, contemporary tunes, Afro-beat, sega and other traditional dances. It was the group’s first big show, put together on their own since their creation.

The dance performances among which some dancers accompanied popular local artists such as Sandra, Jda, Aaron, Champion, Josh Wilds and Alx, had the crowd on their feet throughout the entire show.

During the show, the group also unveiled the new branded logo of the Emergency Crew Academy designed by artist Urny Mathiot. The colours in the new logo represent the three categories of classes being offered by the Emergency Crew Academy which are: red for the kids, yellow for the juniors and blue for the adults.

Before transforming into a dance academy, the Emergency Crew as a group has performed in various shows  locally in such competitions as ‘Sesel I AnnanTalan’, the famous youth music and dance competition organised by the Seychelles National Youth Council (SNYC) which they won in the 2018 dance edition. The group also had the opportunity to take part in international dance events.

Formed in 2005 by Ronny Marengo when he was still a student at the Seychelles Polytechnic at Anse Royale, the group also comprises Gael Guichard, Diane Dodin, Wilnette Joseph and Stephanie Marie. But after a few performances the group went dormant as a result of the members parting ways.

The group came back to life and in full force in 2018 for the ‘Sesel I Annan Talan’ competition and has since remained together.

Apart from the dance classes for children, juniors and adults, Emergency Crew has also  embarked on a project entitled ‘Beyond The Stars’, in collaboration with some popular artists. It is a TV show aired on Telesesel which features artists such as Cocky, Sandra, Swagg Tunes, among others,  where they work alongside the dancers to choreograph dances related to their songs. The aim of the platform is to build artists’ confidence on stage and equip them with dance skills when performing as well as provide them with dancers to accompany them during their performances.  

The dance classes by Emergency Crew take place every Monday, Tuesday and Saturday at the Citizens Engagement Platform Seychelles (Ceps) conference room, Orion Mall. The dance classes for children is from 3pm to 4.30pm, juniors from 4.30pm to 5.30pm and for the adults from 5.30pm to 7pm.

Mr Marengo said they are on the lookout for another venue to accommodate the many applicants wishing to join the classes.  Emergency Crew offers classes in hip-hop, contemporary, Afro-beats, sega and other traditional dances.

Mr Marengo said since they won the 2018 dance edition of ‘Sesel I Annan Talan’, they had wanted to impart their dance skills to others who want to participate in competitions.

He noted that creating more dance groups will allow more children and youths to join and this will therefore help to prevent them from falling prey to anti-social activities.  

He added that the dance evolution is happening everywhere in the world and for the country to catch up with the evolution will depend on the creative innovation and promotion of the different dances, especially the local traditional dance, even though with some slight  modernisation by the youths.  

Anybody wishing to join the group can either approach the founding members or call at the Ceps training room, Orion Mall during classes on the days mentioned.

The accompanying photos show some highlights of the recent show.

Patrick Joubert