Thu | Mar 28, 2024

Shower dance for Seaga

Published:Friday | May 29, 2020 | 12:09 AM
A Tivoli dance group performs in the rain in tribute to the late Edward Seaga at his tomb on Thursday. A floral tribute was laid at National Heroes Park on the first anniversary of Seaga's passing.
A Tivoli dance group performs in the rain in tribute to the late Edward Seaga at his tomb on Thursday. A floral tribute was laid at National Heroes Park on the first anniversary of Seaga's passing.

Not even a downpour on Thursday afternoon could dampen the spirits of members of the Tivoli Dance Group who were determined to pay tribute to the late Edward Seaga at a ceremony to mark the first anniversary of his passing at the National Heroes Park.

With carefully choreographed moves to the song You Raise Me Up, the dancers, clad in masks, were seemingly unaffected by the rain, soaking wet as they went through their paces and delivered a performance that elicited strong applause from the gathering.

One of the dancers, Sebrena West, told The Gleaner that Seaga had a special love for the dance group.

“We would never allow the rain to stop us ... We used our dance to honour him.”

Luriesha Shelton, another dancer, said that the performance meant a lot to her, adding that the late former MP of Kingston West was a tower of strength behind the dance group. “Dancing is what we do, so rain or sunshine, we are going to come out and do our best,” she said.

A SAD DAY

Prime Minister Andrew Holness was the first of about a dozen persons who placed floral tributes at the shrine of the man who served as member of parliament for Kingston Western for 43 years until he retired in 2005.

In laying a floral tribute, Christopher Seaga was overcome with emotion as he tried to wipe tears that ran down on to the mask he wore.

In his remarks, Holness said it was a sad day as the country remembered Seaga but noted that “we don’t reflect on him only in sadness ... Today, we celebrate him as well, the great work, and accomplishments of a great man paying tribute to his legacy”.

Seaga’s protégé and the man who succeeded him as MP in Kingston West, Desmond McKenzie, said there were plans to celebrate the memory of the late leader in a major way this year, but those preparations have been disrupted by COVID-19.

He said that the Denham Town Primary and Infant School was to be renamed in honour of Seaga this week. However, he said that those plans have been put on hold for now.