Crowned contestants capture spirit of Carnaval 2007

MISSION DISTRICT — Some of the Bay Area’s most enthusiastic children and teens put their best dance moves forward on Saturday, April 21, to compete for Carnaval 2007’s Jr. King & Queen and Prince & Princess crowns.

The competition for San Francisco Carnaval 2007’s junior court titles was held at Everett Middle School Auditorium at 460 Church. Representing the spirit of Carnaval as well as their love for their various global communities, contestants donned colorful costumes and performed exhilarating dance numbers to Brazilian, Jamaican and hip hop music. Unbridled enthusiasm was directed back to the stage for each performer with supportive clapping and applause from family members, friends and the judges of the competition.

This year’s theme for Carnaval is “Love Happens”, and the Mission Neighborhood Centers who sponsored the competition showed their love for the community event by encouraging all junior candidates to be participants of this world-renown celebration.

Contest emcees Merissa Lyons (junior queen 2006) and Valencia Newton, both known as Sistas-wit-Style, hosted the competition with a community admiration for all participants. “The contestants are judged on the basis of talent, performance and their spirit with Carnaval,” Lyons told the audience of about 70 people. Many of the children extended their spirited embrace of Carnaval to the audience by tossing necklaces and candy from the stage.

I interviewed one contestant for Carnaval Princess who I felt captured the spirit of Carnaval with her raw energy and excitement for performing on stage. Only nine-years old, Danielle Delgado from Puerto Rico danced and gyrated while tossing the Puerto Rican flag about the stage in a performance that raised audience members to their feet with impulsive clapping and whistling. She said that the competition was not intimidating though it was her first time performing alone on stage. On the contrary, she enjoyed going about her performance alone, twirling the Puerto Rican flag around her and dancing around it on stage.

Catching up with Danielle during intermission, when she posed for photographers from other local media, she disclosed to City Fanfare just how much work she put into preparing for the contest. “Practice, practice and lots of practice,” Danielle said, exhaling with a bit of exhaustion.

Normally accustomed to performing with her dance group at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, Danielle said she was in her element in this contest of solo competitors. “It feels great to be doing something solo on stage where you can see what you can do by yourself,” she said.

Although she did not win the competition for Carnaval Princess, Danielle stole from the hearts of everyone present in the audience. The winners of the crowned court included Prince Raymond Lyons (8 years old from Oakland), Princess Onaja Waki (11, Oakland), Junior King Amoya Walker (17, Oakland), and Junior Queen Yanneth Alvarenga (16, San Francisco).

Other contestants included, for Carnaval Prince and Princess, Sasha Arevalo, Emely Alberto, Prince Ice, Valonda Winfrey, Zulema Ramirez, Dani Barraza, Remy Walker, and Cassandra Villasenor; and for Jr. King and Queen, Erica Ramos, Edwin Lara, Taina Oliveira Cannon, Tracy Enskip, Kiana Rachal, and Isabella Matal Sol.

The Carnaval San Francisco Festival takes place Saturday, May 26 and Sunday, May 27, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Harrison Street between 16th and 24th St. The Grand Parade takes place Sunday, May 27th at 9:30 a.m., which begins at 24th and Bryant St. and travels to 24th and Mission to 17th and Mission, then to 17th and Harrison St. For additional information, visit carnavalsf.com.

View more photos from this article at flickr.com/photos/cityfanfare.

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