Red Label Wine International Dancehall Queen 2007 Maude "MoMo" Francato (seated), 26, of Quebec City Canada is flanked by her runners-up; 2nd Place; Kadian Reid (right), 23, of Montego Bay, and 3rd place, Angelina Battle, 20, of Boston.
A bottle-throwing incident marred the 11th staging of the Red Label Wine International Dancehall Queen competition on Saturday, forcing the promoters to rethink the format of future stagings of the event.
Sections of the large crowd which turned out to see the event at Pier One pelted the stage with liquor bottles after the judges announced 27 year-old Canadian Maude “MoMo” Francato as the winner, forcing contestants, organizers and patrons to run for cover.
"We definitely will have to resort to no bottles in the venue in order to prevent something like this happening in the future," said promoter Brian 'Big Head' Martin after the incident had subsided. "Once it happens once, it will happen again."
Martin expressed disappointment at what he said were the misguided actions of a minority of the audience, which succeeded in marring the event and scoffed at accusations by some patrons that they colluded with the judges to select Francato as the eventual winner.
"There were five different judges and it is unlikely that they would have colluded to fix the winner," said Martin. "Furthermore, the promoters have no hand in the judging of the girls and it would not serve our interest to preordain the winner."
This is not the first time the highly controversial event, known for its raw, sexually suggestive dance routines, has been marred by violence. In 2005, the audience reacted in similar manner, rejecting the judges' choice and eventually choosing the now deceased Shanique Taylor as the winner. Ironically, Francato, who hails from Quebec City in Canada, and describes herself as a professional dancer, was a crowd favorite from the beginning.
Unfazed by Saturday's violent episode, Francato was able to return to the stage to pose for pictures with her runners-up, second place Kadian Reid, 23, of King Street in Montego Bay and third place winner Angelina Battle, 20, of Boston in the USA.
Reid, who burst into tears after she was announced as the second place winner, subsequently erupted into an angry tirade, claiming that she should have worn the crown. "She can't even wine," Reid said of Francato.
However, the 27-year-old, who was entering the competition for the third time - placing second in 2004 and not placing in 2005 - said she was overjoyed at her win and felt it was deserved as she had put in a lot of hard work.
"There is no way to describe how I feel right now," she said. "I wanted it so badly." Francato, who won a $300,000 cash prize, said she would now use her position as Dancehall Queen to raise awareness in her hometown. Reid won $150,000 and Battle won $100,000.
The competition, which this year attracted a record 48 contestants from Europe and North America, including Austria, Germany and Estonia, kicked off shortly after midnight without incident.
The contestants, displaying skill and agility on current dance moves, including Raging Bull, Drop Dead and Dutty Wine to hits by Vybz Kartel, Beenie Man, Munga Honourable and Rihanna, were soon narrowed to a field of 20.
The 20 contestants then had a quick two-minute dance off, with five outstanding dancers emerging as crowd favorites. Reid's wild gyrations to Beenie Man's, ‘Cock It Up, Gal’ and Francato's fresh take on current dance captured the imagination of the crowd.
It was then down to the selected five contestants to out-dance each other, showing all levels of skills, bumflicking and head-top wining to the delight of the audience.
-www.jamacianobeserver.com
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