L’ANTOINETTE Stines — founder/artistic director of L’Acadco dance group — is planning to announce the creation of an awards ceremony aimed at recognising Jamaica’s outstanding dancers and companies.

The announcement, according to Stines, will be made at the L’Acadco Dance Awards scheduled for the Pollyanna Caterers and Banqueters in St Andrew, at 6:00 pm today.

“There are no awards ceremony for dancers in this country. There are competitions, but no awards ceremony,” she told the Sunday Observer.

“There are various awards for other professions such as the Actor Boy Awards for actors, but none for dancers. There’s nothing to take care of the dancers.”

According to the artistic director, the occasion will be called the Jamaica Daance Awards. No launch date is yet set for that awards.

“The reason why I chose the word ‘Daance’ is because we [Jamaicans] dance from a spiritual base, unlike other forms of dance,” she explained.

Stines said the winners of the various categories will not be chosen by her, but “by a select committee”.

“The first major meeting will be held this month,” she said.

The dance categories include traditional, jazz, contemporary and dancehall. Other categories include choreography, costume and creative concept.

The artistic director said the dancehall category winner will be selected by the judges, as well as by the public.

Last year, L’Acadco dance company celebrated its 30th anniversary with a two-week season at the Philip Sherlock Centre in St Andrew.

The theme was ‘Past, Present and Future’ and boasted a diverse line-up of choreographers, all staging brand new pieces.