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Glendon Morris Speaks

Glendon Morris - Artist, Designer
Glendon Morris - Artist, Designer

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Beauty of the costumes

Staff Article
Interview Recorded: April 25, 2005
Posted: May 15, 2005


I will continue doing what I am doing until I cannot do it anymore. I believe it is a committee thing though. I have seen people suffer in the past because of not having the right people to look after their interest. They will make mistakes and some of them are very stubborn. For example, last year I liked Geraldo Vieira's costume but it lacked something. I was doing the lighting and it was not taking the lights. This is a night show, you have to make night costume for Competition. The costume was 'Aladdin' and he had this skeleton with a sword and the Aladdin hat on top, and the costume got lost. I had to say the costume was Aladdin's' last ride because where was Aladdin? The judges couldn't even see Aladdin. It should have been the other way around. Aladdin is riding on a bird. You were seeing the big bird but no Aladdin. When it came on stage there was no impact and he was one of the main contenders. What happened with him was, he came first in Preliminaries and he came first in Semi-Finals so he relaxed. He said, "I am winning." Well that was far fetched because he came third. He called me a critic and I am a critic in my own way because I know what looks good. Nothing is wrong with being a critic.

All the costumes that were winning King and Queen of the Bands they were in front of a costume; they had on a body costume. His son is always inside of a costume in some black clothes and carrying the costume in a way that was difficult for you to see his face. He should come out of the costume and show that he is part of the costume because the body costume is just as important as the costume behind you. He is getting licks right through and he is not getting involved with the times. Alana Ward is beating them left, right and center with that. Her body costume was just as brilliant as the costume in the back and when she stands up front, I am telling you, it's glittering from head to toe. That is what you need. It is a plus for you. I am not criticizing anybody. I am trying to help them. It is constructive criticism. Some people can handle it and some cannot.

There are so many things you can talk about. So many examples that are practical with regards to the beauty of the costumes. But for some reason they are not practical because some of them break; they cannot carry it on stage properly or they do not have any movement. Roland St. George for example is one of those characters that would not portray a costume that he could move. He is always like a chariot pulling this thing. You could come high but you would not win because somebody else would come and 'wine down' the place and show movement, and they will come and beat you all the time. They do not listen. They think about size - the bigger the better is the more impact. Well that is not so, and Pamela Gordon proved that this year. Size is not going to create impact. If you have to move your costume across that stage, you have to show that the costume is not controlling you.

There was another beautiful costume with a lot of fruits and flowers, a sort of Spanish type costume, which reminded me of 'Saucy Simonetta'. I knew she was going to win Queen of the Band. It was a big Spanish hat, like a sombrero, with all the ruffles on it. Even with the subdued light on the track you would have realized that the costume was a good costume. It was fantastic. It was not the kind of costume you would pass and just say it looks good. Something would pull your eyes to it. She was standing in front of the costume and I was just looking at it and saying, "Oh my goodness, that costume looks good." It was like "The Hat I got for Christmas", the guy who portrayed it won for the same thing. Remember I talked about 'Gulliver's Travels'? Well this guy won because the hat looked like a regular size hat on the stage but he looked very small. It was a big hat and he was just spinning the hat on stage. All these ideas create impact, and if you cannot find a good form or a good design that can create impact, you will get beaten. Another good costume that came second was the 'Bachac Pushing Ganga' that Geraldo Vieira brought out. It was a bachac carrying a big ganga leaf on its back. Everybody thought that costume would win, but then again, Man Crab beat him. Again you see that is the difference, that edge.

I like competition because it makes you bring out your best. If you were in the Savannah last Saturday, 16th April, when Bradley put down that performance on stage and you wanted your hair to stand up straight on your head, then that is the kind of performance will make it happen. My god, it was fantastic! And the thing about it is, I was scoring with my little pen and paper, so I gave myself a benchmark of fifty points, and anything comes before or after that, I would either go up or down. When Despers came on stage and Clyde Bradley put down that performance, he stole the show. I never heard anything like that and he did it with style. It was great. I really enjoyed the show. It was something else.

Continue...

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