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THE SECOND PLACE WINNER OF THE 2004 INTERNATIONAL DANCEHALL QUEEN EVENT HELD IN MONTEGO BAY JAMAICA. www.dancehall-queen.com

INTERVIEW WITH MOMO; THE SECOND PLACE 2004  INTERNATIONAL DANCEHALL QUEEN    Is Momo your real name?  If not how did you get the name Momo? Everybody calls me "MoMo", but my real name is Maude. MoMo is a nick name my mother gave me a  long time ago and it just stayed. Have you always been a dancer?  Is dancing something you plan on pursuing as a career or is this just a hobby?   It seems I've been dancing forever, when I was young I did a little ballet and some gymnastics, but the discipline in those dances never satisfied my craving for creation. As I grew older I got into break-dancing and belly dancing but still something was not fitting right. But since I found Dancehall Reggae dancing I know I want to do this forever. I really plan to make something out of this with some Reggae dance classes, promo DVD's, and also a web site coming up soon www.dancehall-queen.com and the goal with this is to dance all over the world and make people see and love this dance.  Dancing and Art in all its forms have always been my life. And will continue to be a dedicated dancer. One show, one contest is not enough to feel the vibes I have to do more, more, more....   How did you first become involved with Dancehall and dancing to reggae/dancehall?   About 2 years ago I watched a  Sean Paul's video called ''Get Busy'' and I was mesmarised by the choreographies which are usually so lame in other commercial videos. I fell in love right away and started learning directly from the screen, replaying until I got it down pat. After a couples days I started to research on this style of dancing and learnt that it was a Jamaican style of dancing and that many other moves and people were involved, I got to see videos of Junko, Keiva, Bogle etc ...and got carried away by the diversity of moves and riddims. Finally my creativity level was met.   What process did you go through to be a contestant in the Jamaican Dancehall Queen Competition?   I just searched the web for the contact to reach Big Head the promoter of the Dancehall Queen contest. Finally I found them on a site were some dude in Kingston had interviewed him and he left his numbers and e mail address, so I just wrote to him, and then him told me to call to put my name on the list. He did not seem to believe I was going  to come that far so he was not telling me a lot about the contest and all. I then wrote him and told him that I was making plane ticket reservations and all...a few weeks later I told him I was in Kingston and on my way to Montego Bay for the contest. Finally I was in Jamaica "FI REAL"..   How did you prepare for the competition?   Practice a lot and especially I wanted to be in Jamaica before the contest to go all around and to be and feel Jamaica and Jamaicans. I went to the Asylum and other dances around the island to learn the new moves to be ready for the contest. I also had crazy routines done by my DJ and had crazy dance routines to go with them. I almost died practicing them in my little hotel room with an old rug and a 45 degrees Celsius temperature, but it was all worth it.   Did you ever feel like an outsider being that you were not Jamaican and competing for this title?   No never because I love this dance and Jamaica too much to feel uncomfortable with the people, plus the girls at the contest were not frontin' or anything, everybody was chill. A lot of people from other countries came too. Girls from Japan, U.S.A, Belize, Sweden etc...so it was not too weird being the only Canadian and white girl; it was actually a good feeling.   Tell us about the competition?   ouuuuhhh...They never played my routines I practiced so hard, I never got to see any other girl dance since we had to change costumes and clean up all the time since the stage was really really bad and dirty because of the rain during the day (but my boyfriend was great and helped me until the end). Things were happening so quickly, I can't even remember half the moves I did. All I know is that the crowd was going crazy and that feeling was so amazing I messed up in one of my freestyle routines and I was sure I had not made the top 5...but then they called my name I was still changing so I quickly got ready and ran on stage and did my second freestyle and nailed it. That was the best part. Then Junko gave me my prize and we just chilled till the sun came up. Crazy Crazy Night.   How was the experience in Montego Bay changed you?   It has made me love Jamaica so much, I want to move there. I was there with my boyfriend the entire time and he feels the same as I do...the best would be to build a little home and just chill in the Caribbean forever. It seems weird for me to be back at my house after living such a big experience in Jamaica with this Dancehall queen contest thing, people in Montego Bay and Kingston were calling me Dancehall Queen in the streets all the time and seriously that is a great feeling I must admit.   What are you plans from this point forward?   Well right now I am planning to go to New York for the filming of "How Fi Dance" Reggae Volume 2 ''Instructional'' at the end of September. After , more dancing; wherever; whenever. I want to learn more moves and get the opportunity to show some I have created myself and of course be able to dance in Jamaica with Jamaicans again because that's the best place to do it.   If anyone wants to contact you to book you for dances how should they get in touch with you?   Promoter's and anyone interested can reach me at the following e-mails: momo@dancehall-queen.com or for bookings management@dancehall-queen.com or call 418-261-6728 and ask for Fade or MoMo.     This interview was put together with MOMO and the MontrealDancehall.com crew. ***You can check out MOMO at Tiffany Hall as a guest appearance for the first REGGAE DANCE CLASH Part I. This event will be held on Saturday October 16, 2004 and will also feature the Canadian Dancehall Queen: SPICE and various dancers from Ottawa; Toronto and Montreal. Don't miss this event! It is guaranteed to be the biggest dancehall  dancing event ever to hit the island of Montreal, Canada.   Lets support MOMO to the fullest as she represents our city!