"̈My six year old enjoys TOY, at 3 she was a Blue Devil. Personally, being able to share my love for Trinidad and Tobago culture with her has been one of the greatest impacts for me. TOY is about the family experience and the sharing of traditions to ensure that they are not lost."
Tamara Da Breo speaks passionately about The Old Yard (TOY) produced by the Department of Creative and Festival Arts (DCFA) for the last 11 years.
A DCFA staffer for almost a decade, teaching Festival Management and Introduction to Business of the Arts and, before that, a DCFA student herself, Tamara has had the privilege of exposure to both the front and back end of production for this annual event. Now, as a practical trainer for students undertaking the Festival Management course, she helps stage what is unquestionably Trinidad and Tobago ́s most interactive Carnival educational experience.
On that Sunday, February 16, DCFA students had transformed the venue to resemble a heritage fair offering a fully immersive traditional Carnival masquerade. The audience became unwitting participants: victims of the Midnight Robber, alleged fathers of the illegitimate children of Baby Dolls, payees to demanding Blue Devils, and background choir members to vintage kaiso.
Tamara emphasised, “it is essential that we understand where we originated and how we as a people express and understand who we are and who we can become. Who wouldn’t like to walk through a cultural history experience in [the] present time? The looks on the faces of patrons tells a story that makes this meaningful and worthwhile every year”.
TOY provides patrons with unique opportunities: a chance to learn about our traditional Carnival characters in a relaxed and informal environment; to understand and address misconceptions about the origins and meanings of the festival; to appreciate the efforts of a grassroots initiative focused on cultural preservation. Such opportunities are few today, with complaints about the commercialisation of Carnival and the loss of these self-same characters due to lack of promotional activity and cultural continuity.
Against this backdrop, The Old Yard ́s team is determined to continue protecting cultural traditions through this interactive educational experience. It’s a small team - Dr. Jo-AnneTull, Louis McWilliams, Camille Harding, Joseph Drayton, Peter Craig and Tamara Da Breo – supported by DCFA staff and student volunteers. The team is responsible for all the elements - stage management, venue preparation and transformation, artists’ liaison and accreditation, promotion, sanitation, and security. Students work with the committee to produce the event in addition to performing their roles as Fancy Sailors, BabyDolls, Dame Lorraines, Jab Jabs, Midnight Robbers, Moko Jumbies and more, alongside veteran masqueraders. Also showcased are Carnival and Carnivalesque characters from elsewhere, like the Fancy Indians of New Orleans, the Haitian Jacmel Carnival and the Barbados Landship.
The Old Yard may be a vehicle, as Tamara says, to change the general mind set with regard to the meaning and nature of Carnival. But it is through festivals like Carnival that we come to an understanding of the cultural landscape of Trinidad and Tobago.
