THE theme for the Ministry of Education & Development's presentation of Spring Into The Arts 2004 was 'Dreams', an appropriate choice as scores of the island's students showed their artistic talents, ranging from liturgical dance to performing in their high school bands.

Going into the ninth year, the island-wide performance kicked off from April 14-20 with the Clearwater Family of Schools, The Whitney Family of Schools, The Dellwood Family of Schools, The Spice Valley Family of Schools and the finale featuring the Sandys Family of Schools performing at the Sandys Secondary Middle School, while the aforementioned schools performed at the CedarBridge Academy.

With 'Dreams' being played out in front of friends, family and faculty, the event ? held under the patronage of Premier Alex Scott and his wife Olga ? was designed to showcase the talent and artistic skills of students in Bermuda; display excerpts of artistic initiatives presented to the community throughout the school year; bring arts together; encourage greater participation in and appreciation for the arts; and introduce students to Bermuda's community artists.

The Harrington Sound School choir were in rare form and gave a three-song selection, one of them the easily recognisable version of . The choir eased their way through their songs without a hint of nervousness and received a thunderous round of applause.

A recorder selection by the Elliott Primary showed these eight budding musicians were up to the task as they performed their version of and . These pre-teens were a tough act to follow as their older counterparts from the Bermuda College performed a talk show skit.

The skit revolved around the proverbial call-in show which seemed more like a shameless self-plug for the college in terms of the FAQs (frequently asked questions). While it was informative, it did have some rather humorous moments and showed the ethnic cross-section of the community interested in pursuing a higher education at the College.

Kicking things off for the private school contingent was the Bermuda Christian Academy. The students of this educational institution performed a well-choreographed dance routine to inspirational song, which had a funky techno / house beat. If there was an exception to the rule of all work and no play, then this number was a shining example as these students 'did their homework' in performing as a finely tuned unit.

The first community artist of the evening to grace the stage was Toni Robinson. The astute master of ceremonies Wendell (Shine) Hayward, shared a few light-hearted moments with Ms Robinson who has been singing since she was 13 years old. Her vocal range was nothing short of phenomenal as she gave a stirring rendition of and .

As many times as I have heard this talented singer it would be a boon to her to expand her repertoire as I have heard her sing the same pair of songs at previous shows. But as many times as I have heard her sing, she still succeeded in giving this scribe goose-bumps.

At the other end of the musical spectrum was the United Dance Production who showed their prowess by performing three dancehall songs, one of which was Elephant Man's . There was a brief segment devoted to the evening's honourees, Mrs. Georgine Hill and Kenneth Dill. Presenting the award, Anthony Crichlow and Mrs. Hill's son Buddy accepted the award on her behalf. Mr. Dill was on hand to accept his award, which was presented by Mrs. Lynette George.

"Art defines who we are and it prepares us for leadership," said Mr. Dill as he encouraged the students to embrace the arts.

Prospect Primary School choir / choral section known as the Dreamers made a fine showing and the host family was the Whitney Institute whose musical segment was the playing of handbells. These honour students were in their final year of school, but managed to find time to be involved in community activities.

The Sign Language Club from the Elliott Primary School signed to an inspirational song, which may look easy, but to stay in time to the music and vocals was no easy feat. One can honestly say the conductor's young charges definitely got their message across!

The Premier heaped praise on the evening's performers and handed out the People's Choice Award to a student whose impressionist painting was deemed worthy of the recognition. In their second stint of the evening, the Bermuda College performed two skits, one entitled "Carnal Knowledge", which dealt with the choices of youth and parenthood, and the second skit, entitled "Choices", that dealt with a young man who would have liked to be father while his girlfriend has second thoughts. The hard-hitting skit had some heated moments and the liturgical dance scene bore an uncanny resemblance to James Brown's .

The following night hosted by the Dellwood Family of Schools was in stark contrast to the previous night's performances. Several less than considerate attendees talked throughout the evening, which made trying to enjoy the show an exercise in futility.

The Berkeley Institute Choir opened the musical portion of the evening's entertainment and received a loud round of applause. When it came to the school's band some critics in the audience were not as generous as they snickered as one clarinet squeaked throughout a song.

The inspirational theme for musical choice seemed to carry through for most of the evening as the West Pembroke School Choir showed potential as these kids pulled out all the stops during their brief stint on stage.

A slide show depicting some Bermuda scenery seemed a little out of place as part of the projection was on some of the choir members. During the flora ad fauna segment of the presentation, a couple of bikini-clad beauties were projected onto the screen, which drew some snickers from children in the audience.

Undaunted by the projection screen being too low and having some of the images projected on to some of the choir members, the choir sang which brought out the patriotic spirit of all within earshot.

The Victor Scott contingent had a bit of that retro flair as they performed a series of Jackson Five cover tunes. A musical timeline featured a young Michael Jackson to the modern-day King of Pop. The segment was entertaining, although the Billie Jean dance segment could have been substituted for a more age appropriate dance number.

With the previous acts being more family oriented, watching a pre-pubescent crotch-grabbing, hip-shaking school kid seemed incongruous to the theme of Spring Into the Arts. The applause was deafening to say the least as MC for the evening Wendell Dill said: "Victor Scott still has it."

The two honourees were Mrs. Susan Judd whose award was presented by Robert Richardson, head boy at the Berkeley Institute, and Jonathan Trott, the patriarch of Spanish Town, whose award was presented to him by Attiya Talbot, the head girl at the Berkeley Institute. The Northlands Primary School stayed on safer ground with their instrumental representation of the cover tune , with a heavy percussive beat and a brief rap about their class was thrown in for good measure.

Their choir sang two songs before making way for dancer Joanna Powell. After she'd performed an expressive dance routine, the MC read out Powell's biography which was impressive with more thanr two decades of dance experience under her belt and performing stints in Europe and Canada before landing a teaching role at CedarBridge Academy.

A staunch advocate of the arts, Joanna made it known that it would be advantageous to have more arts programmes in the island's schools.

The evening's finale was almost scuttled due to technical glitches, but they managed to rectify any hiccups and performed their version of the .

The performance was divided into two acts and the cast made full use of the stage and the costumes and props added to the Afrocentric atmosphere. By the show's end, the audience showed their appreciation with a standing ovation and a chorus of cheers and whistles.