Venum Squad did an impressive Elvis Presley impersonation during the 'Dancin' Dynamites' competition. - Colin Hamilton

By Carolyn Johnson, Freelance Writer

The fifth studio show of the MiPhone Dancin' Dynamites competition, dubbed 'oldies but goodies', was dominated by a 28 and an 18-year-old; one a teacher, the other a patient care assistant, together, Venum Squad.

Dressed in black pants, satin blue shirts with flared white sleeves, the group was like Elvis Presley incarnates, and was just as captivating. As they rocked in the tree top and rolled, doing the famous Elvis swish of the hair with rolling hips and the guitar move, Venum Squad had the crowd and judges eating out of their hands.

Full marks

Guyanese Howard Daly of L'Acadco, guest judge, broke the trend of harshness that has been prevalent in the competition over the last two weeks, and awarded the group full marks.

"De bwoy dem dance good, man," one audience member said, shaking his head in appreciation of the score.

On Saturday, the duo became the first to get full marks for their performance. Another first was the retro theme as the competition took a trip down memory lane, to the '60s and '70s, guided by ace disc jokey Stokey Love, making his debut appearance on the show. Added to this, Kayatic Vybz made their first entry to the popularity count, coming in second this week, after Attitude Brothers and before Kimbe. Not as fortunate was H.J. Dancers from Trelawny, the second top-10 casualty. The group scored 17 last week for their soca performance.

But for one hour on Television Jamaica it was the funk, rock and roll, ska, blues and Michael Jackson that were 'dandimite'. Even the studio floor manager had a hard time controlling the explosion. Each group showed they had done much research into the different dances and they were duly outfitted. The costumes transformed the dance floor to '60s era, from Young Blood's afro, gigantic glasses with brightly patterned shirts to Kayatic Vybz' peace necklace, suspenders, outrageous colours, Cab-bage Patch Doll dress and ballet shoes.

As usual, Attitude Brothers were a delight the watch. If not for their dance moves, the duo was handsome. Long-sleeved white shirts, dress shoes, pants with suspenders and tie, duly fitted with hats; the only things missing were Al Capone and swing dancing. They were synchronised and their choreography was not without humour as they started with dolls moving to B.B. King's Caldonia. They earned 29 points.

But not everybody had a bomb night. Rock Stars' ska in vests and expect-flood blue pants was downright hilarious. While one dancer was ska-ing away very wildly, having a good time, the taller dancer seemed tired and stiff. The contrast between the two had the audience cracking up. It seemed they also failed to please the judges as they received the lowest score of 19.