Carnaval’s Queen and King were selected at the annual competition held at Brava. The 20 participants had to demonstrate the best of their dance abilities to convince the judges. It was Valencia Newton and Delvis Savigne who became Queen and King, and whom you will have the opportunity to see at Carnaval’s two day festival this month’s last weekend.
They are both under 25 years old, but they already have college, beauty and exotic dance bowing before them. Drumbeat, the official newsletter for Carnaval, has a profile on both of them. Here’s an excerpt:
She [Queen Valencia Newton] entered UC Berkeley that fall where she pursued a course of study in Social Welfare and Dance and graduated with a BA in 2012. She also took classes in Theater and worked on several productions. Valencia became immersed in Carnaval culture in her preteen years. She has trained with various Caribbean groups.
Nobody in his [King Delvis Savigne] family was previously involved in dance. In his boyhood, Delvis mostly played baseball and did judo, but his mother noticed his natural dancing talent at various family and neighborhood celebrations and sent him to performing arts school in Santiago […] Delvis recently was awarded a scholarship to study at the Alonzo King LINES Ballet of San Francisco this summer. He will be performing at Dance Brigade’s “Summer Feast” in August held at Dos Rios in Mendocino County. Read More Here.
