End of Basketball Season...Beginning of Carnival Season with Toronto Revellers Bandleader, Toronto Raptors Jamaal Magloire

Our Toronto Revellers band leader Jamaal Magloire just wrapped up the basketball season with the Toronto Raptors, and is now ready to prepare to take BAND OF THE YEAR! See video below as he says goodbye to the Air Canada Centre, and hello to the Lakeshore!

Toronto Raptors "Super Fan" Nav Bhatia is Ready for our BOLLYWOOD 2012 Band Launch!

Toronto Revellers BOLLYWOOD BAND LAUNCH ~ Lights, Camera, Action!

Come early to enjoy our Mumbai Marketplace at 9:30pm ~ shop & enjoy Indian sounds & delicacies

Armenian Community Centre 45 Hallcrown Place (Victoria Park & 401) Toronto, ON May 12, 2012

Doors ~ 10pm. Show ~ 11:30pm sharp Price: $15 Adv., more at the door

Toronto Revellers Pictures... Produced and Directed By Jamaal Magloire. Music By Ms DJ Revz | DJ Chief | DJ Chris Nice | Infinity Sound Crew | Chris Dubbs | DJ 2 Touch with MC Brenton B

5 STARS Get your tickets EARLY, this show WILL SELL OUT!!!

Ticket Distributors: Durham | Keishia Facey | 647-981-5256 Peel | Donna | 416-262-2832 Toronto East | BrentonB | 416-697-7299 Toronto East | Yvette | 416-321-1274 Toronto West | Tony Ishmael | 289-232-0366

Ticket Outlets: Drupati's | East | 1085 Bellamy Rd. N. | 416-289-9988 Real Jerk | Toronto | 709 Queen Street E. | 416-463-6055

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Toronto Revellers Band Launch ~ Saturday, May 12

We are so excited about our upcoming band launch, taking place on Saturday, May 12 at 45 Hallcrown Place (Warden/401). Make sure you come out early to enjoy our Mumbai Marketplace at 9:30pm where you can experience the goods, sounds, and foods of India. The costume presentation show will begin promptly at 11:30pm. We hope to see you there, and hope you'll join us as we plan to take BAND OF THE YEAR for 2012!

Revellers...yuh ready??

Join the Toronto Revellers Promotional Street Team

If you're an energetic night-owl with a driver's license and the dedication to help our Revellers team grow and get the word out about our 2012 events and activities, we'd like you to join our Promotional Street Team! Please see details below!

Toronto Revellers Model Call

The Toronto Revellers are looking for sexy, confident, energetic, and vibrant bacchanalists to model for the 2012 carnival season. Please see information below, and contact us if you'd like to participate.

Get Ready for the road w/ Official Revellers Socacize Instructor Keishia Facey!

Summer is just around the corner, so be sure to register for Socacize with the Toronto Revellers resident Socacize instructor, Keishia Facey. Keishia will be providing classes at the mas camp when it opens next month, and also has a steady schedule of classes offered in Ajax. Check out this video of Keishia at work for more information!

Toronto Revellers Band Launch ~ Saturday, May 12

It's that time of year again! Time for the Toronto Revellers to reveal their spectacular costume lineup for the 2012 Scotiabank Toronto Caribbean Carnival! This year's theme is Bollywood: Lights, Camera, Action! so Revellers can expect to see some fabulous colours, gorgeous fabrics, lots of gold and silver, and all of the excitment, glamour, and beauty of the Indian film industry.

The band launch is taking place on Saturday, May 12 at the Armenian Community Centre located at 45 Hallcrown Place, VP & 401). Show time is 10:00pm...

Please visit www.TorontoRevellers.com to join our mailing list, and for more details...

Here's a message from our bandleader Jamaal Magloire, and Revellers MC Brenton B.

Toronto Revellers Christmas Fete ~ Saturday, December 3 at Hickory House ~ Jones and Wuk Up

Join the Toronto Revellers on Saturday, December 3, 2011 at the Hickory House (440 McNicoll Ave) for their Christmas Fete and coat drive. Hosted by bandleader Jamaal Magloire and MC Brenton B, featuring DJs: Chief, Revz, Chris Nice, 2 Touch, and Infinity Sound Crew. See you there :)

New Details Added ~ Toronto Revellers Christmas Fete 2011

The TORONTO REVELLERS Christmas FETE

The TORONTO REVELLERS Christmas FETE

SATURDAY DECEMBER 3, 2011

@ The Hickory House
440 McNicoll Ave (at Victoria Park), North York

Doors Open at 10pm

$15 Advance Tickets
19+

Music by Revellers Djs:
DJ Chief, Dj Revz, Chris Nice, 2 Touch, Infinity Sound Crew

Hosted By:
Jamaal Magloire & Brenton B

MORE INFO & TICKET OUTLETS COMING SOON!

Toronto Revellers Announces 2011 Christmas Party

Toronto Revellers...It's Christmas!

What better way to spend the holidays than with family and friends? ...and that is exactly what the Toronto Revellers are planning to do.

The Revellers family has just announced their 2011 Christmas party, to take place on Saturday, December 3 at the Hickory House (440 McNicoll Avenue @ Victoria Park) in Scarborough. Admission will be $15 at the door (no advanced tickets), and the Revellers will be accepting charitable donations (to be announced shortly).

So please save the date, and get ready to ring in some holiday cheer with the Revellers administrative team, section leaders, masqueraders ~ past, present, and future ~ and of course our resident DJs that kept us moving down the road on Carnival day this past summer.

As we prepare for Bollywood 2012, we want to ensure that we move forward as a unified team, and the family that plays together......stays together.

We continue to be, the people's band, and want to end off the year with those who have dedicated their time, their energies, and themselves to making the Revellers who they are today.

Hope to see you there :) 

More details to follow...

"Carnival in Canada" featured in Jamaican fashion magazine, Panache

Special thanks to Panache Jamaica magazine for featuring Stacey Marie Robinson's article on "Carnival in Canada" and her experiences with the 2011 Toronto Revellers, in their anniversary edition!

Thanks to Jai Chapman for providing the photographs, and Kwansa Shelley, Nola Paul, Onica Skinner, and Silver for modeling the "Wicked" and "Winkie Guard" costumes!

Socacize Year-Round with Keishia Facey!

The great thing about carnival season is the joy, the celebration, and the festivities it brings...the bad thing, is that it only happens once a year.

People in Toronto have always said that "once Caribana passes, the summer is over." This has been the saying for decades...there's a build-up towards the Caribbean parade...and then once it passes, the summer always seems to slow down, take a little decline in activity, and the fall breeze blows in and we mentally get ready for winter.

Happens every year.

But the good thing about the "spirit" of carnival, and the love of the culture it that it doesn't have to go away. Of course, if your pockets can support it...you can go from Caribana in July/August, drive down to Labor Day in Brooklyn in September, hop on a plane to Miami for October, and gear up for Trinidad in the new year.

OR...you can sign up for Socacize.

God Bless Ayana Lee-Rivears for conceptualizing this phenomenon. Women across the city have fallen in love with this soca-inspired aerobics session, and I think it has been a wonderful addition to the yearly routine and preparation for the "summer body" and the carnival stamina. And of course, a healthy lifestyle.

Fortunately, Socacize doesn't have to "just" be a pre-Caribana thing. Right now you can catch classes year-round in all corners of Toronto, or even buy a DVD to sweat at home...and keep the spirit of carnival and the joy of soca music in your system, even when the degrees drop and winter approaches.

This year, the Toronto Revellers mas band was fortunate to have our resident reveller Keishia Facey provide Socacize classes at our mas camp on Monday evenings. Her jovial spirit, big smile, encouraging words, and welcoming energy were appreciated by all who attended.

This fall, Keishia is providing session in the east end (Ajax); for details, please visit http://www.socacize.com/profiles/Keishiafacey.

Below, Keishia's personal message and update:

Hi All,

I just wanted to let everyone know that we will be commencing the new Fall Socacize Session on Saturday, September 10th at 10am.  Classes will be held at Footnotes Dance Academy.  I am hopeful that I will see everyone out. 

Class Times/Fees

Saturdays
8 week Session - September 10th, 2011 - October 29th, 2011 - Entire Session $80.00 or $12.00 Drop In

Tuesdays
8 week Session - September 13th, 2011 - November 1st, 2011 - Entire Session $80.00 or $12.00 Drop In

Please contact me if you are interested in participating in both the Saturday and Tuesday sessions for additional savings on session fees!!

Please also be advised that Footnotes Dance Academy will also be offering additional Socacize Classes, check http://www.footnotesdanceacademy.com/ for more information.

Thank you again,

Keishia Facey
Licensed Socacize Instructor
647-981-5256
pin: 27209BC1
www.socacize.com

What We Learned as Toronto Revellers Section Leaders

Well, we did it! It wasn't easy...and there were times when we thought we wouldn't even make it to Carnival day (physically!)...but we did it!



Sonia Bhatia, Candice Dixon, Cherr Evans (absent from photo), and me Stacey Robinson took on the amazing challenge of being section leaders for the Toronto Revellers 2011 Welcome to Oz presentation...and we did it.

We were the biggest group of section leaders. Some ladies had the expertise to handle it on their own...some worked in pairs. Everyone had support, but we went on as a team of 4, and definitely needed the strength in numbers to make it through.



There were the ultimate highs (like seeing our costumes on the parade route)....and there were the ultimate lows (like disappointing a few ladies with late costume pieces)...but overall we have come out satisfied with the experience, and we are wiser as a result.

Now I can't officially speak for the other ladies, but I do know that I walked away learning a great number of things from this experience:

1) I love my city. I think Toronto is the best. And throw in a little soca music, hot weather, good friends, and good looking people in beautiful costumes...and it's beyond great. There is no better time of year in Toronto than carnival time, and it's a combination of everything I love, all built into one dynamic festival. Fortunately, this year we were able to prepare and celebrate for months, rather than just one day.

2) I love my culture. I know a lot of people think carnival and soca music and steel pans are a "Trini ting"...but as someone of Jamaican heritage, I can attest that our culture is our culture. The music, the food, the people, the energy...it doesn't belong to one specific island of people. Yes, there is a deeper connection to carnival in the Trinidadian culture...just as Jamaicans will have a deeper connection to reggae music. But that doesn't for a minute make any of it mutually exclusive. I am proud to be a Jamaican who ADORES carnival culture, and I think that if you love the Caribbean period...then you can appreciate the wonderful attributes of carnival, and what it means to our people, collectively.

  

3) The Toronto Revellers are good people. We were with this group of individuals virtually and on the phone from fall of 2010, and then physically in the same mas camp from May 2011 until August 2011. And the more time we spent around this group, the more we grew to love them. Our bandleader Jamaal Magloire was supportive and motivating, and his family and extended family treated us all as their own. We were well fed, we were hydrated (wink, wink), and we always felt comfortable amongst our band. Yes, we had some glitches, and yes there were some people "around" that we could have definitely done without (ahem...) BUT the Revellers took care of us, and really proved to us why the Revellers are known as the "people's band." Great hearts, and good intentions all around.

4) We had an awesome group of section leaders! We all heard nightmares about just how bad it could be. We've heard about stealing, and gossip, "hating," and sabotage...as first-time section leaders we automatically had our guards up against the worst...and quickly put them down when we got to know and love the other ladies (and gentleman) that we would be making mas with. We spent long hours with these individuals, they were all supportive, helpful, encouraging, fun, and truly a team. Shouts out to the lovely ladies Christiane Tetreault, Simone Russelburn, Camille Lewis, Roxane Austin, Donna Sisneth, Zakiya Ricketts, Attasha Jordan, Joanne Chase, Yvette McBurnie, Giselle "The Wassi One" Blanche, and of course...Roger Taylor-Montano.

5) WE LOVE ROGER TAYLOR-MONTANO! Roger took our section from design obscurity, into confident creators! The minute he arrived from Trinidad (literally) in the spring to assist the band, he was very informative for us. Patient. We loved his hard work, his creative vision, and his artistic mind...overall! Every band needs a good go-to man to assist and advise, and Roger was definitely that man for us!

  

6) Team work is key. Believe me, it was no picnic. Four women creating approximately 50 kiddies costumes and 150 adult costumes, PLUS dealing with the purchasing, organizing, administration, customer service...AND our real lives at the same time was a CHORE. Even going into the experience as good friends, our personalities, allegiances, sacrifices, opinions, and dedication were definitely put to the test! We've since learned what it takes to make this process run smoothly. We had our trials and we had our fumbles and disappoinments, but in the end it was still a great experience.

7) It's not about the money, money, money. Although we were advised to treat carnival as a "small business" and approach the expenses and profits as such...in the heart of it all, money is truly not the driving force. In fact, even if there was a concrete fee or salary attached to the time and effort put into making costumes...it still wouldn't be justifiable or easily quantified. Making mas is TRULY a labour of love. Point blank. If you don't enjoy the environment, the music, the people, the food, the design, the materials, and the overall end product...then don't even bother. There is no amount of money that can compare to the rewards of the experience...and money alone can not drive you (physically or mentally) to complete this particular task with joy. It's about the love of carnival, nothing more...nothing less. BUT, the money is a nice perk when all is said and done :)

  

8) We learned from example. All praises due to Alain and Royette who were our section leaders in 2007 for the Toronto Revellers' Viva Las Vegas presentation. Our section "Sin City" was our introduction to playing mas. It was our first time with the Revellers, and our section leaders took such good care of us, that we always remembered the experience. They were organized, they never showed bad face, and they made an outstanding costume for us that definitely had an impact on the road. Likewise, we learned from other section leaders this year with the Revellers who took the time out to guide and teach us the things that only an experienced leader would know.

9) Toronto's carnival is a valuable entity. It's a shame that it's had its fair share of controvery, management adjustments, and news frenzy, but Toronto's Caribana/Caribbean Carnival is really a hot commodity. And until you are a part of the actual physical construction of carnival...you'd never really know or appreciate just how much hard work goes into the production. And when you think of the decades that the carnival has been taking place, and how the little work we do is multiplied fifty-fold for each band, and each section...it's really impressive. The section leaders put in a lot of hard work, and the value of their commitment alone is a powerful force in the overall event.

  

10) There is no other way to experience the carnival...than from within the carnival. It's one thing to stand at the side of the road, chip along with the trucks, and grab a bite to eat as a spectator. It's another thing to play mas with your favourite band, and enjoy the parade in full costume. But to actually be a part of the construction and creation of the parade itself is a phenomenal feeling. As we take each step up in the carnival ladder, we realize more and more how great it is to be a part of this amazing event year after year.

Overall, we're grateful for the experience, the people we've met, and the lessons we've learned. We're grateful for our family and friends that helped us get through it all! And most importantly...we're ready to do it again, bigger, and better, more aware, more prepared, and more dedicated in the years to come.

Toronto Revellers at Barrie Caribfest 2011

And we don't stop! The Toronto Revellers headed to cottage country to participate in Barrie's annual Caribfest on Saturday, August 13, 2011.

We had a great time. Although smaller in number than the main carnival in Toronto, the Barrie Caribfest had a little vibe going on, still. We were able to see our masqueraders again, our DJ Chris Nice and MC Brenton B were hype, and most importantly, it was a great dayo ut with our fellow Revellers in the hot (HOT!) sun with great music and energy.

Here's some video from our day up north:







Good times indeed, and definitely a new addition to our summer routine. It's really nice to get out of the city (without going toooo far) for the day and take in the scenery. Right on the lake, Barrie is beautiful, and the vibe out there was really nice.

Machel Montano at Wild Water Kingdom ~ Toronto Carnival 2011

Despite the long nights of preparation beforehand...and the long day on the road for the Toronto Caribbean Carnival on Saturday, July 30, 2011...we still managed to find the energy to head north to Wild Water Kingdom that evening to catch the Machel Montano show.

And it was definitely worth it.

It was enough seeing Machel perform at our mas camp on Canada Day...and even better seeing him on the road with our band for the carnival. But it was an extra special treat to see Machel and his full band, dancers, and a full performance on stage at the Wild Water Kingdom.

What a phenomonal performer! This man never ceases to amaze us with his stage presence and energy.

We love him...and here's why:





Looking forward to seeing him back in Toronto again...soon!

Toronto Revellers on de road - Carnival 2011

I love my Toronto Revellers. I think our Welcome to Oz theme was so bright and festive, and the costumes collectively looked amazing on the road on the morning of Saturday, July 30, 2011 at the Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival. An added bonus of course, having Mr. Machel Montano himself accompany us along the way (sorry, didn't get much video footage of him)!

Here's a few video clips of our beautiful and handsome masqueraders, DJs, friends, and new family on the road:













We are "the people's band"!

Wicked Section Gets WICKED at the Toronto Carnival 2011

Our section had such a GREAT vibe Carnival morning. Our masqueraders were full of energy, full of personality, and they looked awesome congregated together, moments before we crossed the official judging stage.

Here's a few video clips of the ladies of WICKED and the gentlemen WINKIE GUARDS rocking the hell out of our costumes, and doing the Toronto Revellers proud at the Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival 2011.









What an amazing morning!

Keeping Our Spirits Up at the Toronto Revellers Mas Camp

In the days leading up to the Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival (aka Caribana), we were fortunate to have an awesome vibe at our beloved mas camp.

Socacize instructor Keishia Facey was there to instruct aerobics class for our Revellers, friends, and even young ones every Monday evening out in the camp lot.



And for the late nights, and all-nighters, we were blessed with good music, good company (God bless our volunteers) and of course the excitement of the upcoming festivities.

Here we are one night doing our "glue gun shuffle" and hoping to get another few hours of work in on the costumes.