On a regular school day at Coral Reef Elementary, 11-year-old Christopher Gay looks like a regular fifth grader. He\u2019s soft-spoken, a bit reserved and an excellent student, in the gifted program and particularly interested in math and robotics.<\/p>\n
At a class party, he might even appear shy. He says he would never just bust out dancing.<\/p>\n
But put Chris on a pair of stilts, crank up some rhythmic Caribbean music, and he turns into what his mother, Telise Ingraham, calls \u201ca super moko jumbie\u201d \u2013 a towering high-stepper with uncanny acrobatic skill and terpsichorean grace.<\/p>\n
\u201cChris has developed a real stage presence, with a talent for interacting with people,\u201d says his mom. \u201cWhen he\u2019s on stilts, there\u2019s an alter ego there that just comes out.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
At last weekend\u2019s Goombay Festival on Grand Avenue in Coconut Grove, Chris and his 14-year-old sister Skai \u2013 both moko jumbies, as stilt walkers are called \u2013 were stand-out performers in the colorful Junkanoo processions that highlighted the street festival and put a spotlight on the neighborhood\u2019s Bahamian roots.<\/p>\n
The three-day party, which kicked off Friday with Junkanoo performances in Armbrister Park, featured parades, music, elaborate hand-made costumes and favorite Bahamian foods like conch fritters, conch salad and guava duff, a pastry. The party continued Saturday and Sunday with what\u2019s called a \u201crush\u201d \u2013 Junkanoo parades on Grand Avenue between Douglas Road and Elizabeth Street.<\/p>\n
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The Fatboi Junkanoo Entertainment troupe at Ingraham Park in Coral Gables.<\/p>\n
(Mike Clary for the Spotlight)<\/p>\n
Chris and Skai are members of Fatboi Junkanoo Entertainment, a family business run by Ingraham and her husband Jamal Joseph, who is both a drummer in the marching troupe and the costume maker.\u00a0<\/p>\n
From his backyard workbench in Richmond Heights, he fashions colorful outfits that begin with cardboard and are finished with sequins, beads, stones and feathers. The theme for his Goombay creations this year: Japanese samurai.<\/p>\n
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Jamal Joseph, percussionist and costume maker, working on a headdress at his backyard work bench in Richmond Heights.<\/p>\n
(Mike Clary for the Spotlight)<\/p>\n
Born in Nassau, Joseph, 42, grew up in a family immersed in Junkanoo performance, and was a long-time percussion arranger for the World Famous Valley Boys. The tradition continues with Joseph\u2019s son, Jamaal, 22, also a drummer in the family business.<\/p>\n
The engine that powers Fatboi is Ingraham, 52, who is of Bahamian descent and was born and raised in Coconut Grove. She attended Coconut Grove Elementary, Carver Junior High, Ponce Middle School and graduated from Coral Gables High School, where she was captain of the cheerleading team.<\/p>\n
For the past 22 years, Ingraham has worked for the federal government at the Krome Service Processing Center, where she is now quality assurance manager.<\/p>\n
But her passion is promoting Bahamian culture. \u201cEvents such as Goombay bring that culture to people in the diaspora who have never seen it, or are far removed from it,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s a part of Bahamian history to appreciate, to be proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n
The importance of Goombay seems particularly acute this year, as the Black population of the neighborhood now called Little Bahamas continues to shrink.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn light of everything happening \u2013 gentrification, families being pushed out (by economics) \u2013 this is an occasion to come back and celebrate Bahamian culture. It\u2019s a chance to reconnect,\u201d says Aarti Mehta-Kroll, a Florida International University sociologist who has studied and written about the history of the West Grove.<\/p>\n
And, she adds, \u201cThe festival is also a way of bridging the divide between east and west Grove.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vicky Rivers, who helps pick festival participants as secretary of the organizing committee, said she looks for groups that \u201cshowengagement, vibrancy, have that energy. So many people come to Goombay and want to see how well groups perform, hear music that captivates them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey want to hear something they haven\u2019t heard before, have experiences they\u2019re going to talk about,\u201d said Rivers.<\/p>\n
Stilt walkers always attract a lot of cheers and camera clicks, and, Rivers said, \u201cI hope to see more of them.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Moko jumbies (also known as \u201cmoko jumbi\u201d or \u201cmocko jumbie\u201d) are part of a tradition born in West Africa and brought to the Caribbean by enslaved people. A dancer on stilts isconsidered a benevolent god able to ward off evil spirits.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In an essay published in Time Magazine in 2024, Bahamas native and FIU graduate student Sasha Wells wrote, \u201cIn 1849, Afro-Bahamians were reported stilt walking, which represented a manifestation of a West African spirit protector<\/a>, and it was referred to as \u2018John Canoe,\u2019 a reference to an Akan warrior<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhile there may have been conflation between stilt-walking and rushing, it\u2019s clear how time and time again, Junkanoo provided a space for the Black population to connect with each other, embracing their roots and blending African traditions with an emerging Black Bahamian culture.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet stilt walking has not been part of the annual Junkanoo parades on Nassau\u2019s Bay Street for many years.\u00a0<\/p>\n That may be about to change.<\/p>\n Fatboi Junkanoo has been invited to take part in this year\u2019s Nassau Junkanoo festivals, which take place on Boxing Day \u2013 the day after Christmas \u2013 as well as on New Year\u2019s Day. \u201cI am hoping to include stilt walkers this year,\u201d said Ingraham.<\/p>\n Says Wells, \u201cIt would be more of an irony if stilt walking, not seen in the Bahamas for years, was to be revived in the diaspora.\u201d<\/p>\n Skai Gay of Fatboi Junkanoo in costume during a recent performance at Ingraham Park in Coral Gables.<\/p>\n (Mike Clary for the Spotlight)<\/p>\n The Gay siblings learned to stilt walk from Vernon Brooks, a native of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where stilt walking remains culturally central.\u00a0<\/p>\n He teaches the skill under the banner of USVI Mocko Jumbie Stilt Dancers in Miramar. He does not charge for lessons, and he makes the students\u2019 stilts out of Douglas fir. On his stilts, Chris Gay stands over eight feet tall.<\/p>\n \u201cThe individual must want to do it, to have that drive,\u201d said Brooks. \u201cAnd you have to be fearless. It\u2019s a risky act.\u201d<\/p>\n Part of the training is learning how to fall. \u201cI did fall once,\u201d said Skai, \u201cbut only sprained my wrist.\u201d<\/p>\n Stilt walkers also practice keeping their balance in crowded festivals where they might get bumped by energetic dancers. But energetic dancers are what Skai and Chris are aiming for.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to feel that same energy coming back that we\u2019re giving them,\u201d said Skai, who just graduated from Southwood Middle School. \u201cThat hypes you up. It feels good when everyone is looking at you in amazement.\u201d<\/p>\n The chair of the Goombay Festival, vonCarol Kinchens-Williams, says she saw Chris, Skai and Fatboi Junkanoo perform May 2 at the opening of the redesigned swimming pool at Virrick Park. \u201cThey loved him,\u201d said Kinchens-Williams of Chris. \u201cHe dances with the crowd. The kid just showed out.\u201d<\/p>\n Chris has performed a couple of times at school during Black History Month events. He said his classmates were astounded at what he could do while standing on skinny 3 \u00bd-foot sticks.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThey asked me, \u2018How do you do that?\u2019\u201d he recounted. \u201cI just say, \u2018It\u2019s magic.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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