Dancer Kangaroo claims his dance 'Ghetto Prayer' was stolen by the popular dance group Dance Xpressionz and renamed 'Pray fi dem'.
Kangaroo, whose real name is George Robinson, says the group has copied his dance.
"Dem thief mi dance. Dance Xpression change di dance from 'Ghetto Prayer' an' call it 'Pray Fi Dem' but a di same dance. Tyrical do a tune name Ghetto Prayer. Me an' him a deal wid di whole ghetto prayer thing," he said.
He says he created the dance last year to accompany Tyrical's Ghetto Prayer. He says the dance is also being endorsed by popular selectors Tony Matterhorn, DJ Kenny, Fire Gary and Cutty from Coppershot.
Kangaroo says this is not the first time that he has been overlooked by others. His dances have not been endorsed by the media and others. The dances he says he has created are 'Rig Did', 'Kangaroo', 'Snap Huh Finger' and 'Heart of Love'.
Irvine Hall, leader of the group Dance Xpressionz dismissed these accusations as ridiculous. He says his group has created a dance called 'Pray for Peace' as opposed to 'Pray if dem', to which Kangaroo referred.
He says the dance was created almost a year ago and he has been doing it at Bembe Thursdays ever since. However, it started getting decent recognition recently at Fashion Sundays.
"I have never seen his dance. I have never seen him do anything remotely close to 'Praying for Peace'. I have never seen him really dance. Mi jus' see him deh somewhere an' a jump around like a mad man," Hall told The STAR.
He added, "We came up with the dance based on the contention that was in the dancehall. We want to promote a dance to promote peace. We want to pray for peace in Jamaica. We want to pray for peace globally."
Hall, who is also the chief judge of the STAR-sponsored Dancing Dynamites, says he knows very little about his accuser.
"Mi deh a Passa Passa an' mi hear somebody call him name an him run out and sometime ago I saw an article about him in The STAR," said Hall who has been dancing for more than two decades.
Nonetheless, he says he has noticed some level of grudge on Kangaroo's part.
"Mi notice a grudge. I was at Weddi Weddi an' he was standing behind me and him seh him nuh want mi stand up in front of him," he said.
Despite these accusations, Hall says he will continue to perform the dances created by other dancers.
"We try to embrace everybody's dance. If you create a dance you do it for everybody," Hall said.
a real ting.. dem jus a remix the dance dem.. and den a act like sey a dem come up with.. dem fi easy man.. because nothing original nah really gwan inna di dance rite now...
a real ting.. dem jus a remix the dance dem.. and den a act like sey a dem come up with.. dem fi easy man.. because nothing original nah really gwan inna di dance rite now...