Badd Fyah does dancehall, Slovakian style

For approximately four years, Barbora Ziskova, 24, Veronika Sramata, 23, and Michelle Bambaii, 23, have studied, practised and taught dancehall to any interested persons across Europe.

Hailing from Slovakia, the trio, calling themselves Badd Fyah, visited Jamaica for the third time recently to learn dancehall style and culture more in-depth, in order to further spread 'dancehall vibe.'

Badd Fyah was introduced to dancehall through the music of Sean Paul, Beenie Man and Elephant Man in the early 2000s when they established a presence on the mainstream music scene.

Ziskova, Bambii and Sramata began as individual hip-hop and street dancers who discovered a shared love for dancehall.

Ziskova, a recent graduate of marketing management, told THE WEEKEND STAR they have tried to link up with dancers to conduct workshops across the Czech Republic for research and educational purposes.

"But there was almost nothing in our country. It was very hard to have [the] right knowledge." As a street dancer, Bambii joined a dancehall queen competition in Europe.

"I didn't know it had its own steps, own things. I thought it was just music and freestyling and dancing," she said.

They are based in Bratislava in neighbouring Slovakia, dancing, teaching and performing.

"We're trying to go and spread dancehall culture over there, spread information, or even just bringing Jamaican people to our city," Ziskova said.

Bambii added they also work in other countries like Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic.

A PASSION

"We don't teach because we want to teach. We want to spread it. We didn't start because we want to be teachers, but right now, it's like a passion also," Sramata said.

Still, not very many people in the Czech Republic had information to share about dancehall. So they travelled to Jamaica for more knowledge.

On their third trip to Jamaica, the dancers attended parties across the island.

Listing St Thomas, Portland, St Mary and St Catherine as some of the parishes they visited during their stay, there was no hesitation in highlighting their most memorable.

"Uptown Mondays," they answered in unison.

"We want to stay with the dance and do our best to promote it in a way that involve our skills that we already acquired at the [university]. So dancing, marketing and promotions, whatever we gain is useful," Ziskova said.

Bambii continued: "We're going to try make the community grow in our country so people from Jamaica can come and get some money too, because it's your culture, so we have to give something back to it."