Dancer's Paradise: Baby Ice carries on the legacy

This may not be the typical story of a father passing the mantle to his willing and hopeful son, but it does follow that familiar formula.

In the case of Baby Ice, it was the blessing of one established dancer passed on to a newbie, who now leads his own crew.

Stephan 'Baby Ice' Ledgister is a dance teacher, choreographer and the leader of 3rd Dimension Dancers, who got his name from the late, great local dancer Ice.

"I was actually influenced by Icewho gave me the name at the time," Ledgister told The WEEKEND STAR. "I always wanted to be a dancer, but my parents didn't want me to do the dancing. Mom wanted school, and Dad wanted track and field."

Dancing from early

Ledgister said he has been dancing since age 12 when he was in the sixth grade.

"Ice saw me at a party in Waterhouse, and I was doing the Gully Creeper. And he came beside me doing the dance. Him seh 'Little Ice yuh muss name'," he recalled fondly.

It wasn't until Ledgister was in sixth form, that the name he has now really became his own.

"It was a RE-TV High School Tour. I was going to Jamaica College at the time and I was at a track and field Christmas camp," he said

The tour made a stop at the Chinese Benevolent Association, and Ledgister abandoned the camp to join the excitement where he saw Ice, who called him 'Baby Ice'.

"I keep the name, and mi nah guh change it," he told The WEEKEND STAR.

An injury prevented Ledgister from continuing in athletics. He chose dance although his parents were fearful the career would not be financially sustainable.

While still in school, he formed the 3rd Dimension Dancers with three of his friends, who performed at numerous high school barbecues, clashes in bus parks, and even entered Dancing Dynamites.

Original members of 3rd Dimension ended up going their separate ways, with Ledgister joining popular dance group Elite Team.

Ultimately, Ledgister elected to finish what he started and re-group with his original group and the member pool grew to seven.

"Since I formed by 3rd Dimension, we've had one successfinishing third on Magnum Kings and Queens of Dancehall KFC Skankas Competition," he said.

3rd Dimension is currently working on the Coca-Cola FIFA World Cup Road Show, alongside Shady Squad.

The other current members of 3rd Dimension are Maestro, Jandem, G-Cool, Dillon, Delano and Tata.