KARNAVAL FROM THE INSIDE - DUSHI AVENTURA

With the 50th Anniversary of Curacao Karnaval, it is a special time to understand this unique tradition in many ways, and one such way is to take a look from the inside perspective of a Karnaval group. Dushi Aventura, 1st runner up of Group of the Year 2019 and Best Float 2019, is heading into their 10th year of celebrating Karnaval and has a group size of approximately 250 members every year. Lucien Elisa, a founding member, gave us the opportunity for a personal interview.

WRITER: NATHASJA JT PLAIZIER

HOW DID IT ALL BEGIN?

We started in 2011 with a group of friends and what I vividly remember is us sitting at my grandmother’s house talking about Karnaval. Back then we were all in the same group and kept talking about forming our own group until eventually planning everything. That’s how it started: with family and good friends, it became reality.

WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST CHANGES YOU HAVE NOTICED THROUGH THE YEARS?

For us, the biggest changes have been in our costumes, because when we started we were not very good in making those. We were no experts and didn’t have the experience to design or make costumes. By the second year, we started with a designer who is now a leader. He has designed everything since then, has grown with the group and became a full-blown expert. In 2013, we won

2nd Runner Up for Group of the Year. So quite early in our existence, we were rewarded for working so hard and improving our designs. From that moment on, we had more confidence and dared to expand the group size with different costumes. For the event, we noticed that the route has been secured and now has fencing barriers in order to guarantee more safety.

WHAT ARE THE MAIN ASPECTS TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT EVERY YEAR?

Every year, the group size and number of participants is important in order to design, plan and buy the materials needed to make the costumes. You must buy the materials before the process of making the costumes. At the very beginning of the year, it is necessary to make the initial big purchase for the costumes. As it is only possible to get some items on Curacao, the unique specialty parts must be imported and delivered here.

WHAT MAKES KARNAVAL ON CURACAO DIFFERENT FROM KARNAVAL IN THE REGION?

I believe what we do in Dushi Aventura truly represents the Karnaval of Curacao; the big costumes with a lot of glitter and fabric. In the region, small costumes are popular. For example in Aruba and Trinidad, you will see an amazingly beautiful headpiece and then a tiny costume with barely any fabric on the body. But in Curacao, in Dushi Aventura, we go for big costumes that are fashionable and trendy.

HAVE YOU NOTICED AN IMPACT OF THE ECONOMIC CRISIS DURING KARNAVAL?

Yes of course. It has been very difficult to get more sponsors. It’s very important to have a sponsor, but it’s not easy to get one. Fortunately, we have a sponsor from the first year we started until now, who has stayed with us all these years and that’s Industrias Tip Top Leáñez & Cia. S.A., from Presidente Beer.

COULD YOU EXPLAIN THE 2020 THEME?

The theme of this year is Tropicana. It’s a musical, or a show, that started in Cuba and from there it became very popular. So even now in Las Vegas, you have these shows. Once we have the idea, we put our own taste and detailing into the theme so it looks more like Curacao Karnaval and Dushi Aventura costumes. It’s a very beautiful theme with a lot of ruffles, fabrics, glitter and glamour. There are even flowers, birds and instruments. We have a variety of things we put in the theme so we can expand it and express ourselves better.

DO YOU CONSIDER KARNAVAL AS A FORM OF BUSINESS?

I believe to make it a business you have to have a lot of participants in your group. Dushi Aventura is not a very big group and we do not treat it as a business. The income we generate, we contribute back into the group. We buy things we need and can use for future years. For example, the float and bar were purchased two years ago and are still used. So it’s not a business, we invest everything in the group itself.

HOW IMPORTANT DO YOU THINK CELEBRATING KARNAVAL IS TO THE PEOPLE ON CURACAO?

As you can see along the route, it is very busy. You will see many people flying in from all over the world to come to Curacao to just see the parade. I believe for our tourism, the island and the people of Curacao, it is very important.

WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR NEXT YEAR?

Next year, we are celebrating our 10th Anniversary. We are going to do something extra special and things we haven’t done before. Right now, we are still celebrating 50 years of Karnaval on Curacao. After this year’s celebration ends, we have a lot of projects planned to celebrate for the whole year, so expect to hear the name Dushi Aventura often.