Trinidad Express
Pastor's daughter: I'm done with hip hop
Deena plans to dance for the Lord now
Kristy Ramnarine kramnarine@trinidadexpress.com
Saturday, April 21st 2007
Deena and brother, Ian Alleyne, president of the T&T Crime Watch Association,
Deena Alleyne says she is sorry for her raunchy dancing with Senegal-born US artiste Akon at the Zen nightclub on Thursday.
A video clip of the act was posted on the YouTube-Broadcast Yourself website but later pulled after a notification to YouTube by Universal Music Group, which claimed that showing the material was copyright infringment.
Konvict Muzik, a record label owned and founded by Akon, is a subsidiary label of Universal Records. Universal Music Group owns the American record label.
The clip was also highly publicised on other websites including Vh1 in the United States and Metro in the United Kingdom.
"This whole hip hop thing is a guise and I don't want any part of it, I don't want to be any part of it," said Alleyne during an interview at Chaguanas yesterday.
"Look at what I have to go through with one mistake that I made. My dad warned me every time and I didn't listen. I am sorry.
"Every time he warned me. Everyday my dad would say 'it is not for you, it is not for you, you do not have to go this way', but I refused to listen.
"I don't want any part of it, not only Zen, everything. The whole hip hop thing, music and clubbing, I don't want to be part of it."
Alleyne told the Express that an older friend purchased the ticket for her to attend the event last week. During an interview on Thursday, owner of the Zen nightclub, Johnny Soong said the age limit for the event was 18 years and over.
"I know a lot of my friends who were my age and were there," she said.
"They asked for ID in VIP because you have to be 21 years and over to go up in VIP, but anyone was allowed to go in the general admission area."
The teenager who admitted that her biggest passion is dancing said she thought that she was only taking part in a normal dance competition.
"I thought it was going to be normal," Alleyne said.
"I got carried away, I started to dance as well but I never thought it was going to be like that. I was shocked, my head was hitting the floor.
"I got carried away in the spotlight, and with the crowd cheering. Everything was so fast, it was so quick."
She said after the competition she felt really bad but everyone was congratulating her.
"When I went off the stage, everyone came telling me thanks for representing. You did well. That was so good. So I felt a little ease afterwards like, okay, it wasn't that bad after all," Alleyne added.
She described the past week as the worst in her life and wished that she could change it.
She said her father, pastor Dave Alleyne, did not know she attended the club and only learned of it after seeing a picture of her in the newspaper last week.
"He saw the pictures and I told him about it as well because I did not want him to hear it from anyone," she said.
"But when he saw the video it really did take a toll on him. He always warned me about this. He doesn't allow me to go to parties, he would always say 'it is not for you, it is not for you'."
Alleyne has been criticised by many for her lewd dancing at the Zen nightclub.
However, she said her classmates and the members of her church are being very supportive.
"There were two teachers who came and spoke to me and they really stood by me and told me that it was a mistake I made and that I would learn from it," she said.
Alleyne said she plans to continue with her school studies and focus on spending more time with her family.
As for her love of dancing she plans on joining the dance ministry in her father's church, Flaming Word Ministry and use her talent to serve God.
