Kaydiso Illis
The youngest living statue on St. Maarten
It all seemed so far away for Kaydiso Illis. He never imagined that he would be a real living statue. He will be playing the role of student in the “Teacher and the Student” which is a skit in the Caribbean Living Statues Festival (CLSF). But it all became real nearly two weeks ago, right in Philipsburg where he grew up. He will go down in history as being the first youngest contestant living statue ever in St. Maarten. He can now be labelled as the “The First Youngest Contestant to participate in a Living Statue Contest on St. Maarten.”
But how did it all happen? It all started with his loving grandmother Ruth Marlin, who thought that becoming a living statue might teach her grandson to “stand still.” “She wanted to see if her grandson could manage and how he would react,” said his mother, Kayann Johnson.
Kayann: “Kaydiso is a loving and caring person. He likes to try new things and he is very quick at learning the things he loves.” When his grandmother came up with the idea, he jumped right in and started to practice. He reminded his grandmother and mother to get him to practice on time and to bring him to the workshops. His grandmother and mother were very surprised when they saw Kaydiso performing as a living statue for the first time. “His mother and I are very proud of him,” said his grandmother.
“I was very excited especially working with Ismayra! We were going to form a team of statues and working with the teacher and other students.” Kaydiso said. “Nana bought all the clothing that I needed for our act. I like to be a student and acting like a living statue on a stage. I also like being a student every day.” Kaydiso likes playing football, tennis and remote control airplanes. Kaydiso said, “What I like the most in school is ‘rekenen’ (math) and reading the clock.”
“The hardest part about being a living statue is not being able to say something when people see me and say nice things about me. What I liked the most during the workshops was the painting of my clothing and the body painting. Next year, I would like to play again as a living statue. I don’t know yet what I would like to pretend to be, maybe a tennis player, or maybe a Coast Guard of St. Maarten.”
