Dancehall character dies – Popular Passa Passa personality remembered on Facebook

Popular Passa Passa character Madusa is dead. The homeless woman, whose real name is Gloria Amoy Patterson, gained popularity through her comedic dance routines performed at West Kingston’s former flagship street dance Passa Passa, and was featured on several of the event’s DVDs.

The cause of the dancer’s death is still unknown. However, according to Passa Passa’s promoter, Powe, since the event lost its permit due to the Tivoli incursion of 2010, Madusa lost the only avenue that gave her financial income. She is said to have lived on the streets of downtown Kingston among the other homeless citizens who frequent that area.

“It’s very sad, she is a character of Passa Passa. She fell on unfortunate times and she added to the Passa Passa joy and the event itself gave her joy. She is originally from Spanglers side, but Passa Passa is where she partied even though she was homeless,” Powe said.

The promoter says during the glory days of Passa Passa, Madusa was often given gifts from several international fans of the street dance that were drawn to her entertainment.

“People used to see her on the DVDs and come from overseas just to see her and give her money. After Passa Passa declined in popularity she got sicker and I hardly saw her after that,” revealed the promoter.

A Facebook page called RIP Madusa Passa Passa was recently created by fans in her honour. The page currently has over 900 likes.

Several persons also posted comments on the page. Among the comments were “Bless u. Dance your way to the father. RIP no more Passa”, “RIP muma u will b missed. U always make me laugh. “, “RIP Madusa you will forever remain as history in Jamaica, a legend. You forever made people smile RIP”, “Madusa u will always be in our heart. A we n yo lock down Passa Passa.”

By: Curtis Campbell, STAR Writer

For the original report go to http://jamaica-star.com/thestar/20130910/ent/ent1.html