DHiE group dance contest for Zone-A enthrals audience

Young, passionate dancers from several schools of Bengaluru put their best foot forward in the Deccan Herald in Education (DHiE) inter-school group dance competition for Zone-A, held on Wednesday at Bal Bhavan, Cubbon Park. As many as 25 schools each from the senior group and the junior group participated in the competition.

From the senior group, Holy Child English School, Kengeri walked away with the first prize. They won the audience’s heart with their power-packed performance on the theme ‘patriotism’. The second prize was won by The Oxford English High School, JP Nagar, who performed on the ‘Anybody Can Dance’ idea on stage and the third prize was won by the Silicon City Academy of Secondary Education.

In the junior group, Silicon City Academy of Secondary Education won the first prize. The group performed on the theme ‘child labour’. The second prize was won by Delhi Public School-South, who presented a contemporary dance style and the third prize was won by National Public School, HSR Layout.

The competition started with the performances of the junior group kids. The little dancers boogied on the stage to a fun-filled morning. They exhibited their dancing talent proving an absolute delight to watch for the house-packed audience here. Vivid themes like ‘child labour’, ‘Krishna Leela’, etc were showcased through dance. With all the right ingredients like catchy songs, theme-based dance routines and a fine portrayal of various dance styles, kept the audience glued to the performances. The judges too had a tough time to decide on the results.

 Vincent Paul, a dance teacher from Metropolitan School said, “For us, it was more about participation. Our kids performed well and we enjoyed the competition.” The girls of Oxford Universal Public School, Nagarabhavi created the retro magic on stage while dancing with a number of props like chairs, sticks.

“We are very thrilled and happy. Our idea was to highlight the problems of child labour in our country and we wanted to give out the message ‘Send each child to school’ through our dance,” said an enthusiastic junior group from the Silicon City Academy of Secondary Education. “I feel very proud today as both the teams from our school have won prizes. We enjoyed the programme thoroughly, said Vedaraj, choreographer from Silicon City Academy of Secondary Education. The moment of the day was when the judge too broke into a jig and surprised the audience with his amazing moves. Bharath MS, a renowned dancer took over the stage and performed dance styles like ‘beat killing’ and ‘lyrical hip hop’. “We are looking into various aspects while judging the performances. One of the major point is co-ordination among the group members,” said Bharath.

“Also, the expressions and the usage of stage, costumes and props, selection of music, confidence, etc will add for extra points, added Sudha Jayakumar, another judge.

The second prize winners from the senior category, The Oxford English High School, JP Nagar said, “We choreographed the song in a day’s time. The theme for our dance was ‘Passion for dance is as important as studies’. It is a happy feeling after winning the second prize. We enjoyed participating in the competition.”

From paying tribute to Dr APJ Abdul Kalam to ‘Saving the girl child’, the schools presented their creative side through dance. The audience marvelled at the ease and perfection with which the students put up the entire show.  The kids were also seen trying some stunts like somersaults and some cool dance lifts. The venue was packed with audience, which included parents and the teachers of the participants.

 Junior
*Silicon City Academy of Secondary Education
*Delhi Public School-South
*National Public School, HSR Layout

Senior
*Holy Child English School, Kengeri
*The Oxford English High School, JP Nagar
*Silicon City Academy of Secondary Education