Competition is nigh and stakes are high
View(s):Dance Fest 2013 will bring together student teams from schools in Colombo and beyond for four days of multi-genre movement
By Duvindi Illankoon
Dance Fest 2013’ has just closed registrations as organisers Alethea International School gear up for the fifth session of the annual competition, the competition is nigh and the stakes are high. For this is not just your average bunch of amateur dancers.Schools begin rehearsing months prior to the competition and the championship itself is considered highly prestigious amongst the aesthetically inclined.
Dance Fest was launched in 2009 as the private school alternative to state dancing competitions. “Not many opportunities are available for students in international schools,” says Anitra Perera of Alethea International School, the Coordinator for Dance Fest 2013. “Government schools have yearly sports, aesthetic and scholarly competitions amongst themselves but these kids don’t really get too much opportunity for that. So a group of international schools got together and started holding sports events amongst ourselves. This soon evolved into music, dance and theatre, and Dance Fest was one such attempt to inculcate aestheticism in our students.”
These genres range from Eastern Traditional, Eastern Folk, Western and a Mixed Open Age Group; dance styles including Kandyan, Bharatanatiyam, Sri Lankan, Indian, Contemporary, Free Style, Jazz, Latin American, Hip Hop and Bollywood categories are available for heady fusion and experimentation. “Most schools have picked Bollywood!” laughs Anitra in exasperation. “We’ve had to close entries for that genre. Only so much theatrics you can handle over the time space!” Applicants can enter in four age groups; Junior, Intermediate, Senior and the Open Age Group for the Mixed Category (6-9 year olds can participate together for Bollywood, Fusion and East meets West).
International school students are not exposed enough to the oriental aesthetics, we’re told. “Dance Fest was also an attempt to broaden their horizons. We have many different genres that students can take part in and it’s really nice that most of them pick oriental forms of dance now.” The talent on stage surprises them every year, she enthuses. “We haven’t really set strict guidelines as such about how they rehearse or prepare for the competition. These students train very hard to be exceptional and that shows when they’re on stage.” While the competition used to be a solo category one in the early years, they’ve made it a group competition to accommodate the growing numbers from each school. Only one team (6-20 members) can take part from each school.
This year sees the participation of several schools from Colombo as well as outstation areas, which the organisers consider a great achievement. “When we initiated Dance Fest it was exclusively for international schools,” explains Anitra. “But we decided that we would open it up to public schools as well later on. We’ve found that this affords better integration between the two student groups. They have this mentality where they think the other is so and so because they don’t get the chance to mix.With this competition we’ve managed to change perceptions!”
Dance Fest will happen over four days. The Eastern Dancing Competition happens on February 19, the Western Dancing Competition on February 20 and the Mixed Competition on February 21. The competitions will be from 3 p.m. onwards at the Bishops College Auditorium. The awards ceremony will be held of February 22 from 6p.m. onwards at the Bishop’s College Auditorium. Tickets for the event (priced at Rs. 300 for the competitions and Rs. 700, Rs.500 and Rs. 300 for the finale) are on sale now at Alethea International School in Dehiwala from 7.30 a.m-4 p.m. They will be made available from February 19 at the Bishop’s College Auditorium.
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