In this dance competition, there will be 3 categories. Solo junior, Solo senior and Group category. Participants must be between 13-25 years of age. Solo junior will be from 13-18. Senior 19-25. For group category there will be 3-5 participants. They can be from any organisation. They will have to select a semi classical or classical song from any Tamil poet (Bharathiyar, Bharathidasan, Kannadasan, local poet, etc) and present a dance item on it. Before performing the dance, one of the team members will have to give a 1.5 min speech on the poet and the poem (a sort of practical criticism) before performing the dance. For example, if they were to choose the poem Mazhai by Bharathiyar, they have to first talk about the poet and then discuss the poem in terms of language and content and relevance to the time it was written as well as relevance to current day. Participants will have to submit the music piece earlier for the organisers to vet and approve the song. The dance item must be about 4-5 min.

The participants will be judged on the quality of speech, presentation style and for the dance component – choreography, coordination, costume, aesthetics and technique. Winners will receive trophies and certificates. We are planning to send out letters to the various educational and dance institutions to participate in this competition. Publicity will be done via social media, direct emails, and some media coverage. Hopefully, some of the winning items can be featured in Media programmes to entice better quality performances. We are intending the hold the competition at Pek Kio CC. We are expecting about 10 teams to participate. If Covid restrictions persists, we will livestream event from venue. The event will be held from 3-7pm.

Omkar Arts students and company dancers will open the event and provide performances during the judging process. Based on our experience of hosting this event in 2019, we believe that the response will be good with many solos and teams participating. So, we will have a preliminary round at a dance studio on 23rd April 2022.