T hough their popularity has taken a beating, reality shows are here to stay, with most channels coming up with new seasons of many of the shows. The recent one in the list is the second season of ‘Let’s Dance’, a dance reality show for pairs of dancers, telecast on Amrita TV. The show, aired Monday to Thursday at 7 p.m., is produced by Ciljo Vijayan, who has produced several stage events and live shows for the channel. More from Ciljo about the show:
About the show
It is a dance show for pairs; it could be two men, a man and a woman or two women. We conducted auditions in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Thrissur and Kozhikode and the final audition was held in Thiruvananthapuram.
We have selected 15 pairs, nine of these pairs have a man and a woman in the team and the rest are men only teams. They are in the age group of 18 to 25. There are contestants from outside Kerala as well.
Even after we finished the auditions, we kept receiving entries and so we decided to give a chance to the dancers who could not make it to the top 15. Thus, we have kept a reserve list. After the performance of the top 15, the reserve candidates will be given an opportunity to put on their dancing shoes. Altogether, there will be 20 pairs hitting the dance floor for the title.
On the contestants
It will be really difficult for the judges to find out who is the best, especially from among the top 15 contestants who are very good. Many of them are trained, professional dancers. It is quite sad that these dancers do not have enough opportunity in our state to perform and most of them go to Bangalore, Chennai or other parts of the country in search of work. In fact, many choreographers from outside Kerala come here in search of dancers.
Format
There are a variety of rounds. There is one dedicated to the hit Malayalam film songs of the 70s. ‘Naughty disco’ is on the disco genre, but with a twist. ‘Legends Hit’ will have contestants dancing to the songs of three matinee legends – Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan and Amitabh Bachchan.
‘Classical-rap mix’, yet other segment, will have the dancers swaying to a blend of western and classical dance genres. We are also planning to have an outdoor round, wherein the contestants will present theme-based performances. This round is intended to create awareness about socially relevant issues.
Your expectations from the show
Although I have been working with the channel for long, this is the first reality show I am producing. But what makes me happy is that our dance reality shows have been instrumental in shaping the dancing and acting career of actors, such as Iniya, Shamna Kasim and John. So, we hope to identify some stars from this show as well.
Judging panel
We are trying out a new method. There is a permanent chief judge, Shanti master. Then there will be two pairs of judges. In the initial episodes we have Aravindar and Iniya, and John and Abhinayasree [daughter of yesteryear actress Anuradha].
