The dance community in Kerala is putting its best foot forward during the pandemic. It is raising funds for COVID-19 relief through two online events — a dance battle and a workshop. The amount collected will be handed over to the Kerala Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund.
The initiative is led by Anand NC and Mohamed Basith. While Trevolution, the virtual breaking (b-boying and b-girling) battle, has already begun, the three-day workshop ‘Unlockdown your skills’, begins on June 26.
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“Although Kerala has some amazing dance crews, no event has brought them all together. So we felt why not do that for a social cause. Also, we wanted to break the negative impression about dancers,” says Thrissur-based Basith who specialises in krumping. He adds that the three-day workshop will have classes led by 13 dancers from eight dance crews in the State — Southside Bboys, Labyrinth Collective, Street Villains, Choreo Grooves, Grooves N Moves, Ripperz, Roots and God’s Own Whackers, covering different dance styles. “We hope to get 100 participants and it can go up to 150,” says Basith. Registration for the workshop is open on Townscript’s virtual platform.
Meanwhile, Trevolution, which began on June 22 had over 30 participants in the qualifying round, including those from Coimbatore, Bengaluru, Delhi, Chennai and Tiruchi, besides Kerala. “Girls are also in the fray, which is great since not many girls are into b-girling. Four of them were selected to the top 16,” says Anand, a b-boy from Thiruvananthapuram.
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There are three judges — Pittden (Malaysia), Striker (Chennai) and Bonta (Delhi) — and the winner will be announced on June 28.
The registration fee for the events is ₹100. Participants can also donate as much as they want. There will be a cash prize of ₹1,500 for the dance battle. Neither the judges nor the trainers of the workshop are charging any amount, say Anand and Basith.
Last year, Anand had joined hands with another dancer, Sumesh Sundar, to organise a Quarantine Dance Battle in breaking, all-style and krump. The event saw the participation of over 100 dancers.