Streetdance competition Dance Delight Vol. 1 comes to Singapore!
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| CN PHOTO: Ryan Ng | |
If you have not seen it, you will not believe it.
The preliminary round of Singapore’s inaugural streetdance competition, Singapore Dance Delight Vol. 1 caught the eyes of many curious young people and busy shoppers—when catchy tunes filled the air, and fancy movements were performed on the stage just outside Ngee Ann City on Orchard Road.
Hundreds of supporters and the passers-by did not mind the squeeze on the breezy Saturday evening of March 27, just to catch a glimpse of the competition.
Produced by O School, Singapore Dance Delight Vol. 1 aims to be an international street dance competition that will drive talented street dancers to bring on their slickest dance moves to the battle. Always cutting edge and “out-of-the-box,” O School is one of Singapore’s leading dance schools and first to bring Dance Delight to Singapore.
For the past 16 years, Dance Delight has been streetdance’s most prominent event, gathering the best of street dancers from China, France, South Korea, Taiwan, the United States, and now Singapore, together to hone their skills. Based on the increasing popularity of street dance in the city-state, Singapore Dance Delight Vol. 1 is expected to take up speed amongst the youths and be identified as an official platform to recognise the island’s best street dancers.
“We are pretty excited to hold Singapore Dance Delight Vol. 1 as it provides a platform for our local dance talents to compete at an international level. O School spent 18 months planning for this competition. It is exciting to see this happen now,” said Kenny Low, founder of O School.
“Old or new” school hip hop, break dancing, popping-locking, soul, punking, just to name a few styles—the participants are free to express their personal style without restrictions in the genres. In other words, Singapore Dance Delight Vol. 1 pushes new boundaries, letting street dancers fully express themselves.
A total of 28 teams competed in the preliminary round. These contestants will have to form a group of two to eight dancers and choreograph a three minute routine. In the finals, the dance set will take up to five minutes. The judging criteria are technical abilities, showmanship, musicality, originality and professionalism.
Twenty teams have been short-listed for the final competition on April 18. The finalists are (in alphabetical order and in no order of merit):
1. Basic 5
2. Da’ Street Soulz
3. Elecoldxhot
4. Epic Crew
5. Flair Nation
6. Funk Faction
7. Joyce & The Boys
8. Kokoba Crew
9. Ladies & Gentlemen
10. La Fuse
11. Look Behind!
12. No.Na.Me
13. One Cru
14. Raw Street Code
15. Real Chic
16. Real Image
17. Speed Limit
18. The Hardy Lockers
19. Pink Dollarz
20. Woo-hoo!
The winning team in the finals will represent Singapore in Dance Delight Vol. 17 in Osaka, Japan this coming August.
City News catches up with three dance groups and uncovers their reasons for joining the competition:
Elecoldxhot (Malaysia)
“Singapore has very good street dancers and they are very competitive. We wanted to learn from them and that is why we have been coming to Singapore for dance competitions since 2008. We look forward to the finals and hope that our group will be selected to go for Dance Delight Vol. 17 in Japan.”
Kokoba Crew (Indonesia)
“Singapore’s dance scene has progressed in recent years, and we saw some good performances today. We have been a dance group for one and a half years now and are still experimenting with new dance grooves. We are excited to be here after spending a month practicing four days a week to perfect our dance set. We are confident our choreography is comparable to others.”
Joyce & The Boys (Singapore)
“We have been following Dance Delight series for four to five years now. It is inspiring to join this competition as we know it is held for the first time in Singapore. We love to dance and our approach is a fusion of styles—uniquely Singapore! We know that we are competing against strong teams here, but it is expected as this is a significant competition. Nevertheless, it is important to have fun and learn from others at the same time.”
Catch the finals of Singapore Dance Delight Vol. 1
Time: April 18 (Sunday), 7:30 p.m.
Venue: *SCAPE – The Warehouse, 113 Somerset Road.
Tickets are on sale at O School or via email at info@oschool.com.sg or at www.dancedelight.sg.
Early bird tickets (before April 11) are at S$20, and thereafter, S$25.
