Part 3 of Part 3

Alas! Aero boys decided to reply us today after a long time! They sent us an email earlier this week, apologizing for the delay in their reply due to the vast amount of work they had up in store for them. However late, they still decided to reply so, thank you Aerocratz!

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AEROCRATZ

No one knew them when they first came into Dhool ’08. “Oh, just another old boy group”, everyone thought. Little did they know that these very boys would storm the stage and win the prized cup! Portraying significant societal issues in all of their dances, Aerocratz have indeed created a niche for themselves. With their sharp movements and flawless expressions, these boys danced right into the hearts of their fans. Alrmed with a revolutionary vision and brilliant choreography by Nagen, we are sure that these boys have become, like AcidHouz and Diversity, household names in the Singapore dance scene. So without ado, Aerocratz!

First and Foremost, on behalf of Aerocratz I, Hari, would like to express our deepest and sincere apologies for keeping everyone waiting for this interview. All of us were really busy during this festive month. Therefore please pardon us.

Let’s begin...

1. How long did the process of conceptualizing the ideas to executing the whole piece take?

We had these ideas for quite some time. However we didn’t get the proper opportunity to reveal our dream of showcasing our ideas and talent. Dhool 08 was a golden opportunity for us but due to the time constraint we could only show our ideas vaguely.

2. How did this group come about? We understand that Aerocratz are made up of several established dance groups, but why this collaboration?

Firstly in Dhool 06/07 we were all part of the competition but in various dance groups such as Stepz, Anarchy 99, Acid Houz and Kali Dancers. However, most of our dancers are from Theestainerz. After gaining years of experience through Theestainerz and the competition, we decided to collaborate in this Dhool 08 to show our utmost standard of dancing.

3. Aerocratz had a mission. And that was to bring dance to a whole new level. And that is exactly what you boys have done. Where did the ambition to do so come from?

We prefer to say that it is our passion and our duty to bring our small indian community of dance to greater heights in Singapore. Furthermore, all of us had the same drive within ourselves to send out the messages we thought would make a difference in our community. Some issues that we touched on were discrimination (stereotyping), perseverance and lastly "nothing is impossible in the name of God".

Dance is a silent poetry which is not about impressing but expressing.

4. The songs that you guys choose are very apt for your scenarios. Who does the selection? And is does the song selection cause the idea or is it the other way around?

We work as a team to select the appropriate songs for the appropriate scenarios we had chosen. It’s either the idea we chose that suits the song or the song we chose suits the idea.

5. Its no secret that your costumes, just like your song selection, are big hits. Especially for their appropriate manner. Who comes up with them?

And again we would like to state that all our costume ideas are decided as a whole. Therefore, we use all our creative ideas to come up with the best costume for the chosen song.

6. What are your upcoming plans now that you boys have conquered Dhool?

This is our first step into our upcoming dance journey and like what we had promised, with the given opportunities we will strive harder to bring dance to greater heights n dimensions. Not forgetting to send out messages in every of our Aerocratz performances.

7. Lastly, anything to say to your fans out there?

Our every performance had a big risk involved. But our fans and the people who watched Dhool gave us overwhelming support and appreciated us which gave us more encouragement to take bold decisions as we moved on. Thus, we would like to thank all our fans, genuine supporters, friends and family and all those who appreciated what we did. Without all of Your support we would have been nothing. We would also like to thank our seniors from Theestainerz, Nagen, Seran and Bose who had confidence in us from day one. We will do our best for all our fans who have trust, confidence and faith in all of us. Your votes will not and did not go vain.

Lastly the true gift of dance is to touch, to move and to inspire.

There you have it! The 3^rd and final installation! We hope you guys have a more broader perspective of who our top 3 are and we wish EVERYONE all the best for their future tasks! So until the next competition, adieu everybody!

Happy Deepavali

Wishing our beloved Indian community a very
Happy Deepavali!!!

Our crew just arrived home after that spectacular countdown show and sure enough, we saw A - LOT of familiar faces dancing. We're quite happy to see everyone alive and kicking. To all those who brought us that wonderful show, crew to cameramen, thank you so much for sacrificing your midnight to entertain us. Well done folks!

*Many might be wondering why the Aerocratz interview is not up yet. The reason behind this is that our beloved champs haven't had the time to reply us back, but they say that they will in due time. Once they reply, be sure that the post will be up the following day.

Part 2 of Part 3

Here’s the next installment of short interview questions with our Top 3!

Killabeez

Since the beginning, these boys did not have a hard time clinching titles from various dance competitions, despite them being new as a group. Their ability to charm the audience with their pieces is truly remarkable. Although their journey in Dhool started off rather rough, it’s safe to say that these boys bucked up and did quite well in the end. Let’s have a closer look at what these boys have to say.

1. Coming in 2nd place is already a big deal. But beyond that, does Killabeez think that they could have done better? If yes, how so?

To be able to come up among the top 3 is definitely a big deal, amidst the tough competition and the pressure that surrounded us. At the same time, we tried not to keep high expectations and hopes within us. Being in the finals was indeed a big dream-come-true for us, and the only motive we had in the finals was to give the fans what they missed from us.

There is definitely a sense of regret for every dancer or dance group after each of their performance, the regret of not doing that performance better. Likewise, we had the regret too, but we definitely did our best and that’s the bottom line. Many would say we just did a performance we did before. But we intended to make well use of the given time to actually improved on a dance that we have only performed once, and we think it resulted quite well.

2. For your Quarter Finals, the majority of audiences and even a small amount of your fans were rather disappointed with your performance. What went wrong?

Atmosphere was new. The competition was new. We lack the experience and that hit us hard. First of all, we are extremely disappointed with ourselves with that performance. We admit, we weren’t that good in the quarters, but at the same time, we don't think we were that bad in that quarters overall. We may have got in by a tad bit of luck and votes, however, the judges comments were indeed indirectly hurting for us. It really woke us up and our semi finals performance was a result of this 'awakening'.

3. Your journey in Dhool started rocky but it ended smoothly. So how was the overall experience?

Overall experience was pretty good. We learnt alot of new things, not only as a group, but individually. This competition did gel up the group lots more. The bond grew strong and we developed a sense of looking at things in a different angle, in one perspective. And I am sure this experience is going to be helpful for us in the near future.

4. Now that Dhool is over and done with, what are your next steps in the dance scene?

Dhool was definitely a platform to media and we think that we achieved what we came here for. Next step would be to BUZZ the media with performances you wouldn't want to be missing.

5. Lastly, would you like to say anything to say to your fans?

First of all, a sincere thanks to each and everyone who has supported the hive since the start of this journey. Alot more to the crew and family itself that helped us throughout this journey. We did start off rocky and ended off with a high note. If you recall, each performance was planned such to prove our versatility that we are good in different areas/genres, which many groups didn’t make full use to showcase their talents. So whatever you have seen is definitely not the end, but the beginning to a new era. The FKB era. Lastly, ENNA BEEZ?? KILLABEEZ!! Always 1 Love, 1 Life, 1 Hive!!

With that, let’s wish the Beez all the best for their future endeavours! Keep stinging, Beez! Up in a couple of day we have our one and only Aerocratz! Stay tuned people!

Part 1 of Part 3

First and foremost, before we get down to business, Dance2This would like to congratulate:

Nanyang Polytechnic

in winning the cup for Aarathana ’08!

Coming in 2^nd and 3^rd are ITE Dover & Temasek Polytechnic respectively. Well done!

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It’s been a good 2 weeks after Dhool and all excitement has seemed to die down. Well, we are back for a few post – Dhool blues. In attempt to get the top 3 teams closer to their fans and audience, we sent out different sets of questions to them; about their experience, about their lessons learnt, and more. We aren’t posting all their replies at once so do keep checking this space out to see your top 3 team's replies!

And today, we are ecstatic to feature:

Agni Reloaded

As everyone remembers, it was these boys who snatched the 3^rd prize for Dhool ’08. Their charismatic boys, energetic moves and nose studs kept the audience wanting more. They have come a long way since we’ve first set eyes on them during Dhool ’06 and we sure are proud of these fella’s! Without further ado, lets ask them some spicy questions!

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1. Out of the top 3 teams in Dhool ‘08, only AR has previously been in the Dhool that was held in 2006. What are the major differences that you boys have faced as a group then and now?

The standards of dancing has changed tremendously over the years. During the previous Dhool, it was all about dancing itself. As far as we can remember, judges were not really into themes, concepts or the usage of props. But for this year’s Dhool, what they wanted was totally different. It was all about themes, concepts and being different. All the groups have improved so much and their much more creative. During our Dhool journey, it was hard to cope up with other competitors as they come up with awesome ideas and costumes. Overall, Dhool 2008 brought dancing in the Indian society to another level.

2. As evident as it is, AR’s specialty lies in your capability to put in so much of energy for an item and hold it with stamina. Any secrets behind this?

The secret behind this is just practice. Practice practice and practice ! Like the saying goes, practice makes perfect. Dhool 2008 has been really hard for us as most of us are in camp. Due to this reason, you see lots of new faces in this years Dhool.

3. Now that Dhool is over, what are your future plans and could you guys give more details about the upcoming Asuraz Thillai?

We would just continue what we love doing. Dancing has been our passion all this 6 years. We don’t dance for passion neither do we dance for fame. Dancing is a common passion among all our dancers which bonds us together. Despite being 2nd runner up for Dhool 08, it makes us no different. We'll still dance for upcoming competitions and shows. As for Asuraz Thillai, it's a competition not organised by Agni Reloaded. It's a competition organised by Nanyang Community Club. Some of our Agni Reloaded members are just helping the organisation out. Asuraz would be held on Dec 13th 2008. Do look out for our guest performance on that day itself. And let us see who walks away with the 1.7m 1st prize trophy. :)

4. All throughout Dhool ’08 (and even during Danz Arena) speculation has been that Agni Reloaded was being backed up by a well known choreographer. Any comments on this?

Lets get this straight. We all know that the public thinks that Ramesh from Rameshwara choreograph for us. That is so not true. Ramesh and us are just good friends. We see him as a mentor and he's someone we look up to in the dancing industry. Our choreography has got nothing to do with him. It's a little disappointing for us when we put our own hard work and the public thinks that someone else is choreographing for us. Dhool was a hectic period for us. We faced all the hardship by ourselves. It's all of us who choreographs our items on our own.

5. Lastly, do you have anything to say to all your die hard fans out there?

We would really thank all of those who voted for us and supported us through out our Dhool journey. We gave our best and we hope we didn’t disappoint any of our supporters. We hope you guys would support us all the way. If it wasn’t for you people, Agni Reloaded wouldn’t be around. Spice up your life with Agni Reloaded!

Well there you have it! Straight from the horse’s mouth! We thank Agni in responding to our mail. We hope you guys had fun reading their comments!

2-3 days from now, the next post will be up and it will be featuring Enna Beez? So keep tuning in! Till then everybody!

Dhool Grand Finale Review

The rigorous race that has been going on for the past 8 weeks has finally come to an end. We have crowned our Winner for Dhool’08 and it’s safe to say that we will all miss our 7pm Sundays.

Night of the Warriors

DHOOL WARRIORS we would say, fighting for the glorious, glorious crown. We had 7 deserving teams battling it out against each other. Even though some groups didn’t set the benchmark, it’s the effort put in that we have to take account for. Applauds to all 7 teams. Its not always about winning, it’s the experience and knowledge you gain from the journey.

Furthermore, with all the SMS and voting ‘tensions’ that all of us had to go through, we are glad that it’s over. It was funny to witness the fluctuating of votes for 1 long week, only to realise that it did not really match the results. But that god that it did not compromise the true victors for the night. We have got ourselves a winner and a deserving one at that! Lets start off with the one… the only

AEROCRATZ

(DancE... CasTe with a Class)

We were a tad bit sceptical but what do you know, these boys have given us a hat trick! Living up to their name, three times in a row, that is achieving the impossible. And by unanimous likings, public and judges, we have crowned the winners as the least controversial group to have won in Dhool so far!

Brilliant, brilliant performance. Song selection was that of a perfect choice. Expressions that went along with the song was plain hair raising and goosebump – inducing. The choreography was on par with their energy level. Everyone could feel the vibration and anger from their dance. Everything was flawless, from start to end. Like one of their fans said, these boys have brought dance to a whole new level and the sky is their limit. With the end of a season, a new era has been born with Aerocratz. You have our utmost support and may your ventures be successful throughout. You have the blessings of the whole Nation. Live up to it! CONGRATULATIONS

Killabeez

(Fly like a Butterfly Sting like a Bee)

Since the beginning, Enna beez have proven themselves to be one of the more talented dance teams to look out for. We will not comment on their dance as we have done so on our very first post about Danz Arena itself. By far, their rain warrior dance is considered to be the best item they have on their hands. Even more then Danz Arena, yesterdays performance looked even more polished and slick. A smart move by these bees in choosing an already choreographed piece. Amazingly, it was on par with the theme for that night. So lady luck was truly on their side unlike the rest of the teams who has to prepare everything from scratch. Having said that, these boys deserve their position. These boys have more potential then they seem. This is nothing but the beginning, so go on, keep on stinging us with new routines! Enna beez?

Agni Reloaded

(Spice up your life with Agni Reloaded)

A clean and clear concept. Their chosen song and theme went well hand in hand and it was easy to digest. Well done to the spicy boys! Their costimes matched up with their theme fantastically well. Even thought we could see their ‘trademark’ choreography and formations, it worked to their advantage given their chosen song and idea. Instead of backfiring on them, it catapulted them to the 3^rd position. Smooth, crisp and sharp movement. Coordination and energy level were simply mind blowing. Overall, they did justice to their piece, so well done boys! Keep the fire burning!

Special Shoutouts

Chakraz

Chakraz caused us to ‘mudiyae pichikiraans’ among ourselves. But after the many arguments and re-watching of video, we have arrived to our conclusion. As we all know, Chakraz are known for their creativity in thinking of ideas and such. And this was another piece that portrays that part of them in good light. We were at a loss of words at how good they were in their expressions, both males and females. . It was moving sight to see those tears from the girls. After all the throwing around they’ve been through, now they have to shed tears for the finals. -_-

Back to their piece, the storyline was clearly evident and and choreography was on par with the chosen song bit. But as we have ALWAYS realised with Chakraz, their formations were still messy. Very messy infact. So much so that they didn’t even seem to have proper positioning. And the. Also, Chakraz should have differentiated their lead dancers much more evidently, rather then making them wear similar looking outfits.

It is quite easy to see that Chakraz wanted to put up a very detailed performance and we kind of think that it worked to their disadvantage. The flow of ease in the dance was also not evident, maybe it was due to them worrying a little too much on their technical aspects. Movements were not as crisp as what it should have been.

On a whole, they still deserve this shout out. We have appreciated every dance put up by you guys so far and we hope to see more. Don’t be disheartened for this was just a stepping stone! GO WHEELZ!

Tridiac

(100% Pure Hip Hop Concentrate)

At last, out boys tried their very best by refraining from Hip Hop! Even though it wasn’t 100% Hippidy Hop, atleast 20% was visible. We can’t expect them to drastically pull away from who they are, can we? A nice tribal concept was played out on stage. Their wild, brutal and barbaric force could be felt clearly. We found it especially amusing when the boys ran towards the judges, with a few targeting one particular judge for some reason. Also, the idea with the 2 boys sitting like boxes at the corners until they were unveiled drew much awe from the spectators. Fresh ideas were evident, no doubt there.

Tridiac is a team that has taken part in many competitions in Singapore, other then Dhool itself. For this fact and more, we ought to be proud of these boys. We know for a fact that this group will continue to strive in what they do best, all the time. What else can we say but keep the dream alive, krump for the stars!

Having said that, we have reached the end of our Dhool reviews. It was indeed an experience for us too! We are glad that we were part of this journey, even though it was a small one. We thank one all who were part of this. Dancers and readers alike :)

Just in case if you were wondering, this blog is here to stay. This is just the beginning for us and it still holds by our vision: To keep this site dedicated to our very own dancers. So till the next upcoming competition… see you guys!

PS: Our mail is still open. Drop us one if there’s anything! dhaamdhoomdance@gmail.com.Cheers!

Champions of Dhool '08: AEROCRATZ

Champions of Dhool '08

AEROCRATZ

A DESERVED VICTORY TO AEROCRATZ! Congratulations boys! We finally have the true winners for Dhool '08. You guys really deserve it. Its time for a well deserved break. Once again, well done!

*Reveiws will be posted tomorrow.

Finals are finally here.

In less then 24 hours there will be a new Champion! This week has been nothing but exhilarating!

Version 2.8

Ryyan Spencer Revolution

Tridiac

Chakraz

Aerocratz

Agni Reloaded

Killabeez

ALL THE BEST TO ALL 7 TEAMS! ALL OF YOU DESERVE TO BE IN THE FINALS SO FIGHT FOR YOUR DESERVED CROWN! MAY THE BEST TEAM WIN!!! BIG K IS ON ALL YOUR PAKKAMS!\

The fact that the champion will be chosen based on both on votes and judges is all a little too scary. We have time and time again seen how the SMS Votes have the ability to 'backfire' matters in Dhool. Let’s just hope the majority of people voting will do so with their decision of who they think did their utmost best, after watching the different dances. There is certainly no point in regretting the decision tomorrow because the crown will already have a name to it; one that will go down in history, like all the previous Dhool winners. This is also our responsibility, so let’s all play a fair role in it.

Also, just a shmaal note. As you all know, we are having a guest judge (Miss Sangeetha) on set tomorrow. You might recognize her as the judge from Jodi No.1. Having said that, we hope everyone can be of their best behaviour in the studio tomorrow. The last thing we want to do is leave her with a bad impression of who we Singapore Indians are. So please, try to not shout out comments and such while the show is going on. This is going to be the last time in the studio for this season until Dhool is back, so why not make it a pleasant experience for one and all?

Everyones co-operation is sincerely thanked for. Lets ALL rock it tomorrow!

DHOOL 08! The final lap!