GK Productions have come into contact with us and this is what they had to say:

*click on image to enlarge

There you have it, straight from the organisers themselves. We thank GK Productions in acknowledging this matter.

*We would appreciate it if no one comments on this issue anymore. Like we've said before, there’s nothing much anyone can do about what's done. The only reason why we put up their email is to be fair and let them have a say as well. TAGS IN REGARD TO THIS ISSUE IN ANY WAY WILL BE DELETED. We seek your co-operation and understanding in this matter.

Oh.Our.Kaduvule.

This blog has caught on fire! (PATHIKICHI MACHI!)

At this point of time: the authors of the blog would like to say something:

TagBoard Comments - Readers, please. This blog is a growing ground for positive comments and constructive criticisms. If you find the urge to tag about anything at all, please do it in a more diplomatic way. Vulgarities and obscenities will NOT be tolerated. Any post with obscenities studded in them will be automatically deleted, regardless of it's material. We suggest you to structure your words before posting them up for the whole world to see. This is our humble request. Let's motivate one another rather then bringing everything down altogether.

Also, try sticking to one username on the tag board. There are far too many unknowns and anonymous. Anonymouz (we are referring to the dance group) are gonna get frustrated with this, you know, since they can't talk and all. We have to stand up for the vaayillla jeevans. Haha. Jokeu people Jokeu.

And please people, let your tags be coherent. We find it hard to understand some of your language, or even what you are trying to say =s. Puriyira maathiri tag pannungo.

eg. riacht: ur gradfather 2 round one was inside ur eyes! --> What the....??? Is it just me or does anyone of you guys understand what this fella just said?

*Vulgar tags will be deleted by midnight today, so rant all you want right now.

GENERAL COMMENT: GUYS! STOP PUTTING OTHERS DOWN! IF YOU GOT SOME INFO, EMAIL (dhaamdhoomdance@gmail.com) IT TO US. This blog is not to create internal 'wars' among groups. False accusations are polluting the tag board. What is done is done, lets all look toward the future. Whats important now? Dhool 2008. And the 20 teams in it. So lets pledge our support for them and boost them! This blog is 101% dedicated to our dancers & their groups. We are here to give bystander reviews, NOT to look down on anyone. Again, we are not here to discriminate any group. If we were with such an intention, then this blog wouldn't have gone public at all. I hope this rests everyones hyper soul for today.

(Jeezuz Bajeezuz! 145 tag comments just in 1 day?! Now, who was it that said the AUTHOR of the blog was 'so free'...?)

Cheerio people! :)

HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY

Once again: Likes, Dislikes, Favouritisms, Biasness aside, be it your friends, boy/girl friend, juniors or seniors dancing. When it comes to competition, open yourself up to true talents. Appreciate real talents rather than supporting your own. In this kind of competitions ones passion, talent, hard work should be judged NOT by how much they are likeable or famous among fellow peers. We hope this message reaches out well to everyone on a good note.

Dhool 2008 Auditions

All we can say is, WOW. The bar has definitely been taken up a level compared to last years season. From 30 groups, it has been cut down to 20. The 20 groups who got in, you have our congrats with you.

A few thoughts:

We have never really understood this position in which people humiliate themselves in front of television viewers. As always, there were a few black sheep’s in this department this year. Please keep in mind that we are not targeting anyone in particular (unless we say so). These are just general comments.

First off, no one really bothers if you have an exam tomorrow, or your school's starting early the next day. You are young? SO? You want to join a competition? Then there are sacrifices to be made. Know what your responsibilities are and act according to them. Plus, it's not like the organizers didn't give you enough time to work on your piece. Don't ever, ever hide behind reasons for your dance not being at its full caliber. Seriously, do you think the judges would give 2 hoots if your tailor screwed up your costumes? That’s your 'pasal'. All the judges care about is your dance, and how you execute it. So please, do away with all the excuses.

Second, ok, this is going out to 1 particular group. AW 66. We want to say that your costumes are nice. They really are, at least better then some of the groups who got in. What we are gonna say next is only referring to one of the female members in the dance group. Honey, you've got to wear something that compliments you a little bit more. The editors were making a fool out of you because of your 'exposure'. It could be humorous for others, but definitely not for you. It’s not a nice thing being humiliated on air. So although we applaud you guys for your effort on your costumes, please rethink certain factors. And this goes out to the guy who told Vijayendran that he'll be back. We don't know about Vijayendran, but we are definitely waiting to see your group at next years Dhool (if they have one). You can sure bet on that. =)

Third, contesters should be more responsive to criticisms, rather then being more rebellious. After all, you are in this at your own accord. No one forced you to join. Its like, in school, your teachers/lecturers DO reprimand you even though you pay your school fees. Just because you are pay the school, it doesn’t mean that your teachers are indebt to you. Its the same thing here. You pay money to enter the competition to put yourselves on the map. At the same time, are you putting yourself on the map of criticisms as well. Its just part and parcel of how a competition should be.

Fourth, this is also going out to a group in particular. Navaethaz. We think it wasn't very nice of you to have pin-pointed another team (Anonymouz). Whatever it was, you shouldn't have said that on air. In our eyes, it only shows you as spoilt sports. C'mon girls, why do such a thing when everyone has one aim on their agenda: DANCE. So why put another group down, that too on tv? Tsk, it saddens us when such things happen. Even our Aarthiz girls were down to earth with their reply of what their opinions was on not getting in for Dhool 08. Quote: 'Its not about winning, its just about showcasing our talents, and that’s what we did'. Their positive outlook have won our hearts. (As a side not, we think that Aarthiz was actually not that bad and should have made it in as one of the top 20. Better luck next time girls.)

Anonymous

Aarthiz

And as for your question on why known groups are taking part, we don't think that that should even be a question because we don't see NUS Vidiyal, Acidhouz OR Diversity trying out again. It's the groups who didn't get in top three that are giving it a shot again in hopes of winning the crown this time around. If you had thought that it was unfair that groups from last year were taking part (which is inevitable), then tell me this: why try out for Dhool 08? Teams are gonna keep trying till they get somewhere, right? All this aside, we know that it might have taken you some time to put the whole act together for the auditions. You guys were better then some of the other groups. So a big shout out to your girls. No hard feelings ladies.

Fifth and most lastly, a few small general comments.

You love dance! You live to dance! Dance runs in your veins! Dance is your passion! BUT:

1.) You look down at your feet when you dance! Do you have your steps written on your feet, just in case you forget? Or is it to avoid tripping? Machan's & Machi's! Dance pannumbothu audience'sae paarungo! Siringo! KUMMIYADINGO! But seriously, maintain eye contact with your judges/audiences, it can really help.

2.) You adjust your blouse, pants or even worse, HAIR when you dance. Pin up your clothes in position. And do your hair up in something that wont bother you later when you dance. Trust us, it will make a difference

3.) Your face is like this {-_-} throughout the dance. Then sometimes like this {^_^} Like for real. Haha. Try adding more expressions. We enjoy the dance even better when we see YOU having fun. So smile more. Show us that rotten teeth of yours. =D

Highlight of the highlight:

We don't how to put this in a more diplomatic way. As Vadi has put to light, Chakraz is a junior group of Sangeshtraz. Did you know that Ryyan Spencer Revolution is also a junior group; that of Rameshwara's? The reason being to why we are saying this is simple. Both Rameshwara and Sangeshtraz are mediacorp artists. And in our opinion it isn't fair if everyone knew only about Chakraz and not about Ryyan Spencer Revolution. Both these groups are pioneers in Singapore's indian dance culture and so we think it's only right if this fact comes to light.

Sangeshtraz - Main Crew

Rameshwara - Main Crew

So now the big question: Why have these 2 big groups sent in their junior batch? They have already achieved so much in television history. If you ask us, we think that these people are cutting the chances of individual groups from winning the trophy. But then again, whatever your experience or expertise, lady luck has to be by your side for all 3 weeks to get in. Lets watch and see if these groups do have what it takes to reach the finals. This is going to be a very, very interesting fight.

With that, we end Dhool 08 auditions review. We are totally ecstatic to watch the first quarter finals next week featuring:

1. Vedham
2. Chakras
3. Anonymouz
4. Tridiac
5. Version 2.8

Applauds to all the groups who gave an effort for the auditions, regardless whether you got in or not. And of course, all the luck in the world to the 20 groups who got in. A champion will emerge from these 20 groups. So, who do YOU have your bet on?

**Groups taking part in Dhool 08, please email us your group picture to dhaamdhoomdance@gmail.com. Especially the new groups. Let the readers have a closer look at all of you. Besides, you guys do deserve the recognition. Also, if anyone find the need to correct or add to whatever's written on this blog, you can drop us a mail too. We'll look into the matter for you. So don't be shy, let the mails roll in!

OUH OUH, one last thing. We reserve the right to publish the email WITHOUT asking for your permission if we think it is necessary. But please don't make us do that! Whatever it is, let’s all try and remain civil. Until the next post everybody!

Danz Arena Y2K8: Reviews

Danz Arena Y2K8

One of the most awaited Indian Dance Competitions held in Singapore Polytechnic every year. Seating capacity of over 1100 pax. And this year, they (GK Productions) are SO proud to present 18 groups all in 1 night. For some reason, we wern't as excited as the organizers on this one. We remember clearly last year, there were 15 groups in total. And we couldn't wait for it to end, not considering the fact that we were dead beat just screaming and cheering for the first few teams to perform. Tell me again, what were they thinking when they allowed 18 groups to participate? Or were they trying to follow the standard 'tamil padam' timings?

The show was due to start at 6pm and end at 11pm. Or so it was printed on the tickets. From my experiance and knowledge of being with fellow Indians, here is just SOMETHING with Indians and punctuality. They don't seem to gel together somehow. After the gates were opened at 6.30 the show only commenced at the 7.30 mark. Hmmm. Why were we not surprised?

But on a lighter note, the hosts that they got to emcee this years show was much better then last years selection. Vishnu (V1) is hilarious on his own, and we have always found Bharathi to be a very complimenting co host. Both their presence of mind during hosting definielty made watching 18 (+2 guest performers) groups a little better then we had expected. Even though, we have to say, quite a few of Vishnu's jokes were R21-ish! Haha. All in good fun we suppose.

Now, lets get on to the interesting part, the dances (AH DUH). Just a prenote, we wont be reviewing EVERY single group that made an appearance. Just the top 5 and a few others who deserve to be named for their efforts.

1. Agni Reloaded

From repeated bulletin alerts by Agni Reloaded, everyone would have learnt by now that they have topped as champions for Danz Arena Y2K8. Haha, jokeu boys, jokeu. Our hearfelt congratulations to them. They have done it again, but that dosent quite mean we had a blast watching them. What we are trying to say is, they have done a concept widely chosen as a safe option for Danz Arena.

Fusion.

Ever since AcidHouz revived fusion in Dhool06, it has been a famous way of dance for many groups. This includes our dear Agni Reloaded as well. We aren't saying that thats a bad thing, after all, they are good at what they do. But after watching AR's Navras performance a couple gazillion times at various competitions, we got 'jelak' of it. Too much of a good thing is bad, right? Right. So when we saw what they had for us, it was kind of a let down. We didn't find anything outstanding in it, simply because, it just reminds us of their previous routine. Its almost like its being overused / reused. But one thing that did catch our attention though, their costumes, make up and props. Those, unlike their dance, had the WOW factor in them. The heads of our AR dancers were shining gold sparkles on stage. Uber cool. And their energy on stage, what can we say? Its still up to par. A shout out to AR since we love them so much: Re Invent boys! Reinvent!

2. Killabeez

Enna beez? This group of boys have always awed audiences with every single performace of theirs. And this years Danz Arena Y2K8 performance was no difference! At first, when the dance began, we were surprised with their dance. It was so not them! And we all agree to the ingenious fact that, no one would have ever thought of dancing to such a song. But yet again, Killabeez have outdone themselves. Their chosen concept for the evening was Rain Warriors. We swear we didnt know what that was until we came back home and googled it up. Again, kudos to them for thinking out of the box yet again!

Their soft, fluid movements gave that extra 'lau' feeling to the dance. Haha. We also spotted a variety of new, innovative steps, making it all the more appealing to keep our eyes glued on them. As always, coordniation was pitch perfect. Sometimes I wonder if these boys are humans or clockwork robots...

3. RSR



A never heard of before, all girls troupe managed to clinch the 3rd prize for Danz Arena this year! Their choreography complimented the song (sei ethavuthu sei) very nicely. I think one if this groups biggest highlights were their props. Aluminium ladders drapped in cloth, swords and samsui hats. Interesting choice of props. For some reason the girls looked like a Japanese version of power rangers in their outfits with swords!

I think it's safe to say that RSR was a tough competitor for the other girl groups who participated that day. But then again, we would like to highlight the fact that even though the choreography was very well done, the girls expressions could not match up to standards. We are guessing that they girls were concentrating a little too much on their steps (which did seem quite tough at certain points) until their expressions jammed. You think?

One last thing. During RSR's performance, we noticed that one of their dancershad a leg injury and it was evident that she was bleeding or something to that effect. Even with that, she decided to go on with the dance and give it her all. Who ever she is, hats off to you. Must have hurt, but we are glad it paid off. =)

4. Mera Naam Jokers


Honestly, knowing that they were the 2nd last group to perform for that night really dampened our spirits. We heard that the former Nickeash Production group have revamped their identitly and were now named after an old hindustani flick! Their outlook and concept is from that movie (or so we are making a guess). We've also heard from 'insiders' that their performance for Dhool '08 was really refreshing and entertaining. It seems that these jokers dance to make us laugh! Well, after listening to all the hoo-haa about Mera Naam Joker, we were waiting in anticipation to watch their performance.

But lo and behold, we were extremely dissapointed by this years performance! Jokers! What happened?!

Nickeash Productions has always made and effort to be slightly different from the rest of the dance groups around. How? Well, if you have noticed closely in their dances, they always try to infuse something new into their routines. For example, Sangamam 07 Finals, they added in a little bit of malay/ balinese dance to their choreography. Its like, they always have something new to entertain us with. I mean, we appreciate the new notion of becoming comedians in dance, but there was no, what do we call it... ooomph? Yea, there was no OOMPH to the dance. And sad to say, their formations were a mess! Were they clowning around with that as well???

5. Ragazza
A fairly new all-girl group with about 2-3 performances on their hands so far, we think. We remember watching them during Chandralekha night last year. After watching their previous performance, we felt quite neutral about this group. No big excitment or anticipation. Thats, until we viewed thier dance for that night. We were seriously not expecting alot from them, but they have proved us wrong! We think that the thing we have to really mention here is their concept. One of their dancer on stage might have said that it was Jazz Infusion, but along with that we saw a little resemblance to Broadway performances as well. This, just like the rain warriors, was something totally niche. By the time they were up (11th to perform) we had already seen 6 - 7 fusion performances. So watching them was definetly refreshing. And reviving.

And also, some of us didnt even know that the 2 'guys' were actually girls until someone pointed it out to us! Yes, we were sitting that far back! Haha. But great job girls. Right there, we had a gut feeling that they might have made it into top 5. And that was exactly what they did. Well done girls.

Special Shout Outs

Our special shout outs to these groups for we think that they should have landed in better positions. They have put in commendable effort and we think it's only fair if we name them.

Synchronix


We were super dissapointed that Synchronix did not make it to top 5! No words can describe our dissapointment on this. So what on earth went wrong?! We honestly and truly think that this group deserves to be in the top 5. Yes, we are aware that they did fusion, but somehow, there was an X factor to it. They made a connection to the audience (partially because of their selected song) and we think that is what matters. Their formations and coordinations were flawless. Their expressions and energy was unquestionable. Everthing blended in with the song so well. We took a double look at each other in disbelief when we heard their name being called out for the last consolation. If we the audience felt that way, then we can only imagine how Synchronix felt. Our hearts go out to them. Seriously, sad.

Devarnaz


A special shout out to this group as well. Initially, when their dance began, no one quite understood what the girl running loose on stage was doing. It was a few seconds of bizzareness on stage. The girl did not give a convincing act at all. But then the dance soon entered and all hell that broke loose was saved! The dance consisted of beautifully made up choreography and formations by their well known leader, Viky. The best part to this group was that the girl counterparts were dacing up to par with the boys! And we personally think that this group dominate in expressions. Another thing that impressed us was that the choreography was in line with the concept and the lyrics of the song. And their energy level, simply mindblowing.

It was another huge blow that they received the 10th prize. We seriously think that Devarnaz should have at least gotten top 5. They COULD have lost quite a bit of points on their opening act, but we felt that the dance made up (and even more) for it. Our hearts go out to them as well. All the best for your future, we have our eyes on you!

Now, here is Dance2This's ranking:

1. Killabeez
2. Agni Reloaded
3. Ragazza
4. Synchronix
5. Devarnaz

MEGA HIGHLIGHT:

We have come to learn that 1 of the 4 judges for Danz Arena had actually choreographed the dance of 1 of the 18 groups that took part that night. Now, how did the oraganizers let that person become a judge, we wonder? Do we smell politics in the air? We think that having such a situation is highly biased against the other 17 groups, irrelevant to whether they made the top 5 or not.

At this point, we would like to state that: Likes, Dislikes, Favouritisms, Biasness aside, be it your friends, boy/girl friend, juniors or seniors dancing. When it comes to competition, open yourself up to true talents. Appreciate real talents rather than supporting your own. In this kind of competitions ones passion, talent, hard work should be judged NOT by how much they are likeable or famous among fellow peers. We hope this message reaches out well to everyone on a good note.

With that, we close our very first review ever made in this blog. We certainly hope people reading out there took what they read with a pinch of salt.

Take care everyone, God Bless. =)

First post ever. Introduction

Hello to everyone reading this blog.

This blog will be a new venture in expolring our Singapore Indian Dance Competitions / Competitors. There will be a couple of authors to this blog, but we wish to remain anonymous for several reasons being:

1. We do not wish to be killed under our blocks
2. Our comments would be what we feel, and we know that SOME of our fellow Indians cannot handle the truth.
3. And last but not least, I'll just say that we know our fellow Indians very well. And we know their short tempers even better
*EH, ENNA?! Enna paakurae?! WANT TO FIGHT AH?! @#&^%$*

Ok, now lets set some records straight:
1. We are not from any dance group. We are just mad about dance.
2. The critisism you see on this blog should be taken constructively.
3. We have no intention of putting any group down, afterall it is the same passion that we share.
4. We are not profesSional judges, but we can be the voice of the audience, looking at things in a spectators point of view.
5. If you were wondering, we are Indians ourselves. And that gives us the rights to ridicule ourselves. Like for real. *heehee, rubs hands*

And off we go...!