Twelve secondary schools from around the country will be taking part in the competition to perform live on stage a 5-minute dance sequence based on popular Hindi songs. The competing schools are, from the West, Cuvu College, Khalsa College, Swami Vivekananda College and Xavier College. Other schools taking part in the competition include Dudley High School, Rampur College, Saraswati College, St. Vincent College, Suva Sangam College, Vunimono High School, MGM High School and Rishikul Sanatan College.

All the dances will be performed and judged live at the TFL Kula Film Awards Night on Saturday July 26, 2008.

The categories in which prizes will be awarded are the PBS Best Dance Performance, Best Individual Performance and Best Costume. Prizes include satellite dishes provided by PBS, trophies, music systems and special gift hampers.

FAVC Chief Executive Officer, Taniela Bolea said that this is the third year that the competition is being organized and it has again received great interest from schools. The FAVC, he added, continues to organize this competition because dance and music are significant parts of the entertainment industry. The latent talent in these areas amongst our young people, Mr. Bolea said, had to be encouraged so that our school leavers could nurture these talents and also consider these areas as an alternative career path.

 “We wish to thank PBS the main sponsor of the dance competition, for acknowledging this talent amongst our youth and for supporting us in putting together this competition for them” said Mr. Bolea. He added that events such as the PBS Bollywood Dance Competition provide the perfect outlet through which to showcase the wealth of talent and creativity that our youth has”, said Mr. Bolea.

To assist the students in their preparations for stage performance, the FAVC will be organizing workshops for all participating students. These workshops will be conducted by professional dance instructors who will provide general instruction on costume, choreography, color coordination, stage make-up etc.

The dance competition is organized annually as part of the TFL Kula Film Awards and the Audio Visual Industry Open Day. The event will include an Open Day for the public on July 25 and 26, at the Suva Civic Center, where companies and individuals involved in the industry will stage an exhibition of their products and services.

Activities planned range from exhibition booths live music provided by musicians and bands, displays by overseas movie stuntmen, panel discussions, simulated news reading by students and screening of international films shot in Fiji and the entries for the film competition.

For more information, contact Florence Swamy of the FAVC on 330 6662/992 6665.