Now, we start our episode recap of course with the initial introduction of the esteemed judges. Credit to Dhool, all 3 do have the credibility and qualifications necessary to make an informed judgment on the aspiring talents.
The Cultural One
Lavanya Balachandran - The one and only 'Naattiya Vishaarath', her talents range onto fusion dances and has a reputation no one can refute. She lends the cultural element to this competition focussing on coordination, steps and fluidity.
The Street Wise One
Sri Devy Viju - You know her through Om Kar, her dance group. A teacher-dancer-performer, she provides the street edge to the competition as she has seen it all in the realm of dance groups, those populating the CC shows, external open-to-all competitions and officiated ones. A boon to the "moulded" style of dance groups these days as she is quite aware where they're coming from and what their roots are.
The Why-Him? One
Ganesan Selvanathan - They [producers/emcee] call him "A Man with Multiple Faces. A Writer, a Director, a Host, a Presenter, an Actor and moreover, an excellent Dancer. Has been acting for 18 years". We think he just shouldn't be here. It seems like Selva is all ready to slide in to the role of being the Yindian Gurmit Singh, multi-roled, multi-platinum, multi-ple personality disorder.
You know who he is when he flashes his signature "L" sign at the cameras when he's introduced. Why L? The sign that signifies the mocking "Loser"? L aint even part of his initials? What is it all about? We suspect a conspiracy theory and with our great luck, it can only get worse. Selva is here to play the metrosexual, "Oh, that's just not rightttttttt" role, cooing over song selections, costume garishness and oozing of attitude. If you ask us, we quote him, "I didn't like it!".
So, we can begin competition highlights proper. It's the 3rd Quarters and 6 groups have already left after their complimentary 15 minutes of google box fame. The other 4 have the privilege of a long rest till we view the semis which are live telecasts, starting on 4th February.
Doverites Unleashed
Doverites [any relation to ITE Dover?] gave us their take on Ailasa Ailasa from "Naam Iruvar Namakku Iruvar". It wasn't a performance that got you on the edge of your seats. More so, they clearly looked like the show openers before the main bombs fell. The sultry Meena of course, back in the days when she used to be a Kollywood sex bomb probably can't be beat in pushing this song to the masses. This was slightly after the days she actually acted alongside people her age and slightly before the days she decided to act with heroes who were as old as her great grandpop.
Brings back to memories the days of New Crown theatre in Ang Mo Kio central [now a pool parlour cum arcade joint], where 2 tickets are bought, the backdoor that conveniently is at the ground floor is slightly pushed open and all 25 of us get to enjoy a movie at the expense of the theatre operators. This continued for quite some years till nosy Yindian, there's-no-such-thing as a free lunch "families" decided to call the cops on us. Needless to say, great times.
Venomouz
Venomouz, or however the name is meant to be spelled, lacked venom. Actually waiting for some veritable performance to arise, what we got to see was the toothless slithering of a few grass snakes across half the expanse of the stage.
Made up of clearly 14-16 year olds [by face, we didn't manage ot get our hands on their application forms] in push ups, sphagettis and "look at me! I'm on tv!" looks, we rue the day they graced our screens. How long did it take them to come up with these magnificently shoddy, "complex" and "acrobatic" sequences? For a moment there, some of us were whisked back to secondary school All Arts Competitions of cheesy steps and zero continuity.
Not to mention, legend has it that this group is ACTUALLY 4 girls and a boy as opposed to popular belief that there were 5 women.
To say that Acidhouz didn't have a good chance to be through all the way to the grand finals would be to commit holy sacrilege for some. They came in to the tourney as one of the established powerhouses in the amateur dance group scene and rarely have they failed to wow.
Costumes, music, fluid movements. The judges were swayed. We were too. Housa House. Not to mention the screaming entourage of groupies that populated the auditorium. Men included. Now why men would be so vocal for other men, is a question best asked to those who literally leapt out of their seats with whistles and shout outs every time the name of the group was even allegedly mentioned.
ZapperzZapperz attempted to work the MGR angle on us and succeeded but for only the introduction of the song sequence. After that, the intrigue of what they could do related to the MGR era was quickly diffused to display tried and tested steps and routines. Still, anyone MGR related has a pretty good business opportunity being the mainstay at Naetru Indru Naalai, the only "retro-er than retro" pub hidden in Tekka.
SPXSPX are also traditional powerhouses in the same vein as Acidhouz. You'd only need to attend external dance comps to check out their following and their level of talent. Pink costumes were definitely a welcome change from the usual eye blinding greens and yellows. Maybe, this pleasing on the eye colour combi did subconsciously make us want to like this group from the very start. A classy, slow beat to fast beat performance.
Comedy SkitsAn added plus point was the introduction of comedy skits to while away time and to provide another facet of Yindian entertainment. I mean, who else but groupies can sit through 1.5 hours of pure dance and just that. Dhool delivered 2 youthful comedians to us. The writing of their script impressed more than the actual delivery. But does it matter? As long as you feel buzzed with a little laugh at the end of it all, it was a good one.
At times it was more interesting checking out crowd reactions or spotting your long lost teh tarik mate with "Oh, what was that?, his 5th girlfriend since you've known him since last Panguni?" then watching the actual skit. Still, a veritable performance by Guna [
of Vasantham drama fame] and Vicky [
of Planet Galatta fame]. An unlikely bed-couple it would seem at the start, still they manage to salvage it all with a few chosen expressions and repartees that got people clutching their tummies to stop laughing out loud.
ResultsAfter all that was sung and danced, it was the judges who had to throw the towel in for 3 of the groups. If this episode was offered up for bets at Ladbrokes, I damn well could have increased my balance ten fold. SPX and Acidhouz are through. Any surprises? No. The results are not shocking not in that favoured popular groups should go through, rather, none of the other 3 even came close to knocking them off their perch. So the falcons fly to the semis.
The judges' take on dramatics was very interesting. There was a short tete a tete between the 3 middlemen on the various props used and the drama-esque element the groups lend to their dance routines. Unsuprisingly, Lavanya and Selva were on the "What's the point of props when it doesn't aid the dance? When it doesn't follow the theme of the song?". This is where Sri Devy serves to level the playing field because if any observer of external dance compeitions would have realized, props [some there just for decorative and aesthetic purposes] in recent years have been permanent fixtures on the stage space. In fact, in certain comps, props by itself has a seperate category of points allocated in judging the winner.
Still, their point is pertinent. But of course, what we DON'T want is for groups to dance to "mazhai vazhuthu mazhai vazhutu kudai kondu vaa" in raincoats, wellingtons and oversized brollies. At the end of the day, we Yindians are garish, extroverted in design and flamboyant. Let us be, it'll serve for better entertainment.
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