The main bowl of the National Arts
Theatre, Lagos was a beehive of heightened activity as thousands of budding
dancers stormed the venue of the Lagos audition of the popular Maltina Dance
All (MDA) family dance show to showcase their dancing skills as the quest to
select family representatives for the Maltina dance academy continues.
At the
end of the long hours of competition, eight finalists emerged in the future
battle to cart home the grand prize of 6 million naira, a brand new car and the
highly coveted title of Nigeria’s number one dancing family. The huge turnout
and skill exhibited by contestants, further confirmed Lagos, as undisputedly
Africa’s major talent hub.
The eight dancers who were
unanimously picked by the judges are: Blessing Ekpo, Gloria Idundun, Promise
Enweribe, Peter James, Aniebet Emmanuel, Emmanuel Ibeotuche, Jackson Obinna and
Ekwerre Elijah. They will however undergo comprehensive medical screening which
is on-going and the medical fitness result will ultimately be the basis for the
selection of their family considering the highly physical and mental rigours of
a competitive dance competition like the MDA.
As expected, the Lagos auditions,
was highly entertaining and indeed in consonance with this year’s Maltina Dance
All theme, ‘The Evolution”. Contestants across all ages displayed a high level
of dance dexterity which made it a bit challenging for even the judges to pick
winners.
The first day witnessed dancers
between the ages of 5-12 and 30 and above, compete for prizes ranging from
brand new Home Theatres, Flat screen television sets and Blackberry
smartphones. For the 5-12 year category; Sunday Dolapo, a 10 year old student
of Kingsplace Secondary School, emerged overall winner. While Bankole Olamide,
11 and Ibukunoluwa Agbedo, 10, took the second and third positions
respectively. For the 30 and above category; 35 year old Mrs. Oluwakemi Adetula
emerged overall winner while Mr. Rasheed Balogun, 31 and Ibrahim Rasak, 42,
came second and third respectively.
The second day was indeed intense as
dancers between the ages of 13–19 and 20–30 battled it out. At the end, for the
13–19 year category, Tolu Okelowo, 19, Daniel Bernard, 17, and Daramola
Oladimeji 19, came first, second and third respectively. For the 20-30 year
category, Gloria Idundun, 24, Aniebet Emmanuel, 22, and Austin Ashor, 22,
equally occupied the first, second and third positions respectively.
Commenting on the Lagos auditions, a
member of the panel of judges, Bimbo Obafunwa, confessed that it was a very
tough exercise. “As usual Lagos is always very rigorous, the contestants have
shown that they really want to be in the Maltina academy. What we have seen so
far shows that a great degree of dancers in Lagos appreciate Maltina Dance All
and want to be a part of it. Because there were so many good dancers, it was
somewhat challenging picking winners but eventually we were able to select just
eight dancers. We looked at their versatility, the strength of the dancer,
stamina, skill acquisition, transition from one move to the other, charisma
when they come on stage and most importantly the ability to entertain and keep
the audience going and of course the spirit of evolution”.
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