NEW DELHI: The ‘Aamad’ group and ‘Sadhya’ group from India will compete in the grand finale of the first edition of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) International Television Dance Festival (AIDF) in the city of the ‘Char Minar’ Hyderabad on 15 January 2017.
Public service broadcaster Prasar Bharati is hosting the first edition of this mega event at Shilpakala Vedika in the hi-tech part of Hyderabad.
AIDF will showcase traditional and contemporary dance performances by artistes of more than ten counties across the Asia- pacific region. The Dance Festival is conceptualised to bring the cultural diversities from across the world into limelight, by breaking cultural barriers. It will unveil the sacred occasions when people dance, and the joys that varied communities across the Asia Pacific region feel as they dance.
Information and broadcasting minister M Venkaiah Naidu will inaugurate the AIDF festival. Telengana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao will be the Guest of Honour. Telengana Culture and Tourism Minister Azmeera Chandulal and Prasar Bharati Chairman A Surya Prakash will also be present in the presence of other top officials of the I&B Ministry, Prasar Bharati and Telangana Government.
Countries that have so far confirmed participation are Maldives, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, The Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Fiji and Indonesia.
Two declared finalists from each country; one in ‘contemporary’ dance form and the other in ‘traditional’ dance form, will participate in the grand finale. All participating dance groups are between the age group of 18 to 25 years.
Prasar Bharati had started the selection process in June last year to select the teams that will represent India in the grand finale. In order to select the final entries, artistes were invited and they were asked to submit DVDs of their work in traditional or contemporary dance, for shortlisting purpose. These submissions were made online and offline as well.
A total of 453 entries were received, out of which 389 were made on-line and 64 were by post. Eventually, 210 videos were selected by the first Screening Committee.
After the final screening, 29 entries were chosen from the two categories.
The Festival is planned to be telecast live on DD India, DD Bharati, DD Urdu, DD Saptagiri and DD Yadagiri from 5:30 p:m onwards on 15 January 2017.
The pubcaster has created a dedicated website aidf.prasarbharati.org and is available on social media at facebook.com/DanceFestABU and twitter.com/DanceFestABU.
