The Dance Deal Develops ‘Forward Dance Championship’

The second season of dance competition ‘Forward Dance Championship’ was held recently at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos and witnessed attendance from numerous students from various secondary schools in Lagos.

Organized by The Dance Deal Training Foundation, with support from Corporate Dance World; the theme of the competition was tagged ’50, Excellent and More’ to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Lagos State.

This year’s edition of Forward Dance Championship recorded participation in the regional competition from a total of one hundred and twenty (120) schools from the six educational districts in Lagos – subsequently, the winning schools from each district were selected to compete at the final stage, where one school will emerge as the 2017 Forward Dance Champion. The winning school will also be provided with state-of-the-art performing arts studios.

Speaking on the purpose of the competition and the motivation behind it, President of The Dance Deal Training Foundation and Artistic Director of Corporate Dance World; Bimbo Obafunwa said, “We are happy to be partnering with the Lagos State Ministry of Tourism, Arts, and Culture for the 2nd edition of our Forward Dance Championship. This edition promised to be bigger and better than the 1st edition. Our focus is to discover talents in youths, and help them harness these talents accurately, giving them an opportunity to pursue their dance dreams. This has necessitated the provision of performing arts studios in these schools, where they students are able to build the right arts culture, through exposure to the right environment. Our goal is to ensure these studios exist in every public school in Lagos”

Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, AshimiAdewale also buttressed the statement, with this remark, “Having been a part of the successful maiden edition, and seeing the impact of this on the children, which is evident in the videos from the first edition of the competition and the beautiful execution of the Second edition, we are delighted to partner with The Dance Deal Training Foundation for the second season of this laudable project; Forward Dance Championship. According to Ted Shawn, Education in the art of dance is the education of the whole man – his physical, mental and emotional natures are disciplined and nourished simultaneously in dance. This goes to show that this competition will help our young ones focus and channel their energy into other forms of positive engagement that will impact on their future”
The competition was a success, with Mende High School emerging first prize winners. The winners went home with the sum of N400, 000, while Gbaja Girl’s Senior High School emerged second place and received N200, 000. Agboju Senior Secondary School which came third received a sum of N100, 000.

Forward Dance Championship is aimed at developing and promoting art in public secondary schools and is proudly sponsored by Corporate Dance World, VO3 Designs, and Maltina.