On A Talent High

Amidst high octane dance performances and fashion shows,the zonal round of the Nokia IndiaFest 2012 was held at the Symbiosis Institute of Design on Sunday. After having visited the cities of Bengaluru,Chennai,Kolkata and Goa,the fest charged the Pune atmosphere with performances and competitions. Talented participants from across 16 colleges battled it out to ensure their spot in the finals. Beginning with Launchpad to Footloose to Rampage,the mix of activities kept the students and the audience busy through the day. The group High Spirit won the Rampage Fashion Show. One of the team members,Aishwarya Hamade,said,“The theme was ‘Greek God’. We were super excited to walk the ramp. We used remixes from Indian movies. We haven’t thought about the finale yet but we will give it our best shot.”

VJ Manish of Channel V,who anchored the event,kept spirits upbeat with his quirky humour and witty one-liners. The final event of the evening was the street dancing competition called Beat-It. It was marked by splendid performances by the groups SwordFish from Mumbai and External Force from Pune. The judges,unable to pick one decided to allow both the groups to enter the finals.

Team member and choreographer Dinit Roham of External Force said,“Last year,we got a direct entry into Channel V’s India Fest finale as we were the winners for MoodI,but couldn’t compete due to some reasons. This year we came here with a single focus of winning and we managed to do that. The competition was very tough though.” The finals for the event will be held on January 27 and 28 in Goa.