Dance foundation engages Lagos public schools with ‘Forward Dance Championship’

The second season of dance competition ‘Forward Dance Championship’ held on Tuesday, June 20 at Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos and witnessed impressive attendance from students from various secondary schools in the state.

Organised by The Dance Deal Training Foundation, with support from Corporate Dance World, this season theme is: ’50, Excellent and More’ in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Lagos.

A total of 120 schools from six educational districts in the state participated in the regional competition. The winning schools were selected to compete at the final, where one school emerged as the 2017 Forward Dance Champion. The winning school was provided with state-of-the-art performing arts studio.

Speaking on the purpose of the competition and the motivation behind it, President of the 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.”

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Ashimi Adewale also buttressed Obafunwa’s statement, said: “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, adding that the competition would help youths focus and channel their energy into other forms of positive engagement that will impact on their future.

Mende High School emerged winner and received the sum of N400,000; Gbaja Girl’s Senior High School emerged second and received N200,000, while Agboju Senior Secondary School, came third and received a sum of N100,000.

The dance championship is aimed at developing and promoting arts in public secondary schools. Corporate Dance World, VO3 Designs, and Maltina sponsored it.