Salsa, urban dancers win N1m at SPANFest

Salsa and urban dance groups on Sunday won N1 million in the ongoing Society of Performing Arts in Nigeria Festival (SPANFest).

In the Salsa dance category, Bidemi and Bisi, a dance couple, went home with N500,000 while the 619 Dance Crew representing the Urban Dance Group also received N500,000 for their performance.

Sarah Boulos, the chairperson, Society of Performing Arts in Nigeria (SPAN), applauded both winners for being outstanding and original in their performances while presenting the prizes to the winners.

NAN reports that the event, which took place at Muri Okunola Park, Lagos, had different dance groups that competed for the cash prize.

The second day of the third edition of SPAN festival themed “llu Mi, Ilu Mii’’, meaning: “My Beat, My City”, was devoted to urban and salsa dances.

Boulos said the aim of the competition was to discover the street and the beat of the street, which was accomplished.

“Congrats to the 619 Dance Crew. You can see that we have discovered the street and the beat of the street is intact,”

“All these young talented people know each other and they have a good competition together and you can see the encouragement from all the dancers.

“We offered them a platform that nobody was giving them to shine and make a difference with their gifts, so I’m excited because they showed us our beat and their city.”

Tayo Tiara, a member of the 619 Dance Crew, expressed his team’s gratitude to the organisers after winning the dance battle.

“On behalf of the crew, we are very excited because we had wanted this a long time ago,” he said.

“We came last year but we came second. We went back to sharpen our craft and this year, we stood out because of our originality. We are now the champions and I’m so happy.

“We trained every day, we stood out, we did all we had to do and most importantly, we prayed to God.”

He also urged the government and other corporate bodies to create more entertaining platforms like the SPANFEST, in other to encourage dance, most especially.

Buddy Agedah; one of the judges, said: “It was a brilliant outing, people came and brought their best and we appreciate them for their originality. As far as I’m concerned; there were two winners, but unfortunately, one winner takes all.

“Salsa in Nigeria is gradually getting the recognition but can only get better. We need to grow the sector through more participation. We need more training platforms and exposure.”