Dancers keep spectators spell-bound

CHANDIGARH, FEB 21, Balbir Singh : Twentyseven couples put on their dancing shoes and kept a big gathering spellbound for two hours as they did intricate steps of the jive, cha cha cha and salsa at the second Chandigarh DanceSport Championship at the Sector 10 Skating Rink here on Sunday. Whether it were the little under-9 angels or the adult couples they had the audience clapping as they went through the competition. And emerging the dancing couple champions were Bandeep and Soma in salsa and Samdish and Prashansa in jive and cha cha cha.
The two will make it to the National DanceSport Championship to be held later this year.
Some of the girls dressed in black and in high heels must have found the going tough with the music system belting out fast jive numbers, a number of them from late Elvis Presley’s music album. But there were other numbers like the Tequila by Azukar Moreno, which had the chief guest Mrs Renu Aggarwal and Chandigarh DanceSport Association President Rakhee Gupta Bhandari tapping their feat.
Among the celebrity judges were the golden dance couple of India Preeti Gupta and Shanon Benjamin, who brushed the dancing skills of the dancers at a six-day workshop prior to the championship.
Preeti Gupta and Shanon Benjamin have done India proud. They made the quarter-finals of the Indoor Asian Games held at Macau in 2007. Their latest performance has been the semi-final grading they got at the All-England DanceSport Championship.
The big turn-out was the result of the dancesport being included as a medal sport in the Asian Games to be held in China in November later this year.
Soon after the competiton which saw some keen competition Preeti and Shanon took to the floor. There was hushed silence as the two put their best foot forward, dishing out one of the best fast dance action seen on the city arena. As the two bowed the audience exploded with claps and shouts asking for more.
Chandigarh DanceSport Association secretary Gursharan Singh Sethi said seeing the popularity of the new sport the association was all geared up for more such events. Mount Shivalik Breweries were the main sponsors for the dancesport competitions.
Results:
Under-9 (Salsa and Jive): Ritika and Vershon 1, Harmanjot and Nandini 2, Jabjot and Jasmine 3, Sarthak and Simran 4.
Under 12 (Salsa and Jive): Madhav and Tanya 1, Naman and Yashvi 2, Madhav and Shraddha 3.
Under 16 (Salsa and Jive): Danish and Simran 1, Nitnem and Mannat 2.
Adults (Salsa): Bandeep and Soma 1, Samdish and Prashansa 2, Ankur and Triveni 3.
Adults (Jive and Cha Cha Cha): Samdish and Prashansa 1, Bandeep and Soma 2, Jai and Sukriti 3.