So U Think U Can Dance? Betul Punya Story

The much awaited dance contest has finally reached Malaysian shores…! So it was with eager anticipation that I attended their press conference today at Ruums, Life Centre KL. Inside, my mind was ticking… wondering who will be unveiled as the judges…

But first came the opening act. Dancers trouped out to perform a traditional Malay, Indian and Chinese dance then gave way to a pair of ballet dancers. There were a guy and girl in some exotic Malay costume executing something that looked like it came out of Puteri Gunung Ledang. Then there was alsos two sexy couples who salsa-ed to a Samba number (huh?) and finally three dancers dropped some hot and sexy hip hop moves.

Then 8TV CEO Ahmad Izham Omar and Business Development Manager, Ms Lam Siew Kim turned up on stage and said, “Oops. Sorry we’re not unveiling the judges yet until the next press conference so that we can keep you interested.” (Damn you, 8TV!!!)

Luckily there were other juicy details…

The first is that, like the US version, dancers wil have to compete in a few different gernes namely hip hop, ballroom, TRADITIONAL, comtemporary and MANY MORE. Notice key words in CAPITALS. This new twist, the traditional category will feature local dances like tarian zapin or the bharata natyam and etcetra. Even the comtemporary dance, going by the five minute performance during the launch, will be locally contemporary – meaning artsy fartsy mystical PGL kind like the one just performed.

So it’s not that predictable after all. Malaysian dancers will now have to buck up on the traditional elements… especially since (drum rolls, please) the word is already out that world renowned traditional dancer Ramli Ibrahim is the Head Judge!

Hmm.. no ballet / lyrical? Maybe that’s where the MANY MORE comes in; ballet salsa, modern etc. Who knows how many dance they will be featuring. It will explain the secrecy behind the judges’ identities. Apparently, there will be many...

The Schedule
And oh, don’t forget to book your whole weekend off! Coz the auditions falls on Friday and Saturday (16th & 17th) and the call back, two days of intensive boot camp is next days; Sunday and Monday! Yep, they’re shooting 4 days non-stop.

Tentatively they will pick 40 of the best dancers for the boot camp but Sunil, the Executive Producer doesn’t want to commit to figures yet. “Who knows if the quality is very good, we’ll increase the number of people called back,” he said. “Our objective is to help local dancers get recognition. So come dressed to impress!”

From the boot camp, the top 10 male and 10 female dancers will be picked for the ‘live’ shows. The dancers will break until the ‘live’ shows start airing on TV.

The first episode airs 5th April 2007 at 9.30pm and every Thursdays after that.

From there the format will remain the same. The judges will pick the bottom 3 dance pairs and the audience will determine who gets voted out via SMS. When there’s only 6 dancers left, they’ll all go to the Grand Finale. All stages; Audition, Boot Camp and ‘Live’ Shows will be held at the Panggung Bandaraya / DBKL.

So you think you can dance? Join now coz even professionals are allowed and encouraged to join. The grand prize is…

And fame. And possible product endorsements and stints with 8TV and dance gigs and all else that comes with national exposure.

Sigh. Isn’t that just the stuff of dreams?

Nim
March 6, 2007