Top dancer to win US$1M

TT will host a World of Dance (WoD) competition in April that will see dancers, including solo acts and groups, performing any style of dance and competing for a US$1 million prize.

Main international celebrity judge will be Jaja Vankova of the Czech Republic who has judged competitions and has done dance battles in 30-plus countries.

WoD is an American reality competition series, hosted by Jenna Dewan Tatum and executive produced by Jennifer Lopez who is also a judge. Other judges are R&B singer/songwriter, Ne-Yo and Derek Hough. WoD premiered on NBC in May and has been renewed for a second season.

Woodbrook-based sports tourism company, Lequay Edge has secured the exclusive rights to stage the qualifier, thus making TT the first English-speaking country in the region to host an official WoD event. The local leg of the event was launched at the Radisson Hotel on November 15.

The WoD TT qualifier is scheduled to take place on April 7, 2018 at the National Academy for the Performing Arts (Napa), Port of Spain, with the winner going to the final in Los Angeles, California.

WoD has the largest YouTube dance network with more than 300 channels, including the World of Dance YouTube channel, with more than 2.5 million subscribers.

An optimistic Kyle Lequay, director of Lequay Edge and co-franchise holder said: “Just imagine the potential mileage that the WoD TT qualifier can have with access to a global brand with such reach.

“We are confident that Trinidad and Tobago will not only host a great qualifier but will also present quality talent from all areas of dance in our cosmopolitan island.”

The competition is open to anyone from anywhere in the world to compete and even to those who entered in major international cities who did not qualify but still want a shot at making it to LA. Entrants are required to make a two-to-three-minute maximum video, and submit it to trinbago@worldofdance.com up to January 31, 2018, for the local qualifier. Full guidelines are available on that website.

Lequay Edge’s director of operations at Hans Romany said: “All performances on the day would be seen by the NBC and WoD team and even if you’re not a winner but your performance did raise someone’s eyebrows in NBC and or WoD you may still have the opportunity to be part of the reality TV series.”

The categories for WoD are junior –consisting of any size act; 17 years and under; upper –groups of one to four, 18 years and older; and team –groups of five-plus, 18 years and older.

In a bid to promote brand TT and really bring awareness to our local talent, TT dancers are asked to use some local music of any genre within their repertoire.