DUBAI Three Dubai youngsters walked away with prizes worth Dh100,000 in gift vouchers from Dubai Festival City last Saturday after winning the Kidz Starz finals, an annual dance and music competition event organised by the mall.
Each winner won more than Dh25,000 worth of prizes. Ian Cris Tocle, 10, from the Philippines, Taara Shenali Perera, 13, from Sri Lanka, Hashwata Sathish, 6, from India were declared the winners in the instrument, singing and dance categories respectively. Anoushka Gaur, 12, from India won the
Fan’s Choice Award.
Over 400 children aged between six and 15 registered for the event this year. Of them, 161 children made it to the auditions. For the semi-finals, 40 children were selected, of which 15 made it to the finals,” Brad Merchant, general manager, Dubai Festival City mall, told XPRESS.
Simply overwhelming
“The crowd was simply overwhelming and they came in large numbers to cheer the contestants,” he said.
Hashwata set the dance floor on fire with a fusion of semi-classical, hip-hop and cinematic dance styles.
As the KG-2 student of Our Own Indian School in Dubai gyrated with a hoola hoop to popular Hindi songs – ‘Pinky kya chahiye, Naaku muku and Allah Kasam’ – the audience whistled and clapped along.
“Three years back, Hashwata asked us to buy her a hoola hoop. We thought it would be a waste. But she proved us wrong. She learnt the mechanics and motions of the hoola hoop from YouTube. Today, we realise how talented our little girl is,” said her mother Chithra.
Ten-year-old Filipina Ian wowed the audience as he belted out a self-composed song ‘Wake up for another day’.
“Two years ago I put him for piano and guitar lessons, but he soon discontinued them. Ian is completely self-trained. He is gifted,” said his proud mother Irene.
Ian studies in the Philippines School in Grade 6.
Sri Lankan teen, Taara Shenali Perera, 13, sang her heart out with a Beyonce number (Listen) to clinch the Kidz Starz title. Her ticket to the finals was a Christina Aguilera song.
“I did not have much time to practice and I was pleasantly surprised to win the prize,” said the Grade 8 Westminster School student.
Anoushka who won the Fan’s choice award said: “DFC had an online award where people could vote for the best contestant in various categories. I was the choice of the public and I am grateful to win this prize.”
