24 contestants have emerged for the next phase of the ‘Deaf Can Dance Challenge’, organisers of the contest, Seams Consults disclosed on Monday.
Convener of Seams Consult, Samuel James in an interview with Inclusive News Network (INN) said the 24 finalists were selected after a careful scrutiny of the 37 entries received.
Giving an insight of the next phase, James said the contestants have been divided into six groups with four contenders each, adding that from each group, two contenders will move to the next round.
He said the next phase will see 12 semifinalist go head to head in a versus mode where six finalists will emerge.
According to him, the six finalists will contest for the final from which the first, second and third winners of the competition will be decided.
Speaking on the process so far, James said, “It was a very exciting and interesting stage. We had 37 videos as earlier stated and we could notice an element of work in all the videos.
“We have been able to cross the assertion that “Deaf Can Dance” we are now moving on to “Deaf Can Dance More” because, they showed series of dance moves that are so stunning to watch. It is just so unfortunate that 13 out of all 37 had to leave the contest. It is a competition and someone will have to go, but all in all, they all performed well. It is our belief that the curiosity of the ability of the Deaf as dancers has been satisfied.
“The challenge is now in a stage where the dancers have no option but to bring their “A” Game. With the way each Challenge is set up, we will have 12 people leaving the challenge after Tuesday(tomorrow). The remaining 12 will face-off on versus mode. The head to head keeps the competition even more interesting. We expect nothing but a very high level of dance performance and energy to gain the love of the judges and the love of the audience.”
The Seams Consults boss however noted that the eagle eye of the judges during the screening process spotted some discrepancy from a contestant, identified as Victor James which led to his disqualification.
James was said to have cheated with a picture he got from somewhere else and blurred it to look like he did the dance, but after investigation was found out to have lied.
Speaking on the incident, the organisers said, “He got a dance video in which one of the dancers look very much like him and blurred the video not making his face very clear. He sent it and claimed he is the person in the video.
“We suspected such has happened and started investigation. We had series of video chat with him to verify he is the one and he kept on claiming that he is the one.
“We then told him to do similar dance as seen in the video on a live video call, he struggled with it. When our investigation was done, we said it to his face that he was not the one in the video. He finally owned up that he was not the one in the video. We spoke to his family about this too and he showed remorse, hence, the need to forgive and only let him be disqualified without further actions taken against him. We do not intend to push further on his case, but focus on the competition instead,” he said.
The first prize winner of the ‘Deaf Can Dance Challenge’ is expected to smile home with the sum of N50,000, while the second and third placed contestants will walk away with N30,000 and N20,000 respectively.
Winners will also be exposed to various life time opportunities, including exposure of talent to the world, noting that those who do very well will be recognized as exceptional at their field.
Also, the star prize winner will have the rare opportunity to be put as a major cast member of the play “HERIT” which will be aired towards the end of 2020, with the play expected to herald a grand performance mainly by Deaf Performers.