This dance studio in Kochi is urging children and housewives to get moving during quarantine

The Coronavirus has forced all of us to tuck in our dancing shoes into the bottom of our cabinets and restricted many of the fun activities that we used to indulge in. Luckily for those who have an untameable spring in their step, Mudhra Dance Studio has a challenge that could be just the answer for to your problems.

Based in Kochi’s Panampilly Nagar, Mudhra Dance Studio was set up in 2013 by government-certified dancer Dileep Kumar. For the past few years, the studio has been engaged in training aspiring dancers for reality shows, films and other prize winning competitions. They train in types of dance such as contemporary, bollywood, salsa, hiphop, flamingo and various others. Following the COVID-19 lockdown, the minds at the studio were busy coming up with a way to continue to spread the magic of movement, as they like to call it.

FEST FIRST: The festival is inviting entries from all ages of people

Creative Director of Mudra, Gowri Sharad was the one to come up with the Quarantime Dance Fest that people could easily do within the confines of their own homes. “At a time like this when so many of us are forced to stay within our living rooms, we wanted to find a way to keep dancing,” says Dileep Kumar, Founder and Artistic Director. “Anyone can send a 2 minute dance video to to us and we’ll select the winners. The idea was to come up with a noble initiative that can rope in anyone including little children to housewives. The only rule is that you should have the passion to dance!”

The Quarantime Fest is open for 5 different categories of people to participate. These include Kids Freestyle for children between the ages of 4 to 12, Freestlyle, Bollywood, Hiphop and Contemporary dance for children above the age of 13 and a special category for house wives or working ladies. Those who are selected as the winners of the competition will receive cash prizes. The deadline for entries in April 10.

Dileep says, “In this time when we are all separated from our normal routines and stuck at home, there is a lot of negativity that we can be faced with. A lot of that negativity has been wiped off with this very initiative. We have already been flooded with videos from all over the world. And to those who are interested, we urge maximum participation. Our aim is to use this time to bring out everyone’s hidden talents.”