On Sunday June 19, Tamil youth across Canada took over the stage at the Metro Convention Center’s John Bassett Theatre. Six teams participated in Thaalam, an interuniversity/college dance competition. Each team exhibited great talent, passion and energy on stage. Their creativity, enthusiasm and skill in dance were truly astounding.
Awards were given for particular categories, which were judged by a judging panel made up by Lenin Sivam, Marapu Kalai Venthan Ponnudurai Arunthavanathan, Angela Mahoney, Prabha Raghavan and James Cummins. The People’s Choice Award was determined through online voting on CTYA’s fan page. The Judging Panel marked each team in specific categories using a point-system marking schema which was derived by the Thaalam Committee. The Judging Panel expressed that they all enjoyed watching each performance, and that all the youth that participated are highly talented individuals. The While only awards were given to selected teams, all of the teams captured the heart of the audience.
Each of the six teams who participated put on a great show, and they all worked extremely hard on their dance routine, costumes, and props. They were all supported by energetic cheer squads who showed pride in their teams. The excitement and dedication the dancers shared for dance was clearly visible. Many of the youth also celebrated their Tamil identity, and incorporated elements of the Tamileelam, Tamil culture and heritage in their performances with great pride.
Dance is integral to the Tamil language, culture and history. The Tamil language is comprised of three classes which in unity are referred to as Muthamizh (“three Tamil”): Iyal (poetry), Isai (music) and Nadakam (dance). Together, these three components strengthen the Tamil language and culture in their particular uses. Traditional Tamil dances utilize these three tenants which contribute to the preservation of culture, as was exhibited by these youth dancers. In Tamil dances, including bharatha natyam, kaavadi aatam, silambu attam and villu paatu, through movement, costume, music and incorporative narrative storytelling, the Tamil cultural history is represented, reinforced and reproduced. By using the culture’s current events and folk stories in dance narrative the information is being preserved, and passed down.
The youth who participated are phenomenal dancers and exhibited great team spirit. Through this dance competition, these youth have proved themselves as skilled and passionate dancers to the greater community.
The Award Winners are as follows:
Thaalam 2011 Champions: York Huskies
Second Place: Oshawa Titans
Third Place: Montreal Maniacs
People’s Choice Award: UTSC Assassins
Best Choreography: York Huskies
Best Theme: Oshawa Titans
Best Cheer Squad: Oshawa Titans
Best Costumes: Oshawa Titans
Best Sportsmanship: Montreal Maniacs
Best Cultural Representation: York Huskies
Congratulations to all the teams, dancers, coordinators and volunteers for putting on such a great show!
Photos of Thaalam 2011 can be viewed on the Canadian Tamil Youth Alliance Fan Page on Facebook.
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