Kids from south Mumbai slums to perform at a city event

Step up to the dance floor

Kids from south Mumbai slums to perform at a city event

Underprivileged children from Byculla, Sandhurst Road, Dockyard Road and a few other areas in south Mumbai, will be given a chance to showcase their dancing skills at an annual talent show titled Jhankar. The initiative has been spearheaded by Shanu Giri and Jitu Jain, who own the GS Dance Academy.
Kids will dance to the tunes of ‘Pandeyji maare seeti’ from Dabangg 2 The duo organised a similar show last year, for children with physical and mental disabilities. “We have always seen kids from well-todo families participate in numerous competitions. So we wanted to give these kids from the slums a chance to be on stage and be applauded by an audience,” they explain.
The children will dance to songs such as ‘Pandeyji maare seeti’ from Dabangg 2 and ‘Disco deewane’ from Student Of The Year.

To manage finances, Giri and Jain have now included performances by their regular dance students in the show, but only after charging each of them R700. Giri explains, “Getting kids from stable financial backgrounds to participate was the only way we could raise money to rent costumes for the other kids. Some of these slum kids don’t even have shoes. We have been requesting people in the locality to donate footwear as well.”
Mukesh Chaudhry from Street Act Productions, one of the sponsors for the event, says, “There should be more events like this in the city, to help the needy.”
The organisers inform us that the thought of dancing on stage for the first time has boosted the morale of these kids, who have apparently been on time for every rehearsal and are giving their very best for the show.