Here we are, at the end of a 4-month journey, exhausted of innumerable fashion faux-pas, tired of unnecessary lighting effects and groggy of pointing out the grammatical mistakes thanks to the English proficiency of our super-speaker host and jury members. But behold, it is not over! A second edition was announced last night during the grand finale (yeah, GRAND) and something inside me clicked: it was high time for a review!
Another important aspect is that of the contestants' presence on the promo picture. Just as on the DALS Promo Picture, ALL the candidates, without exception, are put forward. The Power Promo puts forward only five contestants. Should we have been anywhere else on the industrialized world, we'd have screamed favouritism and/or unfair advantage due to higher public image/presence than other contestants. Of course, no such thing would happen in Mauritius; after all, we can barely make out who each of these five candidates are (talk about professional pictures!) I really can't believe that such a level would be acceptable to MBC at this point in time, especially when there's lots and lots of talented individuals in the creative arts field. Anyway, let's get back to the competition itself. It was introduced, on Le Defi Media Group in November last year, as comprising of 16 finalists (Seize finalistes disputeront la finale et, comme dans tous les concours du moment, deux groupes ou deux artistes seront éliminés chaque semaine jusqu’à ce que le meilleur soit primé.) and if we do the maths: 2 candidates ejected every week, it means it should have been over in...8 weeks! That's 2 months! Unfortunately, there have been innumerable repechage rounds which, quiet frankly, killed the thrill (if ever there was any without any appropriate sound effects, as expected although the second edition of Super Chef was very-well assembled in terms of sound, lighting and writing). Have you noticed anything special from the jury members? Well, me either. Apart from Cindy Ittoo (and I thank her for her franc-parler) who occasionally gave constructive criticism (aka filling the shoes of a jury member correctly), the majority of the comments, which were oh-so rare (WHY? Aren't they supposed to judge every performance and not only make an general statement about a whole episode of performances?) included praises as "Lots of talent", "Lots of effort", "Nice costume". It can be argued that the jury wanted to appear fair to all, but REALLY? Some participants actually needed some genuine guidance! For a recap, here's the Sneak Peak for the 1st Episode. Jerry Nayna is still in a hurry with ALL of his lines as the jury uses English as medium of expression. Bad move. Please note the perfect blend of Americano-British-Latino-Mexico-Australian accent with the lack of 's's at times... Last but certainly NOT the least, how about the prizes? Mauritius is probably the only country where all finalists are awarded prizes. Again, with an effort to please everyone - probably. In any case, I'd like to have feedback about how the awarded dance crews enjoyed their "Dinner for 1 at XY restaurant" (LOL). It's a competition; we all know what it means. Some will lose and there'll be a champion. The winner takes it all, the loser has to fall (and no, we're not going for the complete ABBA song) and we would all be happy for the winner. If there was one national dance champion to be crowned, for this hard work, effort and consistency, I'd be glad if he won the totality of the gifts; which would amount to +Rs50 000 and a lavish dinner for his whole family, dance coaches/partners or friends. There's something about this 'Everybody Wins' concept which bothers me, but is clearly in accordance with MBC's philosophy. It almost feels as this year's national dance champion, Kooyela (hope I wrote it correctly) is less acclaimed. By spreading out the prizes, I feel that the title itself gets dissipated.
Anyway, The Power : Everybody Dance Now first edition is FINALLY over. Shame these candidates had to suffer bad lighting. Can you believe dancing pristine and delicate ballet with blue lasers zigzagging all around you while the floor is covered with pink-coloured powder and weird yellow sunflower designs hovering on the background? Could they really not that offered each performance a unique, personalised lighting? Soft and sweet for the ballet; lively and young for the break dance; patriotic for the folkloric number? At least they've got Rs3000 as consolation for the disfiguration of their performances!) and that we weren't even able to vote for our champions. Oh wait, that brings me to the Awards! With an unexpected will to 'Oscarize' the event, Jerry Nayna introduced numerous awards, two of which were actually of good taste. The Best Costume Award fits in context perfectly and quite naturally went to Shivaji Bhosle Youth Club for their Rs25 000 worth costumes for the final (an estimation of their total expenses for the whole competition reaches an astounding amount of Rs68 000. All of that investment for a potential total win of Rs25 000... hmm, where's the logic?). People's Choice Award fits in as well; after all, we've been watching these kids for 4 months! But wait, did we even vote for that? It does say People's Choice Award right? The people chooses, right? Perhaps the Facebook outcast that I have turned into missed the online votes or something. Anyway, then came the Friendship Award (Really? Miss Mauritius is in June last I heard!) which was honestly out of place, to my taste. Filled with empty, random silent moments of delays and overly overwhelming 'where's that prize again?' so that even the host had to go backstage to fetch it, The Power Grand Finale deceived with a big D. This isn't the End of Year Dinner at college. It's a national dance LIVE competition. This is why I urge ALL of you readers to read L'Express Page 18 (can't find it online) "Prives de tele" which paints a nice portrait of Mauritius' media landscape and opens up about how there's seemingly nothing preventing the advent of private television in Mauritius so far. After all, all you need is a permit from the Independent Broadcasting Authority, which happens to be independent although having a representative of the PMO on its board (hmmm..). Why not start a television network? After all, there's not much competition to stand up against... Sine Cera DISCLAIMER: No Copyright Infringements were intended with any of the videos and pictures on this page.
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Fashion is a passion, writing another. So I thought - why not share them through a blog? Et voila! I hope you enjoy your time around here... |