Pics: Yahya Hallare
Daijiworld Media Network - Honnavar
Media Release
Honnavar, Jan 1: The Honnavar launching ceremony of 'Yaya Ind-Ya Mayaya', the first all-India Konkani dance contest, was successfully held at the town panchayat hall at Prabhatnagar, Honnavar, at 4 pm on Sunday December 30. This was the last in the sequence of launching ceremonies of the contest.
G U Bhat, the chief guest of the function, a senior journalist, who has been keenly following the cultural resurgence of Konkani, which in his opinion is the direct result of Eric Ozario and his team’s incessant efforts; congratulated Mandd Sobhann and the other 3 organisations, for taking the initiative to organize the First All-India Konkani Dance Contest. He also thanked the organizations for having chosen Honnavar as one of the 7 centres in India. He assured that there would be nothing less than 25 teams participating from this centre.
Fr Richard Rodrigues, guest of honour, said that he was a witness to what Mandd Sobhann has done in the past 26 years to promote and enrich Konkani culture. He said that only an organization like Mandd Sobhann could think of novel ways to popularize Konkani arts and culture. He felt that it would be a shame that if the youth of Uttara Kannada and also of surrounding areas such as Hubli, Dharwad and Belgaum did not avail of this great opportunity. He assured all help for the audition on February 10 at Honnavar.
Fr Francis Fernandes, the other guest of honour, said that as the director of Prathibhodaya, he was very proud to host the auditions in his institution. He called upon the youth of Uttara Kannada to make the most of the opportunity provided to them, to participate in this Mega Event.
People that gathered in large numbers at the launch were enchanted with the dance performance of the Nach Sobhann team. Sheldon Crasta, the Diocesan Secretary of ICYM and an Executive Committee Member of Mandd Sobhann (in-charge of Nach Sobhann) conducted the ceremonies. Eric Ozario, Gurkaar, Mandd Sobhann, briefed the gathering regarding the Rules and Regulations and informed everyone that this Contest provides equal opportunities to the dancers of Honnavar, at par with Mumbai, Goa, Bangalore, Mangalore and the other Centres. Roy Castelino representing Jagotik Konknni Songhotton, Vitori Karkol representing Konkani Prachar Sanchalan and Avil D’cruz representing Nach Sobhann, were also present on the occasion.
Starting from January 6, the auditions in all centres will be held as follows –
The organizers have liberalized the last date for Applications and have even made provisions to allow last moment registration at the venue, before the lots are drawn.
The lots (of the order of performance) at all centres will be drawn at 10 am on the day of the audition. The contest will begin immediately thereafter. No entries will be accepted after the lots are drawn.
Everything is now set for the auditions in January and February. The general response, so far, is very heartening.