Seychelles Youths Prepare for Indian Ocean Street Dance Championship
VICTORIA, Seychelles — Young people on Praslin and La Digue, aged between 15 and 30, took part in workshops over the weekend in preparation for their participation in Seychelles’ upcoming qualification for the Indian Ocean street dance championship. The sessions are being organised by the Seychelles National Youth Council (SNYC), and the date of the workshop for Mahé dancers will be announced later and will be done by region. The championship is one of the most high-profile youth events of the early part of 2024, and is being treated by SNYC as a key opportunity to identify and develop the next generation of Seychellois dancers.
The championship comprises three categories, namely Hip Hop, Break Dance and Afro. The workshop is a pre-qualification that aims to select approximately 25 young participants from the three main islands. According to SNYC, they are targeting around 150 young people for their big show on February 24. The big show on February 24 will be the formal qualification event, and the winner of each category will go on to represent Seychelles at the Indian Ocean Championship. A delegation from Mauritius will be in Seychelles on February 20 to oversee the big show, in effect, marking the regional dimension of the competition.
SNYC will be providing accommodation and food for those making the trip, while the participants will have to cater for their own pocket money. The support from SNYC reflects the council’s view of street dance as a serious cultural and competitive discipline, rather than as a recreational activity. The decision to bring a delegation from Mauritius to oversee the big show is also a sign of the regional dimension of the championship, and of the importance of having the regional body present for the qualification stage. The presence of the regional delegation is expected to add to the profile of the event, and to give the local participants a sense of the scale of the regional competition.
SNYC is appealing to young people to be part of this exciting preparation and possible qualification. The council is also using the workshops as an opportunity to identify talent for other events later in the year, including the annual Creole Festival and the independence day celebrations. The street dance championship is, in effect, one of the entry points into the broader programme of youth cultural activities run by SNYC, and the council is keen to use the workshops as a way of widening the base of young people engaged in organised cultural activity.
The Indian Ocean street dance championship is held every two years, and brings together national teams from the Indian Ocean Commission member states, including Seychelles, Mauritius, Madagascar, Comoros and Reunion. The 2024 edition is the first to be held in Seychelles, and is being treated by the country’s cultural authorities as an opportunity to showcase the strength of the local street dance scene. The hosting of the regional event in Seychelles is also being read as a sign of the growing maturity of the local scene, and of the increasing international recognition of Seychellois dancers in the regional circuit.
