Dare2Dance will be the differentiator in the genre: Life OK's Thakur

Culturally rich and diverse nation like India, has art and performing arts in the ethnic fabric of the society. Dance, tops this list of arts, where most people in India need no specific reason to break into a jig. Weaving this idea into entertainment, most of the Indian television channels have managed to put up a show revolving around dance. While ‘dance’ as a concept remains the same across the different shows, ways of approaching it has understandably varied.  

Upping the ante now is Life OK’s Dare to Dance, where its not only about dance, but the contestants need face various tasking situations and yet perform their best. The channel is known for its disruptive content and going beyond the obvious, is yet again set to foray into something unique – this time around, a dance-based, adventurous reality show D2D.

In an exclusive interaction with Adgully, Ajit Thakur, EVP & GM, Life OK spoke about the concept, USP of the show and much...

The channel custodians have been dwindling with the idea of working on a reality-based show for a while now, Dare2Dance (D2D) clearly dismisses the absence of a reality show on the channel. Sharing about what made them pick D2D, Thakur said, “We wanted to work on a reality show from almost two years but we wanted to work on something very different from the regular run-of-the-mills show. D2D is a different concept; it is a first of its kind of dancing show across the world on television where a dance show is been done without any stage or set. Dances are been performed on platforms which keeps changing from ice to water, fire to mountain to heights. It’s very different concept which interests us, nothing like this been seen ever on television”.

While the last few years on Indian television has witnessed international formats being adopted for Indian audiences, D2D comes across as a home-grown idea. Sharing the positivity about the show, he said, “D2D is purely an original Indian format with no parallels to it. While it is challenging, we are positive about it. While people are used to see a dance show inside the set with lights, this will be a different experience for them. But, once audience will engage to the show they’ll see flavours of entertainment, thrill, emotions and a high drama”.

Akshay Kumar comes aboard as a host, who shall also be mentoring contestants and promises to be a show packed with dance, daredevilry, dhamaal and some never- seen-before stunts in the Indian television space.

The show has 10 choreographers who are trained dancers named Emille Callion, Scarlett Wilson, Sayantani Ghosh, Alisha Singh, Mayuresh Wadkar,   Ritwik Dhanjani, Sanam Johar, Kunwar Amar, Karan Pangali and Prince. “All these highly talented choreographers have faced struggle to perform the tasks. Every week they will be given a challenge to perform on platform; for example – they shall be asked to perform on a platform 100 foot above the sea level, perform under water 15 feet deep in water with oxygen mask etc. Everybody will dance under circumstances and each week they’ll get green and red card on the basis of their performance. But, no one will be eliminated until first 3-4 weeks”, Thakur informed.

Shot in South Africa, Dare 2 Dance, these ten contestants will not just put their extra-ordinary dancing prowess to display, but will also fight their fears. For instance, fear of height, water among others. Produced by SOL, the show is choreographed by Sanjay Shetty and his team of professionals, while the stunts have been designed by stunt co-ordinator, and performer Francois Grobbelaar, who has earlier worked on a number of Hollywood and Bollywood projects. But, here’s an interesting twist! Unlike most other reality shows where elimination plays a big role, there would be no elimination in every episode Dare 2 Dance.

As D2D comes across as a ‘first-of-its-kind’ show, speaking about the robustness of the marketing and promotional strategies for the show, Thakur said, “We are looking at outdoor, TV and other innovations primarily. We are also doing digital and social media activations for our contestants”. The show’s marketing campaign took off a few days ago, on print, outdoor, with television covering all of India as well.

Speaking about the TG and geographies they are looking at with D2D, he said, “The show will be visible around the world, as we are available across markets and hence we are targeting masses across the world. The key market for us remain is India, UK and US and we’ve already created buzz in these markets”.

We learn that D2D shall be aired in the 8.30 pm time band, speaking about the competitiveness of the time slot, Thakur said, “At Life OK, we have always believed in being daring and bold. Ever since our launch, we have offered our viewers, content that is very different from what is usually offered on television today. Dare 2 Dance, is a big milestone for us in our journey to offer differentiated content. 9 pm is a peak viewership time slot I feel, so this being our biggest bet we want people to watch it, and at 8:30pm it will do well.” Dare 2 Dance will air for 16 episodes i.e. 8 weeks every Saturday-Sunday, going on air from September 6 onwards, 8.30 pm.

As Life OK is betting big by offering concept like Dare 2 Dance, the channel is also working on its other properties to as two of the shows - Baawre and Nadaan Parinde are going off air soon. In this line, the channel is planning to launch two of distinct properties soon (read by the end of this month). “Out of two shows which we will be announcing one will be comedy driven and other will be a fiction show”, shared Thakur.

Presented by Micromax and powered by Honda, Dare 2 Dance the show is all about challenging the contestants to dance at various platforms; all about daring to take risks and re-inventing oneself. [By Ranjana Gupta| Twitter: @RGrightsreserve]

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