THE Chatsworth-based Shiva Tandava Cosmic Temple of Dance is the first Indian dance school from South Africa selected to perform at the Disney Diwali Dance Fest at Disney World in the US.

Dancers from age 7 to 48 will be part of a team of 20 to travel to the Disney World Resort in Florida in October. They will be accompanied by family, dance teachers, non-performing students from the school, and well-wishers.

The fest hosts Indian dance studios from around the US and this year, for the first time, they have opened the event to international dance studios.

Mahlinie Ganasen, the director of the school, said they completed the selection processes in February and patiently awaited the confirmation from Disney.

“Disney recently released its selected dance schools on their social media platforms. They received more than 100 applications from around the world. We were confirmed to be the second international team that they considered and selected. We are also proudly the first Indian dance school from South Africa that was confirmed as an official performer," said Ganasen.

“The dancers were excited and overwhelmed as the long wait for the announcement of the official performer list was nail-biting. We did not get our hopes up as we knew that nothing was official until it came from Disney itself. So the team was thrilled and grateful for this opportunity. There were over 100 applications. Being selected has boosted the confidence of all the dancers."

The event is a full Indian dance festival and the dancers will perform various styles.

“There will be official choreography from the coordinators that will be given to us to work on. We will be given a timeline to assess if it meets the Disney standards. There is a component of the event that is a showcase that allows each studio to bring to stage their own unique style, choreography, and content. We are versatile in that we perform both modern Indian dance and Bharatha Natyam, which allows us to adapt easily to the requirements from Disney.

“The festival is held over three days with 20 minutes of dance as the parade performance and a five-minute showcase performance. This is a dream come true as most people, adults and children, have a trip to Disney on their bucket list."

The school previously performed at events, including the International Brahun Natanjali Festival in Thanjavur, and for Shivaratri in Thiruvanamala, both in India. They also performed at the Batu Caves in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia for the International Indian Dance Festival.

The team currently has additional practice sessions to ensure they are prepared for the 20 minute parade piece. This includes some outdoor training.

For more information on the dance school, call 067 803 0667.

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First South African Indian dance school selected for Disney Diwali Dance Fest

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