Kaffy empowers young talent with Danceboss challenge
DANCE queen, Kaffy has kicked off the first edition of her initiative to empower young talents. The dance reality competition show was hosted by Kaffy and tagged Fearless Danceboss Challenge.
Esther Sunday, a 23-year-old female dancer and children’s dance instructor emerged as the first winner of the initiative.
With her sublime talent and originality, Esther left a big impression on the panel of jury at the live-streamed show headed by veteran dancer and show convener, Kaffy to edge out four leading male dancers at the grand finale event.
The colorful finale event which was held in Lagos at the well-equipped Madestic Entertainment Studio was the climax of four weeks of virtual activities including dance battles, webinars, and interaction with subject-matter experts. The event was supported by Kaffy Foundation and other corporates including Fearless Energy Drink, Avon HMO, and Afa Sports.
For her triumph, Esther Sunday who is also known as Queen Extel was awarded a cash gift of N300,000, a one-year Health Insurance package named after Kaffy by Avon HMO as well as another one-year life insurance policy worth N1,000,000. In the first runner-up position was 22-year-old Osas Jaywise followed by Pwafukadi Japheth Ngbaranduma also known as Jeremy J, 27 years-old who went home with N200,000 and N100,000, respectively in addition to health and life insurance prizes.
All three finalists also went home with Dance Boss Empowerment Kit to boost their creative enterprises.
At the keenly contested finale, all five dancers who made it to the live show based on a weekly accumulation of points of 21 days took their turns to present a pitch for a dance commercial for the lead sponsor of the event, Fearless Energy Drink. Only three were lucky to make it to the final dance battle where each of them presented a short curated dance piece.
In the end, the judges comprising dancers, Donflex and Lovett Otegbola who were joined by ace music video director, Akin Alabi were unanimous in crowning 23-year-old Esther Sunday as the winner for her outstanding dance performance.
Brimming with smiles, Esther Sunday summarized her feelings, “It’s a dream come true for me. Many times, while teaching my students, I have mimicked myself announcing my entry to a big stage as a winner of a show in my head. And it came to pass today as indeed, a dream come true. Apart from the competition aspect, I have gained a lot of knowledge on self-confidence, dance-preneurship and to impact the young generation.”
According to the host, Kafayat Shaffau-Ameh popularly known as Kaffy, Danceboss Challenge was not only about dance battles but also an empowerment platform to equip the next generation of dancepreneurs.
Over 100 dance talents from across Nigerian who partook in the competition at the beginning also benefitted from knowledge-sharing sessions.
“We didn’t just want to do the regular dance competition. We wanted to create an empowerment platform that would help young talents to become functional professionals who can use their talents to do business and make generational wealth. I will continue to make myself accessible to these dancers for mentoring. That is what we have done with Danceboss. By the grace of God, Danceboss would grow beyond a show or competition to become an institution or academy where amateurs will walk in and be equipped with what they need to become professionals,” Kaffy explains.
