Indian, Nigerian cultures fused with ‘Dance Naija Dance’

Dance Naija Dance, a dance show coined from the fusion of Nigerian and Indian cultures, has premiered on Zee World.

Dance Naija Dance is the Zee World’s reality dance competition which aims to reveal the best dance crew in Nigeria.

The show is the first original indigenous content of Zee World in Nigeria, a statement by the company said on Wednesday.

Dance Naija Dance is presented by a blend of Nollywood and Bollywood personalities and dancers.

These include the Hosts – Hero Daniels and Pelumi Buari, Choreographers/Mentors – Sashin Kandhai and Kenneth Agabata; Kunle Remi and Uraysha Ramrachia will be the judges.

The reality show will run for 10 weeks, every Saturday and Sunday at 7 pm on Zee World, DStv channel 166 and GOtv channel 125.

Winners will receive a cash prize of five million naira and hampers from all sponsoring brands. The winning group gets N2.5million, the runners-up get N1.5million, and the solo winner receives one million naira.

At the show’s unveiling, ZEE Africa CEO (Africa & Indian Ocean Islands), Somnath Malakar, said, “It is our way of giving back to our vast Nigerian community that loves Zee World. Nigerians love to dance to music, they love Bollywood, and we feel that if we can make a fusion of that, it will be well embraced. As the biggest market in Africa for Zee, we owe it to our Nigerian fans to always dish out what brings them happiness.”

Malakar further stated, “This fusion of both cultures in entertainment will further expose Nigerian acts to a global community of over one billion people that enjoy Bollywood. Zee just started local production in Africa, so all the faces that we see today in Nigeria and in countries in Sub-Sahara Africa will be seen in India or international productions because we will take them to more than 60 countries in the world.”

Dance Naija Dance Presenter Hero Daniels said, “One unique thing about the dance show is that it’s not for the fun of it; it is a tool to address certain societal issues, which the dancers must interpret the theme for each episode and pass the message via entertaining dance steps to the viewers. In the shooting process, I learnt that we have so many similarities, much more than one can even imagine, between the Indian and Nigerian cultures. It was exciting getting to learn new words, dance moves, and new things about the Indian culture, and we are also using the opportunity to teach Nigerian culture.”