GIIS Jhankaar 2020, Dancing like the stars, the mega dancing annual contest, was held virtually this year and received overwhelming participation from ninety students across five GIIS Campuses.

After a school-level screening of the ninety participants, forty-nine made it to the Final Round.

The contest was divided into three age-wise categories – Sub-Junior, Junior and Senior. Apart from these, a Family Jhankaar category was added this year as the virtual format offered flexibility for larger participation. Selection in each category was based on two dance forms – Classical and Freestyle.

By encouraging freestyle dance-form along with traditional classical dance forms, Jhankaar highlighted the rich cultural diversity that is at the heart of GIIS.

The preliminary selections were conducted and judged by dance teachers at the school level. Each campus was asked to send 2 entries from Classical and Freestyle dance forms to the organising committee at GIIS SMART Campus. From 20 entries, 8 finalists were selected for Final Round in each level and each category.

The esteemed panel of guest judges comprised Mr Satyen Babla (Dubai), Ms Sampada Tayal (Singapore), Ms Puja Rajeev (Singapore), Ms Gayatri Sriram (Singapore).

Guest of Honour for the Final Round was Dr Uma Rajan whose presence made the event more momentous.

Here is the list of final winners for each category:

Sub-Junior Group:

Classical Dance winners-

1st -Naina Madan ( GIIS Noida)

2nd – Abirami Ramanarayanan (GIIS Smart Campus Singapore)

3rd- Laya Lal (GIIS Tokyo)

Freestyle Dance winners-

• 1st -  Vishodhan Natarajan (GIIS KL)
• 2nd - Aryaveer Singh (GIIS Noida)
• 3rd – Aditi Ajay (GIIS Abu-Dhabi

Junior Group:

Classical Dance winners-

• 1st - Moukthika Sobith (GIIS Whitefield)
• 2nd- Ishani Chowdhury ( GIIS Noida)
• 3rd - Aishani Acharya ( GIIS Balewadi)

Freestyle Dance winners-

• 1st- Snigdha Okade (GIIS KL)
• 2nd- Navya Tyagi ( GIIS Whitefield)
• 3rd- Nina Katahira ( GIIS Tokyo)

Senior Group

Classical Dance winners-

• 1st- Keertana Ramanujam ( GIIS Tokyo)
• 2nd- Arohee Temurniker ( GIIS Smart Campus Singapore)
• 3rd- Sahana Prabhu ( NPS Singapore)

Freestyle Dance winners-

• 1st- Sonia Rai ( GIIS KL)
• 2nd- Archit Trivedi ( GIIS Noida)
• 3rd- Dikshitha Ganapthiraman ( GIIS PG smart Campus Singapore)

Family Jhankaar

1st- Dikshitha Ganapthiraman & Family ( GIIS SMART Campus, Singapore)

2nd- Samaya Rawat & Family (GIIS SMART Campus, Singapore)

3rd- Avnita Ajay & Family (GIIS East Coast)

The winner in the first position was awarded 200 SGD, 1st Runner Up received 150 SGD and the 2nd Runner Up received 100 SGD. Each participant also received an e-certificate of participation.

The pandemic has challenged school activities in many ways, but Jhankaar 2020 kept the spirits high.

Since its inception in 2010, Jhankaar has been a popular annual competition for students to display their skills and talent in the field of dance.