A few weeks back, in May, when dancer, actor, choreographer Jeffery Vardon and his wife were driving down the Madhavaram bypass junction at night, they noticed a large number of migrant workers walking back home. “They were going to Bihar and UP. And a few that were on cycles were heading back all the way to Assam,” says Jeffery, who stopped and had a quick word with them.
They were covered under layers of dust and looked fatigued. That got Jeffrey thinking, and he decided to get together with his dancers and do some relief work in the remote villages around Chennai. “We are working with 10-20 hamlets up to Thiruthani, and the Andhra belt. There are people who have been going to bed hungry. When we went in with supplies, we noticed that there was no trace of food in their homes,” he says, adding, “Even though 500 to 1,000 food packets are sent in around two to three trucks to these villages, it still feels insufficient.”
In order to raise more funds for the cause, Jeffrey is now organising Lockdown Talent Hunt, a virtual dance and singing competition. The registration fee of ₹150 will go towards the cause. It is open to everyone around the world. So far, he has even received registrations from Australia and the UK.There are six categories: two, under 15 and the rest, above 15. There are separate categories for song and dance and the winner in each category will win ₹3,000. “The total prize money of ₹18,000 has already been collected from friends. Everything that comes from the registrations will go only towards relief work,” says Jeffery.
To participate, people need to send in a minute-long video of their performance. It has to be a video without cuts, editing, auto-tuning or app-induced enhancement. “They have to post their submissions on their social media pages and tag us on it. We will further short-list and the 10 best entries will go to the finals. They will then have to submit another one-minute video,” says Jeffery. Apart from Jeffery, the other judges for this online hunt are Varalaxmi Sarathkumar and Andrea Jeremiah.
The last date for registering is June 5. For details check out @jefferyvardon_mda on Instagram and The Hot Shoe Dance Company on Facebook.
