Fifth Project Alter-ego

I was born in Sri Lanka but grew up in France because of the war going on in the country. I came to France in 1991 when I was four years of age. Although my father was the first one in my whole family to go to France in 1988. He then collected sponsorships so that the rest of our family could migrate to France. I started going to school over there, along with the rest of my siblings, however most of them had been studying in Sri Lanka beforehand. I went to primary school in Paris, it was very difficult for me to attend classes as I did not know the language so I had struggled at first. I had a good friend who helped me in the classroom as well as outside of that environment;this helped me learn french quicker. Within a year I moved to a different area in France, meaning I also had to change schools. The new school had children from different cultures so there was no room for any racism. I had many friends in this school who helped me survive the hardships of school. As soon as time played its game, college was here...

In college I began studying a degree in accounting, called brevet professional education, I knew this was not what I wanted to do. The main reason I did not want to do the subject was pure because I did not like it. Accounting became more and more tedious as I continued to study it. Studying an interesting subject will help you achieve in it but I knew I couldn’t. Then I went to see the center of education to change what subject I actually wanted do. I chose the subject: Choreography. I chose choreography because I was interested in dance.I was interested in dance when I was little and loved to dance at the parties by myself. When I was young, I watched songs on television and I danced as they danced in the song.

In school, I went with my friends and my dance teacher on holiday to Bordeaux and there we made a remix with Tamil and French songs. We gathered together in a vast room and set up a program on a laptop then began to include different songs to our liking. It was hard to make the amazing sounding remix we were hoping for but we got there in the end. That following day, we went to the club and asked the DJ to play our song. After listening to many songs and dancing, our song started playing. When the tail sections of the song came on, my friends and my teacher urged me to dance. They  around me cheering; at first, I refused. Adrenaline rushed through my body and I felt a beautiful change. My inner Prabhu Deva, Michael Jackson of Tamil Nadu, kicked in. I was one with his dance and actions. Everyone was so astonished I could dance like that, I myself was too. This was the first biggest milestone in my dance revolution.

One day I got a call from a company in India asking me if I wanted to participate in a dance show called ‘Jodi no1’. The show has the unique concept of couples (real or just dancing partners) competing against one another in order to win the title. I accepted the request although I was nervous. I found out that my partner was a girl called Prithika and that she was an experienced dancer. The first time I went to the studio there were many dancers that looked confident. I was still nervous. All my friends encouraged me to participate and when I joined the show I struggled to practice the dance my choreographer had given me.  and my partner spent days practicing, trying to get the dance to an impeccable standard, taking minimal breaks in between.

Where had my Prabhu Deva gone? Prabhu Deva’s father was to be a judge in the show. I was happy to be a part of  in which my idol’s father was the judge but on the other hand also nervous. How was I going to do my best with my heart stuck in my throat? This was going to be hard... I knew it would take me everything to succeed my dream of winning the title. We had completed and passed eight rounds of the season with great difficulty but with practice and  it was going smoothly. After the first few rounds or so my nerves began slowly shaking away.

My confident Prabhu Deva was there but in a minuscule version.  it was the .  and my partner were one of the eight couples to dance. We were given a pleasant surprise when we were told that the Prabhu Deva was coming to see us dance that day! We were anxious but we gave our dance a shot. But It was definitely not our best show. When it was time to notify us which two pairs were going to be eliminated they announced our pair. We were so disappointed but Prabhu deva gave us words of praise saying ‘you have potential to became a great dancer and an even better choreographer.’

Since that day I did not despair, I looked for other platforms to demonstrate my talent of dance and to do so I left France completely. In 2008 I found another show called ' ' this show is a very famous show in India and the choreographer who started this show called me to tell me that she likes my passion towards dance and she asked me if I wanted to participate in the show. As it was far from where I lived, I asked my parents, they had said no but my friends spoke to them and they finally granted me their permission.

After that, I went to India to participate in ‘manade ’ and I enrolled in a dance school to improve my dancing skills. When I began dancing at this school I noticed a variety of different types of dance being taught, different to the dance forms I know and loved. I regularly attended this school to learn the different types of dance such as folk,  ballet and the major genre of the  classical  I had certain  when learning  but I tried to manage at my best ability.

I visited the set of ‘manade ’ and I was impressed at the vast amount of space the stage had had. Beginning to panic, I  this was the stage  was going to be dancing on in a months’ time. The show then announced the three judges, they were all one of  best dancers. Subsequently, days of practicing flew past and it was finally time to perform. Introduction round. I gave a freestyle performance with no particular dance form included; the judges said I have potential and a unique style. Training to be perfect was hard but I had to fight. Round 1 - Formations.

All went well and the use of props  extraordinary, as proclaimed by the judges. Several rounds had passed such as  and  more. As they say ‘practice like you've never won, perform like you’ve never lost’ and that’s exactly what I did. As the  the competition became harder for all the contestants. Since the finals were getting nearer and nearer, we were told to keep clear path ahead of us and concentrate. I tried to improve all the negative comments I received in order to my very best. It was the semi-finals and during my  an unfortunate event had occurred. I twisted my foot, which ended up as a major fracture. I was so upset with myself, if only I hadn't fractured my foot, I would've been in the finals. Achieved my biggest dreams...But I couldn’t. I felt like giving up, forgetting my whole career but I can’t because failure is the first step to success.

I had a lot of support from friends and family and they kept pushing me forward to enter yet another dance show. This was my dream show. ‘Ungalil Yaar Aduthu Prabhu Deva’. My idol, the  and only Prabhu Deva, had his very own show. I had to join, this was my last chance to prove myself.  this show didn't of as I expected it to, it went better. The first show in which I reached the finals with no struggles in-between. The finals, where should  begin....

There were six finalists that were selected, including me. In the  there were three rounds. The first round was a group  second dance was a partner and the final was a solo. I had given my 100 percent when I danced the solo dance and the three judges gave me a standing ovation. For the other two  they also gave me good comments. In duo dance,  and my partner performed a ballet number. I chose folk as a dance form when doing the group dance. All the audience cheered and danced in the crowd. All contestant gave  best for winning the final. Each contestant had finished all their dances and it was time to announce the result. All contestants came on the stage, one by one as the anchors said  names. The anchors were saying how each person on the stage had worked really hard to make it there and how they progressed  each round.

The audience started to counting down the title winner announcement 5..4..3..2..1 My heart was racing, Prabhu Deva looked into the envelope to announce the winner of ‘Ungalil Yaar Aduthu Prabhu Deva’. He looked at every contestant and said ‘and the winner is.... Thileepan!’. I was feeling so overwhelmed with excitement and the prize was to dance and choreograph in a movie with Prabhu Deva. I was feeling so lucky and happiness was in all of my surroundings.