ABU International Television Dance Festival

Prasar Bharati today said that it would host a mega dance extravaganza with dancers from Asia-Pacific region at the 1st ABU International Television Dance Festival on January 15 at Hyderabad.
The first edition of ABU International Television Dance Festival (AIDF), is scheduled to be held in Hyderabad which will be the first edition of this mega event which will be inaugurated by I&B minister M Venkaiah Naidu.
Asia- Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) was established in 1964 to assist the development of broadcasting in the region.
Maldives, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Fiji and Indonesia are among the participating countries.

Two declared finalists from each country - one in contemporary dance form and the other in traditional dance form, will participate in the grand finale of first ABU International Television Dance Festival.
All participating dance groups are between the age group of 18 to 25 years.

In order to select the final entries, artistes were invited and they were asked to submit DVDs of their work in traditional or contemporary dance, for shortlisting purpose, Prasar Bharati said.
"A total of 453 entries were received, out of which 389 were made on-line and 64 were by post. Eventually, 210 videos were selected by the first Screening Committee. Post the final screening, 29 entries were chosen from the two categories out of which two finalists, namely 'Aamad' group and 'Sadhya' group will compete in the grand finale," the statement added.

K Chandrashekar Rao, Chief Minister of Telangana will be the Guest of Honour while Prasar Bharati Chairman Dr A Surya Prakash will also be present at the event.