Fifteen acts of varying arts genres — including dancers, musicians, acrobats and a magician — will battle it out for the top prize of $3 000 at the Dream Star talent search show finals to be held at the Harare International Conference Centre (HICC) on Saturday.
Following a tightly-contested semi-final, 10 artistes made it to the grand finale while five others were added on wild cards.
On Thursday, the annual event’s spokesperson Tinashe Kitchen told The Standard Style that preparations were at “an advanced stage” with artistes already in camp.
“All finalists are now in camp finetuning their acts and no major challenges have been faced up until this point,” said Kitchen, adding that the camping experience was part of the organisers’ efforts to nurture the youngsters’ artistry and social demeanour.
“We want the finalists to leave the camp as better versions of themselves not only as artistes, but better-rounded individuals with an appreciation of other aspects of life that make them more productive citizens.”
The artistes will receive training in stage presence, vocal ability, and dance — traditional/contemporary and ballet — while on the social skills side they will be equipped with life coaching, peer networking, HIV and Aids awareness and career building training.
Meanwhile, second and third place winners will walk away with $1 500 and $750 respectively in addition to recording deals with JCMC studios for musicians, and an opportunity to travel to China among other prizes.
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Kitchen described this year’s event, which would incorporate a Chinese flair, as different from the past where musicians dominated the last round.
“This year’s event will incorporate more Chinese style entertainment, with a wider range of genres being covered and also, for the first time in DreamStar history, we have more dance crews than singers in the final plus a magician with a few tricks up his sleeves,” he said.
Established by Jacaranda Culture and Media Corporation in 2015, this year marks the fourth edition of what Kitchen previously described as a platform for talent enhancement.
The show is open to local talent aged between 12 and 40. the event is an entertainment platform which seeks to empower those in the arts and culture helping them rise in a cut-throat industry.
List of finalists in no particular order
1. Bad Boys Crew (Dance)
2. Desire (Singer)
3. The big Jam (Band)
4. 4Go10 Tribe (Dance)
5. Revolution Acrobats (Acrobatics)
6. Elluzhen the Desert Wolf (Dance)
7. Precise (Magician)
8. Realflex Dance Crew (Dance)
9. Sean Mumba (Singer)
10. Peter and Vein (Dancers)
11. Innocent (singers)
12. Chipo and the Black Pebbles (band)
13. The Chozen (dance)
14. Shelter (singer)
15. DMG (dance)
