Are you good enough to represent Qatar at the ‘talent Olympics’?

DOHA: Qatar has begun scouting for local talent to represent the country in the prestigious World Championships of Performing Arts (Wcopa) to be held at Hollywood, Los Angeles next year, following the success of a 15-year-old Filipino expatriate at the recently concluded 2012 edition.

Fresh Events, the official events partner of Wcopa- Qatar, will scout for local talent to compete with participants from about 40 countries in the 17th edition of Wcopa. The championship next year is to be held from July 12 to 21.

Wcopa is an Olympic-style talent search where individuals and groups compete for ‘the Gold’ in various categories such as dance, modelling, acting, comedy and band acts. Besides the gold medal, which symbolises excellence in the field, prizes also include scholarships to the famed Millennium Dance Complex and with the renowned New York Conservatory of Dramatic Arts School for Film and Television.

In an official statement, Wcopa CEO Griff O’ Neil highlighted the prestige the international competition brings to the represented countries. He said, “Sports has its Olympics, and now the Performing Arts has its World Championships! This is the only official international competition programme for seasoned and up-and-coming performers and entertainers annually held in “Hollywood,” the entertainment capital of the world.

Countries are represented by delegations similar to the Olympics. It is a rare opportunity for a privileged few.” Talking to Qatar Tribune, Fresh Events spokesperson Celia Alamo Jacob said their aim is to send delegates from different nationalities based in Qatar to represent the county in the prestigious competition. She said they are looking forward to having Qatari contestants this time. “We are hoping that this competition would pave the way for the realisation of the dream of some talented Doha residents to make it to Hollywood and perform with the best of the best,” Celia said.

She added that they are already planning preparations for Wcopa 2013, which will include conducting a talent search open to all nationalities. Wcopa -Qatar is looking for Juniors (aged 4 to 15) and Seniors (aged 16 to 65), to compete for ‘the Gold’ in dance, vocal, modelling, acting, comedy, bands, instrumental and a variety of entertainment genres.

According to Celia, while Haina Uddin, the Philippine International School-Qatar student who represented Qatar in Wcopa 2012 and brought home a gold and bronze medals participating in the Pop, Rap and Broadway music categories was not the first to represent Qatar in the contest her feat certainly sparked interest among others.

Harriet Manila, a student of Philippine School Doha competed in Wcopa 2011 and brought pride to Qatar and the Filipino community here by bringing home the Champion of the World Award title for the Country Music Division.

“Because of Haina’s awards and career offers from international firms, there are more hopefuls who expressed their interest in joining next year’s edition of Wcopa. As we all know, Filipinos are foremost in the field of entertainment and so it’s not unusual that we are getting a positive response from the community. Some groups of the Indian community here have also expressed interest in taking part in the forthcoming events that we are going to host. We hope garner support from other communities as well,” she said.


Source: Qatar Tribune