Kerala High Court rescues 16-year-old dancer’s dreams after 32-second power cut ruined her performance

Kerala Kalolsavam 2026: Offering a second chance, the Kerala High Court has allowed the 16-year-old student to participate in the State School Kalolsavam, being held today, after a technical glitch during her district-level performance was found to have potentially compromised her Kuchipudi evaluation.

Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas allowed the girl’s plea against the education department’s rejection of her claims for a fair evaluation of her performance and permitted her to participate in Kuchipudi (Girls) HSS General category in the State School Kalolsavam scheduled to commence from January 14

“It is evident that while the petitioner was performing, there was a power failure. The music did not play, and the lights went off. Though the petitioner continued to dance without the music or the lights, she was admittedly not given a second chance to perform,” the court held on January 13.

The court said despite the girl continuing to dance, even when the power failure occurred, there could “possibly have been a loss of confidence affecting the performance”, rendering her in an unequal position vis-à-vis the other participants.

The Thiruvananthapuram District School Kalolsavam 2025-26, a week-long annual competition organised by the state government, commenced January 14. It’s the biggest such event in the state’s cultural calendar, with thousands of contestants competing across a hundred-odd events. Until a few years ago, at stake was an ‘A’ grade that fetched the winning student a grace mark of 30 in the annual examinations, a key factor that feeds the frenzy at the festival. Those with a ‘B’ grade got 24 marks, and a ‘C’ fetched 18 marks.

Jagriti Rai works with The Indian Express, where she writes from the... Read More