Feet that want to dance despite lockdown? Fret not.

Some organisations have started online contests to engage students creatively during the ongoing lockdown.

While one such organisation in Ranchi invited video clips of dance compositions from participants, another has organised a national-level online painting competition.

“We couldn’t conduct regular classes during the lockdown that would otherwise be held regularly, so thought of engaging the students by organising an online dance competition for those aged below 15,” said Vipul Nayak, founder of Deepanjali, a dance school in Ranchi, that invited participants to send short video clips of their performances.

Response was good, Nayak said. So, they engaged a panel of judges to shortlist the best 15 from among the entries received, he said, adding they again thought of having another round of competition to ensure better judgement.

“We then put those shortlisted 15 entries on Facebook and Instagram and invited interested persons to like or share those,” Nayak said, adding that the deadline for it expired on Sunday afternoon.

The best entries would be decided on the basis of number of likes and shares the performances received, he said, adding that over a thousand actively participated in the online voting.

“The results will be declared at 8pm on April 14,” he said, adding that the winners would be felicitated later.

Kalakriti Art Foundation, a local art school, also organised a national-level online painting competition and invited entries till April 30 from students, adults and even professional artists.

“We thought of involving all categories and publicised the contest through social media and friends spread across the country. We expect a good response,” said Kalakriti founder Dhananjay Kumar, adding that they planned to give attractive prizes to the winners. “We will take a nominal entry fee varying between Rs 200 and Rs 300 but will donate the profits to charity,” he said, adding that the entry fee would help ensure entries from serious participants only.

The art school is running a community kitchen and feeding people with donations from friends and neighbours in Doranda. The money from the entry fee would fund the same kitchen, he said.

The state branch of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) organised an online speech competition on the occasion of the upcoming Ambedkar Jayanti. “Any student from across Jharkhand can send a recorded speech of maximum three minutes on either of the two given topics till April 14,” said Vishal Singh, one of the organisers, adding that the results will be announced on April 15 and e-certificates will be issued to the winners too.

The contestants can choose either “India as Babasaheb Ambedkar dreamt of”, or “Youth and Ambedkar” as the topic of their speech, he said.