GEMS School Hosts Bollywood Celebrity as Part of Children’s Day Celebrations

Press release

Published November 14th, 2017 - 08:04 GMT

Blaaze celebrates Children's Day

GEMS Heritage Indian School hosted Bollywood rap artist Blaaze on November 14 – celebrated as Children’s Day in India – during which the artist and GEMS Education launched a dance-challenge video performed by students, as part of the Dubai Fitness Challenge.

In addition to creating a special rap song for the initiative – 30x30 GEMS anthem – Blaaze performed with over 400 students from GEMS Heritage Indian School and GEMS New Millennium School.

Darryl Bloud, Vice President and Brand/Curriculum Leader for GEMS Education, said: “Not every country envisions a fitness programme for its people. We are delighted to see yet another first for Dubai in the 30x30 Fitness Challenge – a Sheikh Hamdan initiative.

“In this unique concept, GEMS Heritage Indian School and The New Millennium School are pleased to have Bollywood Rapper, Blaaze work his rap around creating a unique form of aerobics which will now be the foundation of all exercise routines in our schools. This is fitness at its best!”

Blaaze, who created the song especially for the Dubai Fitness Challenge with Paul Jacob, said: “I think the 30x30 challenge is an amazing initiative and the concept of spending 30 minutes of your day, every day, engaging in a physical activity will subconsciously help people get into a healthy lifestyle. When I heard about this, I personally found it very exciting and wanted to be an active part in spreading the fitness message. I want children to understand the concept better through music and dance, which is why I created a rap anthem.”

While at GEMS Heritage Indian School, he also conducted a three-hour rap music and creative writing workshop for students called ‘The Rap Club’. Through ‘The Rap Club’, Blaaze wants to help children tell their own story and experiences through music.

He added: “Every child wants to write and rap – but they don’t know how to go about it because of the way rapping is perceived in today’s world. The three-hour workshop enabled students to rap their own story.”

Blaaze has launched ‘The Rap Club’ in New York and India, and has now brought it to Dubai by launching it with GEMS Heritage Indian School.

Background Information

GEMS Education

In 1959, two teachers, KS Varkey and his wife Mariamma, arrived in Dubai.

At the time, Dubai was a burgeoning trade centre on the Arabian Gulf. The Varkey family had left Kerala, India to seek a better life for their family. What they found was a real need to educate children arriving in the city from around the world.

Their son, Sunny, added a visionary’s ambition to a practitioner's experience. From simple roots in a family of teachers, GEMS Education, is today an international company with schools and education services across the Middle East. We still share the same mission - to provide a quality education to everyone.