Entertainment of Tuesday, 7 December 2010

Source: ameyaw debrah/ www.ameyawdebrah.com

Drogba busts some moves for Charity and gets Essien spending £14,000

Ivorian international, Didier Drogba showed the world some new dance moves, African style, over the weekend when representatives of Chelsea and their London rivals joined forces to support a common cause as Didier Drogba staged his second annual charity ball. there was clearly no competitor on the dance-floor as Drogba puzzled the likes of Akon, with his 'duck-like' dance moves. Held at the Grosvenor House Hotel and attended by star names from the worlds of sport and music, the evening raised £300,000 towards the hospital Didier is building in Abidjan in the Ivory Coast.

Guests were entertained with performances from Nicole Scherzinger, The Saturdays, African artist Fally Ipupa and DJ Spoony as the Didier Drogba Foundation received another massive financial boost. One of the highlights of the evening was a message from U2 front man Bono who is on tour in Australia from where he offered his support to the work Didier is doing in Africa. Auction prizes included a signed Bono guitar which was bought by Chelsea’s Michael Essien at £14,000, a one-off Hublot watch, a signed David Beckham shirt and five star luxury holidays.

In attendance as well as Didier’s teammates Michael Essien, Ashley Cole, Florent Malouda, Salomon Kalou, John Mikel Obi, John Terry and Frank Lampard were Arsenal players Theo Walcott, Emmanuel Eboue and Bacary Sagna, Tottenam players William Gallas and Carlo Cudicini and Fulham players Diomansy Kamara and Dickson Etuhu.

Amongst the 400 people showing their support for the Foundation were Christine Bleakley, Professor Green, and Akon whilst string quartet Siren, African drummers Batala and world-famous magician Dynamo entertained the guests.

On top of the money raise on the night, Pepsi, as one of the sponsors of the evening, also pledged an additional $1 for every re-tweet of @FondationDrogba for 24 hours. Retweets from the likes of Russell Brand and Shakira have already meant Didier is close to reaching target of money raised from the event. For more information go to www.thedidierdrogbafoundation.com