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Journalism of Courage
Dancing on the streets isnt a novel idea for Indians. Annual festivals like Holi and Ganesh Chaturthi witness hundreds of enthusiasts breaking into a jig on the streets. Bollywood actorsthe nations biggest inspirationstoo have done their bit for years in the street song-and-dance sequences. Yet,street dance as a movement hasnt quite reached the heights. Even though uber cool dance street styles such as B-boying,Hip-Hop,Locking And Popping,Floating,Krumping,Liquid Popping,Bollywood Freestyle and Clowning have found many takers,they still havent penetrated into Indian culture.
The last couple of years have witnessed dance schools introducing these dance forms to a wide section of people,especially the youth. However,with a youth channel like UTV Bindaas introducing a show called Bindaas Street Dance from next week,the popularity of these forms is likely to increase. Street dancing has been a part of the Indian way of living as long as I can remember. For instance,gulli dancing and dancing with friends and family at festivities are very common phenomena. With the hip-hop culture coming into our country in a big way,it will now take a serious form, says Shiamak Davar,who will be mentoring and judging the students on the show.
India enjoys a rich history of street dancing. Vasudevs (the early morning dancers on streets),the rope-walk dancers and Balya dancers (where drummer sits in the centre and the troupe dances around him) are still popular in many parts of the country. There are many people who are most comfortable dancing in their own turf and thats exactly where their talent shines the most, feels Davar,who is aiming to get more youth involved in energetic street dance forms,like B-boying and Krumping. These forms originated in New York in the late 70s as a means to vent out anger and ill feelings. It is also a battle of egos where each one is trying to outdo the other, says Gupta,who feels these vigorous dance forms help improves body control as well.
Popular culture has often showcased street dancing. Popping and locking,an off-shoot of Hip-hop,was popularised by Justin Timberlake,Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. Hip-hop specialists 50 cents and Eminem had many Indians rapping in their mobster-style. With the exposure to world music and internet,the rise in the popularity of street dancing was waiting to happen, states Paritosh Parmar,a participant on Street Dance. Parmar along with seven friends formed a street dance group called Underdog Kombat three years ago. They learnt the dance forms mostly by watching DVDs. Later,we did shows around India to popularise the dance form. Through the show,we hope to boost the street dancing trend in India, he says. Davar too feels that focus on a particular style of dance will help in increasing awareness regarding it. That will result in more people wanting to experiment with this style.
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