Dancing with scars

Street Dance
Monday 8211; Wednesday,8 pm,UTV Bindass
At first glance,UTV Bindasss latest reality show seems to have an interesting premise. It lets youngsters from the streets of Indian cities upload their videos,which are democratically chosen and given a platform on the channels show unimaginatively titled Street Dance.
However,one look at the tackily superscribed orange YouTube shaped window for the sponsors sake where the hosts Sid and Aaliyah jabber incessantly is enough to put anyone off. To add fuel to their insensitivity towards their audience,the channel shows hardly a minute of dance and expects the audience to select contestants for the grand finale.

Heres out it works. Four street dances are shown in every episode from which the hosts select one winner. The show runs from Monday to Wednesday so there are three winners every week. The audience then has to nominate one dance group/ dancer to move ahead and claim the grand prize of dancing for a year with Shiamak Davar at his institute.
The dances are unimaginative,the locations hardly waver between the metro cities of Mumbai and Delhi,the entire production looks as if it was made to take off in a hurry and gives a very jaded feeling. There is also a lot of focus on the international dancing styles such as krumping,locking and popping that are predominantly used by hip-hop artists of New Yorks Bronx area. Not that its bad but the organisers had promised that anyone who could dance well,even if he did bhangra,would be considered. Thus,the dances fail to excite after a point and look repetitive.

The hosts seem obsessed with cheap toilet humour as if it would excite youngsters. The ticker like format running vertical to the You-Tube box and the horizontal messages sent by users is a major distraction from the hosts yapping away. The hosts choice of dance seems at odds with the overall performances when judged by a naked eye. For example,in the second episode,they select a Mumbai-based group over a talented Delhi group,perhaps swayed by the fact that the Mumbai group stages a unique dance form called Stomping,most of which is inaudible due to the music playing.
To endure such a show from a production house like Wizcraft is a major disappointment. The channel had made plans for introducing a whole lot of street-based shows after this one,but it would do well to first correct the flaws of Street Dance,giving it an overhaul and revamping it to make it relatable to its audience.
Verdict:
This show will leave you with cold feet.