Company: ABCD School of Bollywood Dance
Choreographers: Sharmili, Swati Pillai, Vidhylakshmi Murali, Harshita Tatalkar Swathi Harikumar
Director / Production Coordinator: Navin Rangarajan
Performers: Kshama Chandan, Meenal Gandhi, Ramya Pitty Ramesh Babu, Harshita Mittal, Vidhya Lakshmi Murali, Nishanthi Balakrishnan, Nithila Elayaraja, Deshna Navin, Shredula Navin, Diya Palariya, Ananya Shankar, Swathi Premkumar, Nivedha Premkumar, Oviya Selvakumar, Anshika Kedia, Alisha Rizvi, Madhumitha Thumati, Jasmine Orona, Mariah Orona, Anwita Nimma, Angel Gupta, Satvika Rachuri, Lasya Kurusetty, Diya Vasanth
Indian traditional dance has been regularly represented in the Arizona Dance Festival’s culturally inclusive lineup. However, this performance was something else. The rapid growth in the local South Asian community has resulted in the full spectrum of Indian dance finally bursting upon the scene. And this was a literal explosion. The ABCD School of Bollywood Dance flooded the stage with 25 dancers and delivered a dizzying concoction of Indian dance styles, from semi-classical to Bollywood, with some hip-hop and shuffle fusion thrown in for good measure.
It was laudable that traditional Indian dance forms were included in the group routines. While not executed as masterfully as the presentations by solo artists trained in classical forms, these gave the program a depth that was a more than sufficient representation of the culture, especially for a western audience, who was captivated by the color and energy. Understandably, it was the Bollywood and fusion sequences that really engaged the crowd.
I have always seen Bollywood dance routines used as eye candy, a somehow necessary component in a cinematic formula where any Indian movie could at any time become a musical with an inexplicable group dance interlude which required an associated suspension of disbelief. It’s easy to dismiss Bollywood as not being “serious” dance and that would be the case for me except for two things: First, as the routines become more complex and highly coordinated, they become inherently more interesting. And second, they almost always make me smile. Another word for “silly” is “fun” and having a dozen or so people in the crowd suddenly break into one of these routines is just, well, entertaining.
Kudos to the choreographers for not just representing Bollywood, but making it relevant for this audience (and presumably more fun for these young dancers) by infusing it with some western influences. The fusion routines incorporating elements of hip-hop and shuffle were real crowd pleasers.
Finally, the logistics alone were impressive. The director and production coordinator, Navin Rangarajan, wrangling 25 dancers, somehow managed to seamlessly field movement after movement, each a distinct style with its unique costumes and musical score, alternately filling the stage and then rapidly replacing it with something completely different. It was non-stop motion, a visual and musical presentation worthy of the word, “extravaganza”. Appropriately, the ABCD School concluded the evening. Given its cast of thousands and sheer energy, this would be a tough act to follow.
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