Bollywood is becoming popular not only through the movies, the music, and exercise classes but now in the last few years a new way for young people to enjoy the magic is through Bollywood Dance competitions.
This year UC Berkeley’s Indus sponsored the 6th Hindi Film Dance competition, Bollywood Berkeley. Bollywood Berkeley is the largest Hindi Film Dance competition in the nation. Ten collegiate level dance teams from across the country competed for the $2,000 first place award and $1,000 second place award. On its website Bollywood Berkley says that The Hindi Film Dance Competition, “showcases the cultural and technical richness of Bollywood dancing and the incredible talent of its performers. Indeed, Bollywood Berkeley is the portal for a unique cultural exchange in which the audience is exposed to the world of Hindi Film Dance.”
There are other competitions all over the US. In New York there is the Best of the Best Dance Competition which includes participants who are winners of national dance competitions, and compete in three categories: Bhangra, Raas/Garba and Fusion/Bollywood, A panel of expert judges score the teams on their “wow factor,” creativity and execution.
The dancers get many of their moves directly from the movies and it is a mixture of traditional Indian dance with hip-hop and modern dance. There is a highly competitive auditioning process to become a member of a Bollywood Dance team.
Like the movies the theme of love is something the choreography for each of the teams has in common. Boy meets girl, girl does not like boy, boy woos girl, boy and girl eventually fall in love. And the ending of course is always a happy one.
