So You Think You Can Dance? –> Bollywood

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Via a tip on our News Tab (thanks, Tanvishah), the TV show “So You Think You Can Dance?” recently had a Bollywood sequence, brilliantly choreographed by Nakul Dev Mahajan. It’s worth a peek:

What do you think? I think Katee and Joshua rock. The first judge made an interesting comment along the lines of “You know, it’s funny how much this ‘Indian cultural dance’ resembles other dance cultures. When they do this [moves his arms], it’s like hip hop. And that thing with the knees, it’s like Russian dance.” What he didn’t realize is that Hindi film choreographers have been happily ripping off other cultures’ dance forms for decades!

59 thoughts on “So You Think You Can Dance? –> Bollywood”

  1. hahaa..it really would’ve helped lipsyncing [& doing the exrepssions] while doing a bollywood number as that’s what we’re used to. but they still did well, given that they’re not southasian.

  2. Stop being so picky. The choregrapher cleverly packed so many moves in a short time. The starting move with the chunari looked great …. the bharatnatyam steps with the Bollywood music which would not have been so much fun without the Bollywood song.

    They never said, it was an Indian classical dance, it was “Bollywood Dancing”, so why are people expecting “its should have been a bit delicate & precise & the eye and the expressions all have to match it”.

    Bollywood actors/actresses are cocky/vulgar and overly dramatic in their dancing. The emphasis in the West is more of man/woman equality and true partnership. That’s why Katie appears “robotic” to people who do not appreciate women’s strength. She did a great job.

  3. I liked it. I have not watched the program yet. Is it Davina, hosted Celebrity Big Brother in UK channel 4, hosting the show? She was wicked in CBB. I liked her style in that show.

    Enjoy this cute and lovely amateur Kollywood Deepavali performance from Japanese Kids.

  4. And that thing with the knees, it’s like Russian dance

    I remember watching soviet propaganda movies in India. We used to have a russian helical antenna that broadcasted russian porgams, before Doordarshan started broadcasting its programs. I wonder, whether someone had lifted those steps to Bhangra!. The early bollywood music and dance was highly influenced by portugese music(Byla) and ballroom dancing from Goa.

  5. These guys are terrific. They completed outstripped most of the dancing in Bollywood these days. This is Hrithik-level stuff.

  7. I AM an expert on dance but not in this Bollywood genre. Can someone explain it to me? From the other comments I’ve read, I am getting the vibe that it doesnt truly have much to do with Classical Indian Dance. I thought Katee and Josh looked absolutely terrific. In fact, so far this season, this has been the ONLY dance to put a smile on my face. I, being Puerto Rican, have actually grown quite tired of seeing all the salsa and samba that goes on that stage. So this was such an awesome and refreshing change for me. And I do harbor somewhat of a love for Middle Eastern Indian Culture. (We don’t see too much of it in South Florida and I am SO wanting to find a school where I can learn Indian dance) Anyway, I think Indian Dance in itself is very captivating and I thought the fast pace and wonderfully rhythmic beat of the Bollywood style was fantastic.

  8. 57 · GBo said

    I AM an expert on dance but not in this Bollywood genre. Can someone explain it to me? From the other comments I’ve read, I am getting the vibe that it doesnt truly have much to do with Classical Indian Dance. I thought Katee and Josh looked absolutely terrific. In fact, so far this season, this has been the ONLY dance to put a smile on my face. I, being Puerto Rican, have actually grown quite tired of seeing all the salsa and samba that goes on that stage. So this was such an awesome and refreshing change for me. And I do harbor somewhat of a love for Middle Eastern Indian Culture. (We don’t see too much of it in South Florida and I am SO wanting to find a school where I can learn Indian dance) Anyway, I think Indian Dance in itself is very captivating and I thought the fast pace and wonderfully rhythmic beat of the Bollywood style was fantastic.

    In Response to this last comment especially, I teach Bollywood Dance in S.Florida. I have been dancing and performing for as long as I can remember. http://www.ominmotion.com

    *Here’s the answer to what Bollywood Dance entails: The style of dance is derived from the Bollywood Film Industry. It is characterized by various forms of Classical Indian Dance such as, Bharat Natyam, Kathakali, and Odissi; and combines inspired movement from other genres such as Ballet, Hip Hop, Yoga, Salsa, Samba, Belly Dancing, African and much more. Therefore, this unique dance form style gains its energy, spirit and power from literally emoting lyrics with expressions.

    In any case watch ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’ its a great introduction to Bollywood.

    I fell in love with So You Think You Can Dance last summer and couldn’t wait until this summer to watch again. I am religious to the show so you can imagine how thrilled i was when i saw that Bollywood Dance was about to be performed by Joshua and Katie …I absolutely adored Joshua in this performance. Not to mention I’m very glad that he won. I still feel they danced it best on the grand finale evening. However, their initial performance was, in my opinion much better than the group one. Most would agree that Bollywood is meant to be glamorous. In my opinion, I didn’t feel the glamour that i’m used to seeing but this is due to the costumes. I believe they made the viewers new to indian culutre, confused by wearing ‘Aladdin’-like costumes. Overall, I had goosebumps watching the performances because its amazing to see Bollywood come to life. Therefore I don’t mean any harm in my opinion as its merely constructive. I also believe that the camera angles on this seasons show were really disspointing.. not to mention mary murphy’s screams.. Love all the dancers..