Opportunity... Determination to prove..exposure to different forms, sheer talent , pure form of dance, fight hard..win at any cost...if you ask me.. all these vocabulary , words were quite unheard in India at least about 10 years ago. Life has changed so much in India in last one decade. The revolution of media, the impact modern reform policies, the awareness in Indian youth..everything has an impact.
I feel many times people born in 1980 or after are really lucky ones for having landed in India just in time! At the same time, I also feel bad that I should arrived 10 years late into this world!
So there is clear cut difference in the way this youth thinks, plans and executes his/her strategy..and achieves success. Obviously they are called "Gen Y", the true face of today's youth.
There are umpteen examples happening today in India which we can quote. But today I would like to take the example of Dance as one such revolution where Gen Y is really making lots of news.
Traditionally many forms of dance have existed in India and abroad for many many years. But the many talented youth of this country, did not get that required exposure, training and awareness though there was a huge potential to perform. I am watching all these dance reality shows regularly for last 2-3 years. I feel some of them have been really good in terms providing a great plat form for upcoming artists of India to perform on a big stage, to provide right coaching, to correct their flaws and lift their confidence.
Some of the good dance reality shows I have seen are Dance India Dance , DID Little Masters, DID -2 etc.., I myself am not an artist and my knowledge also was quite minimal on dance and its various formats. But today, I feel I have fair amount of knowledge in that area. When someone says “locking and popping” or “contemporary” or “lyrical” I know what kind of dance to expect. I can difference between stunts and dance, classical and modern types. If someone is dancing on the floor I can confidently say whether he\she is a good dancer or not.
I liked the dance numbers choreographed by Terrance Lewis, Remo D'Souza and Geeta Kapoor, Sandip Soparrkar, Marzi Pestonji, Rajeev Surti and of course Shiamak Davar!
Shiamak and his troupe are an ultimate team..they are one of the best I have ever watched. His knowledge and expertise on dance, technicality involved and more than that his attitude and humbleness towards people and his achievements in last 25 years are simply amazing! He is one person whom I respect a lot. (Sachin, A R Rahman are some of the other people in my list.)
I feel somehow ZEE TV which presented these shows has a better handle in managing these kind of shows. Their reality shows have right mix of Rich Content, Learnings for participants, Good coaching from Gurus, Entertainment Quotient and Value for your time. Other channels did not have this for some time. I watched coupe of other dance shows on SONY and STAR TV etc.. but I felt they were copied from some other shows in USA kind of countries and lacked in depth and providing that desi touch. But now after 3 years…this year I can say.. all of them are catching up with ZEE and may be even overtaking them.
STAR TV did it this year by signing Bollywood dancing sensation super star Hrithik Roshan as its host for their upcoming reality show “JUST DANCE !“. That was a kind of Master Stroke from STAR. Also they have roped in Farah Khan and Vaibhavi Merchant as mentors for this dance show which is icing on the cake.
I have seen all their auditions so far. I can confidently say the quality of dance and artists is really really high. The bar has visibly gone up. It was very difficult task for choreographers Farah Khan and Vaibhavi Merchant to select among all the talented guys and gals. And now the 51 contestants from across the world have been selected for final audition to dance in front of Hrithik in MUMBAI.
It is going to be a tough test for even Hrithik to choose among these best talents.
Dance has been always a pleasure to watch for me.. it helps you relax.. it heals your mind..and you really feel good. You feel good when whole world watches Indians performing in these shows. I feel amazed we have such a huge pool of talent hidden in India!
Please watch the show “JUST DANCE” on every Saturday and Sunday at 9PM IST. It is truly PAISA VASOOL ! J
