Every dance aficionado marks his calendar for the World Hip Hop Championships that are conducted in Las Vegas every year. This is the second year for India as a participant and with the contest just around the corner, the final team has been chosen. The preliminary round was judged by Liara Barussi, choreographer from Britain's Got Talent and Anjan Sivakumar, of dance studio Choreo Culture which is organising the event in collaboration with Hip Hop International.
Barussi, who is the founder of Jukebox Juniors, one of the youngest, most successful dance acts in the U.K. that appeared on Got To Dance is here to give direction to the winning team. She conducted a workshop for the winning team, SnV (Suresh n Vernon) Crew, from Mumbai.
The dance crew that represented India last year was from Chennai and this year too the city boasts of four teams in the top eleven that were chosen in the semifinals. Barussi who organises the final selection for the same contest in Wales says she found it tough when it came to deciding the winners. “They all had a good chance; sometimes I looked at the dancers and wished I could have given them that little push in the right direction before they came on stage.” Barussi, herself a bronze medal winner from the World Hip-Hop Championships, says, “I noticed that all the dancers had watched TV shows such as So You Think You Can Dance or Internet videos and learnt the steps and techniques. They know the dance but they don't know the foundation and the history of the dances and the various street styles such as B-boying, Popping, Locking, Krumping and Whacking. Once I teach them the foundations, it is up to them to get creative with it. India has a rich culture in Bollywood music and dance and the team's performance depends on choice of song and originality of the dance.”
Vernon, from the winning team which has been together for four years, adds, “As a team we have been on many shows such as Boogie Woogie and India's Got Talent , but it's a dream to be able to represent the country on an international stage.”
