For hip hop dancers Deepak Murali and Abhijith VS, half the ‘battle’ is won. Having struck gold in the ‘2 on 2 All Style’ category at the India Hip Hop Dance Championship held recently in Goa, the freestyle dancers from the city have earned their stripes to represent the country for a crack at the international finals at Arizona, US, come August.
Representing Thiruvananthapuram, Deepak and Abhijith trumped teams from Delhi and Purnea (Bihar) for the gold medal in the freestyle dance contest, what in hip hop parlance is called a ‘battle’. But little did the duo expect the triumph when they packed their bags for Goa. “We had simply sent individual videos of our solo popping for selection. Now, to be performing on an international stage feels like a dream come true for us,” says 29-year-old Deepak, a dance instructor at Trivandrum International School.
2 on 2 All Style battles feature a tag team grooving to spot music, often a fusion of different styles such as popping, locking and breaking. Improvisation is key and 26-year-old Abhijith says it’s the chemistry the two enjoy that helps them be in sync once the music sets the ball rolling. “We’ve been doing funk dancing together for five years now. So communication between us is easy. It’s almost like we think alike once we get in the groove,” says Abhijith.
Abhijith VS (left) and Deepak Murali after winning the gold medal in the Hip Hop event in Goa
Both are freestyle dance instructors at Rap Ruddy’s, Killippalam. In fact, Abhijith was Deepak’s student at Rap Ruddy’s before the two struck up a rapport. Though quite comfortable with several styles, their forte is popping in the Hip Hop scene. “Since such funk dance styles are gaining popularity here only now, it’s a bit hard to fully understand them in depth,” says Deepak, who has shaken a leg in two song videos in the 2012 film Thalsamayam Oru Penkutty . That’s where YouTube tutorials come in handy and the duo says they are already busy watching and learning from “some big names” of Hip Hop dancing in preparation for the ‘epic battle’.
