CHENNAI: Setting the stage on fire is not something new to them. Their dance moves and charm have definitely been the talk of the town since their debut in 2015. ‘Desi Hoppers’ were the first Indian dance team to represent the country at the 2015 World of Dance championship in Los Angeles. The boys who have been going around different cities, conducting dance workshops will finally be in namma Chennai this weekend, and CE caught up with two of their crew members — Macedon D’Mello and Nimit Kotian.
“Nimit, Shantanu and I were college friends and we always had a dream of forming a crew and representing our country internationally. We never really knew we had it in us. We had a concept which we pitched to our crew founder — Palki Malhotra. She then took it forward and that’s how we managed to document our whole journey. Subsequently we held auditions all over the country and shortlisted the rest of our team,” explains Macedon.
Winning the World of Dance championship in their debut year was the cherry on the cake. “When we were performing, we realised that the crowd really loved us and they gave us a standing ovation. That moment was when we had really won. The crowd was impressed — that meant something. And then we won the championship...now that was really a dream come true,” Nimit beams.
The crew which is known for fusing hip-hop and Bollywood have been conducting workshops in Pune, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Delhi, since 2016. The workshops include what they call ‘StreetMation’ — which is an incorporation of Indian cultural elements with street dance forms like hip-hop. This is their first such workshop in Chennai and the crew is really excited about it. “We have travelled to a lot of cities including Chennai.
We have seen and know a lot of good dancers from the city. So we are really looking forward to the workshop. Moreover we are excited to be visiting Prabhu Deva sir’s city. Our team and I are inspired by him and we try and incorporate a lot of his moves in our concepts,” smiles Macedon.
Although a lot of opportunities and platforms are open today for dancers and arts in general in the country, many families are still sceptical about dance being a career. How supportive have your families been? “Most parents have been quite supportive, especially after we won the championship. They know that we are working and it’s doing us some good. And we are trying to change the misconceptions around dancing — we can make a living out of it, and we are doing that,” elucidates Nimit.
Macedon concurs, and adds, “Regardless of whichever industry you are in, you need to work hard. Similarly here too, you need to work hard and train for a couple of years and then eventually your hard work will pay off. You will be able to do well and be successful,” he concludes.
Desi Hoppers will conducting the dance workshop over the weekend at The Swingers Dance Studio, Kilpauk. For details call: 9500199088