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Theinaugural'Short+ SweetBollywood'dancefestivalhelpsunearthnewtalents

There was kathak, hiphop, hhangraand classic Boliywood.

Thedancers were solo,duets and groups, youngsters and adults.

They strutted their stuff in frontof anaudience and apanel of judges, competingtowin awardsin a numberof categories.

This was'BollywoodShort + Sweet', a new addition to the Shorr+ Sweetmovementthatis devotedro theten-minutetheatre format.

Festival Director Aishveryaa Nidhi (picntred),anactor, direcror andplaywright whoha.spresented at Short + Sweet herself on multiple occasions, helped conceive dieBollywoodevent that debutedthisyear.

Itmayhavebeenthenewest versionof the world's biggest 'little' festival, but in terms of thepresentationsthemselves, perhaps there was nothing d1at wasshortandsweet:thefestival was a robust attempt to showcase thevariety and spice of all diings Bollywood.

Eachten minute routine enthralled andentertained withits foot stompingbeats and variety of dance styles.

Elements of the cricket mania thengrippingtl1e community crept in hereas well:Monsuun Dance, in aninventiveopening style,depicted theJndian cricket team, then waved die Indian Aag atthe end of their amazing medleycalled Ho1vzatBol!J11Jood. They won die Most Innovative Style award.

JohnBosco infusedpersonal style tohisKyonkit11111hiho and hadthe audience swaying with his digitisedmoves.Bosco also tickled the audience with his clever oneliners and call outs for claps to accompanyhini. He tookhome theBestNewTalent award.

The Boliywoodl'vfayuris were arguably the most chilled out performers in the contest. Well into theirfifties, they knew they couldn'tcompete with the tbttmkas of ilieir competitors, so they concentrated their efforts in other department.5, such ascostwnes. Their get-up, a showcase of diedifferent sari styles fromacross thenation, was a finetribute coIndian womanhood."Wle didnot evenexpect tobe apart of the finals,"declared DeepaBhatnagar, an enthusiastic'Bollywood 1110)1//rl, adding,"Wedid it all for fon!"

A little older than theMayuris,Dave and Kanchan Passiwere adorable with their golden oldieJo11Jadakiya 11Jonibbanapadega.

And what dance competitionwould ever be complete withoutBaby Dollespeciallywhen it's coupled with bhrmgrabeats. Rajkirna and Nishan, the siblingduo transformed theatmosphere with their vigorous Punjabi routine.

ShabnamTavakolfromthe SwastikInstitute of Dance, who tookhome the award for best female dancer, mesmerised with her stupendousl\Jeredholnas11n. Herbrightred lehenga, incredible expressions and near-perfect kathakmoveskept the audience spellbound.SwastikDance School also ended the eveningwith a vibrant grouproutineon Rridha 11achegi. Simplymarvellous!

Rochelle, oneof the outstandingdancersfromdie group, mentionedthat she bad no idea what thelyrics meant; alJ she did was feel the music.

Other Swastikdancers were also successfulonthe night:Smririe Bhardwaj wasdeclaredBest New Talent andAkashAroraandAjesh

Shanna,Best Male Dancers. The best choreographer award went to S\vastik's SumatiLekhi.

Judges Sunjay Sudhir (Consul General of India), Anupam Sharma (producerdirecror)and RajSuri (entrepreneur)seemed roconcur ontheiroverall choice of Swastik, whichscooped the pool of majorprizes,including Best Overall Production and thePeople'sChoice (audience vote) awards. Harclly surprising, given the anioumof effort and passion that went imoSwastik's presentations:they practised daily for two hours, for some three months,prior to the event.

Earlier in the three-day event, it was the ymmger dancers whocompeted in a contest entitled Fast +Fresh.The line-up of these performers was full of energy and Aair. ShiamakShowKids,the littledancers from die Shiamak Dawar Dance School,ended up endearingto borh diejudges and the audience withtheir exhilaratingmoves andexcelJent coordination.ThePrabhati Banerjee group, runners-up, impressedas well.

Super-cutefive-year-oldRaina Jain won many a fanat theevent, asher parents beamedwithjoy at her performance. ]\,[um RubiJain coldlndirmlink,"Itgives us so much satisfactionandjoy to see ourlittle wonder dancingonthis platform."

It wasinterestingto note the mainstream venue, FuseboxTheatre atTheFactory, Marrickville,rather tl1an aregular community hot spot.

Quitepleasedwith thismaiden effort, Aishveryaa has promised to return "bigger and better" next year.

Thisisnot the firstlndian link at Short + Sweet, a movement foundedbyMarkCleary in Sydney in2002.Presentations at the festival have included entries from Sydney's Indian community ever sinceitsinception,and recently, the movement made in.roads into India as well.