India’s first all-girls street-dance troupe Urbanista enthralled audiences at Pune’s Bacardi NH7 Weekender music festival last year; Photograph courtesy: Bajirao Pawar

It was a battle of a very different kind. The youngsters on the dance-floor were jerking their bodies and performing startlingly acrobatic movements. Watched by a rapturous crowd of nearly 5,00 0 at Amity University in Noida, seven dance teams and 10 individual star dancers w ere taking part in a competition called Respect B-boy Circle.

The aim of the event was to showcase their skills at a popular urban street dance style called b- boying — or break dancing. In the street language used in the b-boying world, their competition was a ‘battle’ between ‘b-boys’ or ‘b-girls’.

Cut to Mumbai where Urbanista, India’s first all-girls street-dance troupe is taking the craze for street dance to another level. The group of professional dancers founded by Mumbai’s Priya Lisa Gonsalves, recently performed at Pune’s Bacardi NH7 Weekender, one of the biggest Indian music festivals. What’s more, it is constantly being hired for high-profile events.

Yes, street dancing — which also includes break dancing and other styles — has arrived in India in a big way. Its breathtakingly acrobatic moves have become a hot favourite of the 18-25 set who’ve embraced a host of dance styles including house, hip hop, krumping, locking and popping.

“Interpreting the music through your body is an intensely attractive proposition and b-boying allows you to do that,” says b-boy Bunny, a member of the b-boying group Rocfresh, who started a national competition called Cypherholic in Mumbai in 2010.

The b-boying competition at Amity University and street dance groups like Urbanista represent a lively new wave in Indian dancing. Though exact figures are not available, street dance veterans reckon there must be around 80 b-boying dance groups tapping to a different beat across the country and more than 400 individual b-boys moving to the music in Mumbai alone.

Calcutta’s b-boy Jayant Samaddar won Cypherholic Delhi 2011 along with Ranjan and has founded his own crew called Break Guruz

Even the stars of the dancing world are stepping out swiftly to embrace street dancing. Take Shiamak Davar, the contemporary dance choreographer, who has created his own dance style called ShaBop combining hip hop and street funk and giving it an Indian touch. Says Davar: “The real talent in India is on the streets. There’s a sense of freedom in their movements and they dance from their souls.”

Street dancing was born from the hip hop culture existing in the African-American immigrant pockets of New York. But the different variants of urban street dance styles like popping, locking, krumping and tutting, have now all grooved their way into India. Popping and locking involve almost neurotic movements of the arm and body and tutting is de- rived amazingly enough, from the Egyptian hieroglyphic script.

There are any number of reasons why youngsters are attracted to street dance. “Moves like head spins are so clever that kids are blown away. Also, these days there are new platforms to perform — like television shows, national and state competitions,” points out Bunny.

Bunny has zipped between Mumbai and Delhi several times in February. In addition, he will be attending three competitions in March in Mumbai, Bangalore and even Warangal in Andhra Pradesh. He says: “If there were at least 30 b-boying battles happening in 2010-11, that will double this year.”

One of the top competitions is Battle of the Year (BOTY), the India leg of a mega-international b-boying competition held in Germany till 2009 and in France from 2010. Chennai-based Catalyst Dance Company headed by hip hop choreographer Phani Kumar has the licence to hold BOTY India, and held the finals of the first contest in Chennai last year. The winning team, Freak N Stylz, went on to attend the Asia qualifier of the event in Bangkok. “The competition level in Bangkok was out of this world and we were placed sixth,” says Gautam Jeewan from Freak N Stylz.

Other important battles that dancers are making a beeline for include Freeze in Bangalore, organised by the b-boy group Black Ice. Then, there’s The Culture in Mumbai by the Underground Combat troupe and Cypherholic in Delhi and Mumbai staged by Tiny Drops.

If a spate of competitions is helping youngsters showcase their talent, another reason for the massive popularity of street dancing is the return of trained professionals from abroad.

There is, for instance, Prosenjit Guy Kundu, an American dancer of Bengali-Indian and French descent who moved to Mumbai in 2005 from the US. Armed with a Fine Arts degree in Dance and Choreography from Virginia Commonwealth University, the 36-year-old has taught the first generation of Indian street dancers different styles like house, b-boying, locking and popping. He also helped to form Freak N Stylz, one of India’s first b-boy troupes. “Street dance is universal, and the youth relates to its music and message along with its free expression and equality,” he says.

Meanwhile in Delhi, the b-boying scene got a boost when Netarpal Singh, known in b-boying circles as Heera, founded the Delhi chapter of the Tiny Drops dance institution in 2010. Heera, who migrated to the US when he was six, started his tryst with b-boying in the working class neighbourhoods of Queens in the ’90s.

By the time he returned, his street dance styles found ready takers in Indian kids who were learning the tricks of the trade from international hip hop videos on YouTube. “The Internet had penetrated all corners of the country and everyone seemed to know the basics,” he says.

Today many dance schools are making mint-fresh street dancing moves. Remo D’Souza, dancer, choreographer and film director, teaches hip hop, locking, popping, house and b-boying in his Remo Dance Institute in Sahara Mall, Delhi. “Every choreographer of repute is dabbling in street dance owing to its huge popularity,” he says.

Prosenjit Guy Kundu has been part of prestigious projects like the AR Rahman Jai Ho Concert: The Journey Home World Tour 2010, Madonna ARK Charity Event 2007 and Deborah Cox US Tour 2002

And Kundu has partnered with Urbanista’s Gonsalves to form Syntheskillz, a community project that organises parties, performance events and competitions to promote street dance. Says Gonsalves: “Kundu’s name generates interest in our projects and lots of girls get influenced by my presence on the dance scene.”

This year, Syntheskillz has organised an international house dance workshop with Fly Lady Di, a dancer and visual artist from Toronto. Then there’s a bunch of dancing events that Kundu’s been judging across the country including Youdh-The Battle For Respect in Mumbai that was held on February 19. Youdh attracted 85 dancers and judge Jardi Santiago from Los Angeles.

Make no mistake. A large number of the hot-stepping dancers are looking at transforming their passion into a profession. For Gautam Jeewan, 25, of Freak N Stylz, b-boying is the centre of his universe. “We spend six hours practising our floor moves and another six in marketing and publicity so as to get more work,” says Jeewan.

The rising popularity-graph of street dancing has inevitably attracted the TV channels out to capture ratings. One of the most popular shows was Channel V’s street dance reality show, Footloose. Another lively TV offering around street dance was Fanta’s Bindaas Street Dance on UTV Bindaas.

One new star to emerge from TV was Blaize Joy, 17, who won Footloose as India’s best Western Freestyler. He’s already looking forward to starting his own street dance classes after he finishes school. “Footloose has given me a huge fan following and I keep on receiving invitations to judge competitions,” he says.

With its youthful appeal, break dancing troupes are also getting hired by retail giants for advertising promotions and being invited to nightclubs and music festivals. Urbanista showed off its routines at the Puma FAAS Jamaican Carnival in Mumbai, when the sports lifestyle brand launched its FAAS shoe line. And the party project of Syntheskillz, Blame it on the Boogie, recently hosted a Valentine’s Day couple’s battle at Cool Chef Café.

Chennai-based Choreoculture will be sending the winners of the Indian Hip Hop Championship to Las Vegas

But street dancing has spread far beyond Delhi and Mumbai. For instance, Choreoculture, a Chennai-based hip hop dance school set up by Anjan Siva Kumar is planning to hold auditions in Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore for the Indian Hip Hop Championship this year. The winners will be flown to Las Vegas for the World Hip Hop Championship starting in July.

One of Calcutta’s star dancers — he has moved to Delhi recently to be closer to the action — is b-boy Hotshot alias Jayant Samaddar. He won Cypherholic Delhi 2011 along with b-boy Ranjan, has conducted workshops and judged numerous battles including Rasta Jam in Calcutta. After moving to Delhi, Hotshot, 20, has formed a new crew called Break Guruz. “We have been organising cyphers (freestyle, unchoreographed dances) in Central Park and several Delhi subways with another crew named Projekt Street Dance,” says Hotshot.

Netarpal Singh is planning to initiate hip hop outreach programmes in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Uttarakhand

Inevitably, with its youthful appeal, there are commercial spin-offs. Kundu has choreographed and danced in ad campaigns for brands like the Mumbai Indians IPL team, Bacardi, Nike, Garnier Fructis, 7 Up and Tic Tac.

Sivakumar is also exploring commercial options. He has just finished choreographing and acting in the Tamil movie Yur Mozhi.

Some dancers are trying to take street dance to all corners of India. In February this year, Kundu toured Surat and a small town called Mehsana in Gujarat as part of his teaching programme, The Dance Nomad Project.

Tiny Drops too is hoping to take the urban dance story forward. Its latest outreach programme was in Vanz village in Gujarat. “I’m looking for places in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Uttarakhand,” says Heera of Tiny Drops.

Will the street dance craze last? It certainly has a loyal tribe of intensely skilled fans. Says Kundu: “It’s a community and not just a dance. You develop a sense of self confidence and individuality. In a very populated country, you can have a unique voice.”