Bhubaneswar, July 18: The pop culture landscape of the state has widened over the years as it has embraced various new art forms.
The latest addition is hip-hop dance by a group of youngsters from the state set to represent India in the upcoming Asia qualifiers for the Keep On Dancing World Cup.
The group - Android Crew - has been selected to represent the country in the Asia qualifiers in August for what is regarded one of the biggest street dance events in the world. The two best teams from the Asia qualifiers will compete in the Keep On Dancing World Cup, to be held in South Korea in August next year, in which 20 countries will take part.
Three among the team, Ashutosh Sahoo, Adarsh Mishra and Bisnu Mohanty, are from Puri while Sahil Jain is from New Delhi. The dancers from Puri have been practising since 2013, but formed the group in 2014.
Adarsh said: "I was in New Delhi for some work when I met Sahil who is passionate about dancing. He had given up academics because of family problems but had great zeal for dancing. After coming back to Puri, I told my friends about him and we formed the group."
Adarsh said the team members never took formal training. "We attended a few workshops hosted by international hip-hop dancers. We had no money so we used to plan budget travel. We taught each other and improvised on the dance steps," he said.
Sharing his experience at the New Delhi auditions, Sahil said: "The most challenging part was that the music was played on the spot. The judge was from Japan and the DJ from China. We had to pick the music and make our solo throwdown as well as group routine," he said.
Bisnu said: "The competition was tough as the best dancers from the country were there. We were nervous, but when we got selected among the top four, we knew we were going to win."
These youngsters are trying to infuse an Indian flavour in their performances for the upcoming selection rounds. "We will try to infuse Sambalpuri music and come up with something innovative. We are putting in a lot of research to make sure we are selected for the world cup," Adarsh said.