Even after ten years in Bollywood, choreographer Sandip Soparrkar finds it amazing that the industry is yet to form its own identity where dance is corncerned. He speaks to CS about Bollywood's changing dance trends and his recent experiment with tango:

Two to tango
Recently, I was supposed to teach Priyanka Chopra the Argentinean tango for a Vishal Bharadwaj film. This dance form is extremely sensual and tough. I asked Vishal if we could give it a little Bollywood touch, but he refused. He wanted to stick to the original. What took me by surprise was that Priyanka, after rehearsals, danced as if she had mastered it!



Going global
The essence of Bollywood is its music and dance. And with the advent of so many western dance forms, it has experimented a lot. B-town is now going global, and so we have to cater to the global audience as well. We have to show variations that cater to NRIs as well as the Indian audience. Versatility is the need of the hour.

Lethal combo
A rewind and you'll notice that Bollywood's always been a bhel puri of different dance forms. It never had its own identity. It has always taken the best of everything, only the percentage has differed. In the 80s, it was rock and roll, cha cha cha and jive that ruled the screens. Then came a phase where in the 90s Bollywood turned to classical and folk dance forms. And since the late 90s, films have experimented with salsa, tango, ballroom, etc.

Still growing
I don't think Bollywood will ever accept one genre of dance. Unlike Hollywood, we aren't ready for films like Dirty Dancing, Chicago which catered to one dance form. Naach was a step in that direction, but it didn't really sit well with the audience. Till we stick to a style, we can't have a global dance identity and till then, Bollywood will keep evolving.