UPM Natyanjali 2008

Firstly I would like to thank all my dancers from K17 UPM for their co-operation, tolerance and support that they have given me as the choreographer and showed so very high level of respect and gratitude towards the art. Thank you, guys!

Last week 23rd August 2008, (happy birthday, Rujj) UPM had their yearly event. The Natyanjali. It’s actually a dance competition organized every year by UPM’s Putra Kalashetra. Who are they and when they started, I don’t know, but thanks to them for organizing such event.

This is the 3rd year I am choreographing for the students there. My first one was Koli Veda Koli then followed by numerous performances. Each year K17 participates in Natyanjali, they will not win. Yes, they will not win and I wont blame anyone for that.

This year I choreographed 2 groups. One if the senior group and the other were juniors. First we chose Saroja Saman Nikalo for the juniors, and then we changed to Etta katti from 12B, then Sikki Mukki Nerupe from Vettaiyadu Vilayadu. Then finally we decided to dance for Machakari from Sillendru oru Kadhal. This is because the organizers had some issue on the lyrics and other issues as well. Not only us, even the semi classical group had some issues with selecting their song, in fact theirs was much more BIGGER problem compared to ours. You can read all about it here (by the way, this is another version of how the event went on)

Back to our story. We started practicing everyday with the juniors, spent so much of time. Of course they don’t have prior experience in dancing for such a big crowd or competition. But its okay, there is always a start for everything. I named them the Machakari group which consist of Predith, Eric, Sangeetha, Natasha, Stephanie, Jayanthi, Kokilavani, 2 chinese girls (I’m so sorry that I cant remember your names. I told you rite that I have difficulties in remembering names. Sorry okay)

So we had mixed crowd, in fact when I started choreographing in UPM, it’s my first experience in teaching for a mixed crowd. We had all the races Malay, Chinese, Indians, Sabahan, Sarawakian. Damn, salute you people. Diversity at its excellence!

That’s for the junior groups. Now for the senior groups we decided to dance for Samba Samba from Love Birds. Why this song? Well this year I really wanted to explore their talents since they are bit more experienced dancers already. So I thought of exploring their talents and taking them to another level. Thank god it worked! I knew by taking one song which is new and famous for now would not create that impact, so Hanusha and me started breaking our heads on what song to choose. Back to back, our thoughts just kept pointing to one music director. AR Rahman. So we told ourselves, why not we choose a song that combines AR Rahman and Prabhu Deva (a.k.a Benny Lava on the internet). *Poof* there came that songs. SAMBA SAMBA from Love Birds J you can click on the link to watch the original video.

Now what? Decided on the song, what will be the theme? What else. Almost most of the dance groups and dancers will definitely done this concept at least once in their lifetime. Even as for me we did this concept for Theepidika once for Astro. Yenna concept, bro? THRILLER lar what else. How can one forget the original Thriller by Michael Jackson. So I started imagining the whole group dancing for Samba Samba for Thriller. Mmmm now that’s interesting. Immediately I called up Sham and told her that I want to meet the senior group dancers. When I told them the song and the concept they said ok, without thinking so much. Thank you guys for having so much trust and faith in me.

Appreciate it!

So we started practicing. Almost everyday from 7.30pm till about 10pm. The last 3 weeks before the competition I started choreographing for Samba Samba. This time I gave different kind of steps and formations. This time the piece had more drama and concentrated on their acting and facial expressions. Finally came the competition day.

Of course the Machakari done a good job for first timers. Then the senior groups went on stage. Then the music started and I just couldn’t believe my eyes. The way they make up and the amount of props. And their performance was mind blowing. Their effort was so obvious on stage. That point of time I knew this year we are the champions. I recorded all their performances, classical, semi classical and also their contemporary. Will upload soon once I have finished editing.As for now maybe I can post some pictures and dance videos during their practice sessions.

Then the time that we were all waiting for came. Announcement of winners.

Natyanjali 2008 – K17 winning list:

Classical - 2nd placing
Semi Classical - Champion and Best Costume
Contemporary - Champion

Overall they won Best Theme, Best Make and Props,Best Costume, Overall Champions Natyanjali 2008

CONGRATULATIONS!!! I was so happy and proud that we sapu habis all the categories. They deserve it I would say. Hanusha and me didn’t expect that they will win this much, sorry for underestimating guys. To our surprise this is the first time Astro was there to cover the event. Once the prize giving ceremony completed, Astro came to interview us for the program 360 Degrees that will be aired every Sunday 2pm on Vanavil. My god.. Im so thankful to you! Thank you Lord. I felt so proud and happy talking in front of the camera even though this is not my first time, but yeah I was ferkin happy!! I will update when they will air this coverage.

Of course some people were stunned and shocked to see our victory, well accept it behbay. This is rule of the game!

After that we went back to the university campus, and thank you people for giving me not so surprised party ahahahah Im just kiddin. So thoughtful of you people to get me a cake and cut that nite. Lastly we had a post mortem session to clear things off and celebrate our glory.

So that’s all for now, I will keep updating on the videos and photos.

In Rujj own words to all tha mofukaz out there, WE WON, BITCH!!

related post can be found here @ Hanusha's blog and Gary's blog