Bollywood Challenge

Ok, I'll admit I'm hooked. I'll give Randy Jackson props for creating the best reality TV series since, well Julia Child's The French Chef. And yes, that was REAL television. Enjoying it's 4th season on MTV America's Best Dance Crew pits street dancers against each other utilizing reality tactics like judge scoring, audience voting and elimination rounds.

Since the first season when the masked menacingly acrobatic JabbaWockeeZ won the title, each season delivers insanely talented dancers. This week I was riveted (twice!) by the episode titled the Bollywood Challenge. Each crew is assigned a particular Indian dance style like well known Bangra & Bharatanatyam as well as lesser known Kathak, Giddha & Garba. Having a mother who used to dance bharatanatyam I was hugely entertained by talented street dancers incorporating hip hop, lifts & acrobatics to classical Indian dances. I also appreciated the difficulty of my native dance artisty. Hustle this!

My favorite by far has to be AfroBorike doing Kathak. But I gotta admit I was blown away by all the performances. Made me wanna jump up, paste on a bindi, hook up my ankle bracelets and shake some ass! Also staggering were the dance mixes fusing Indian riffs with contemporary Latin and Hip Hop. If somebody knows where I can find the playlist, please tell!

Catch the episode it's entirety.