Ishaara and DJ Ravidrums rocked the house at the historic Westin Seattle for the Gift of Health Gala, honoring Innovators in Health Award recipient Christine Gregoire, former governor of Washington and leader in improving childhood immunization rates and expanding access to health care statewide.

Video Footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnS-2IZo8xA
IDEA Photo Gallery: http://bollyx.com/events/idea-world-2014/

BollyX is a Bollywood-inspired dance-fitness program that combines dynamic choreography and intensive workouts with the hottest music from around the world. Its 50-minute cardio workout cycles between high and low-intensity dance sequences to get you moving, sweating, and, most importantly, motivated all at the same time. At the very core of a BollyX workout is the inspiration it draws from the music and dance of Bollywood, the film industry of India. We embody the infectious energy, expression and movement of Bollywood and aim to expand the reach of fitness to more people worldwide.

BollyX is the world’s fastest growing Bollywood-inspired dance fitness program. With 200 instructors trained and 16 states already launched within the US in less than 1 year, BollyX is taking the world by storm!

BollyX is the Bollywood workout, a fitness program that combines dynamic choreography and intensive workouts with the hottest music from around the world. Its 50-minute cardio workout cycles between high and low-intensity dance sequences to get you moving, sweating, and, most importantly, motivated all at the same time. At the very core of a BollyX workout is the inspiration it draws from the music and dance of Bollywood, the film industry of India. We embody the infectious energy, expression and movement of Bollywood and aim to expand the reach of fitness to more people worldwide.

BollyX, the Bollywood workout, is the world’s fastest growing Bollywood-inspired dance fitness program. With 200 instructors trained and 16 states already launched within the US in less than 1 year, BollyX is taking the world by storm!

BollyX is the world’s fastest growing Bollywood-inspired dance fitness program. With 200 instructors trained and 16 states already launched within the US in less than 1 year, BollyX is taking the world by storm!

Shahil works directly with event planners, set designers, motion picture directors, game developers, as well as designers of theme parks and resort environments.  He has a granular knowledge of different Indian art forms, both modern and traditional, and continuously leverages his personal relationships within the Bollywood community.  With his guidance, Shahil’s clients have been able to navigate the complex cultural mosaic that forms the Indian subcontinent, staying true to that which is authentic without inadvertently crossing cultural or religious taboos.  Furthermore, they have been empowered to design experiences that are tailored to a wide range of audiences, inclusive of ethnic groups across both hemispheres.

Shahil graduated from the University of California – Berkeley with a double major in Economics and Psychology, and minor in Management of Innovation.  He currently works full time as a Management Consultant at Accenture, aligned to Corporate Growth Strategy.

“The accomplishment I am most proud of is my journey in leading an intercollegiate Bollywood dance team to become a nationally recognized dance company.  From 2007 to 2009, I led UC Berkeley’s 20-member competitive Bollywood dance team to six 1st place finishes nationwide.  Throughout my experience, not only did I fall in love with Bollywood, but I also learned the core values of leadership, perseverance and teamwork.  These principles ultimately helped me guide my team to become the first-ever Indian group on NBC’s TV show “America’s Got Talent!”  Selected in the top 40 of 200,000 acts nationwide, my team was able to leave a lasting positive impact on our global South Asian community,” said this young dancer cum executive consultant.  ”I further pushed our team’s boundaries by incorporating Ishaara, a unique company that provides Bollywood dance entertainment to corporate buyers and event planners worldwide.  Amidst a struggling economy, I invested thousands of dollars into my business, as well as countless hours into planning and managing daily operations.  Consequently, we have been able to grow our brand across the country, perform with the likes of Diana Ross and Enrique Iglesias for prestigious companies such as Wal-Mart and Pepsi, and give back to our community through many performances at various non-profits.  Moreover, we have become uniquely positioned to train the next generation of leaders within the South Asian dance community with new programs such as “Ishaara Juniors” – a youth development initiative that will give a select group of children the opportunity to train intensively with experienced members of Ishaara.  It is this type of positive impact that will continue to make Ishaara one of my life’s most meaningful journeys.”

On making changes in the world, Shahil offered this, “If I could change one thing in the world, it would have to be cultural intolerance.  From the Crusades, to the Holocaust, to the War on Terror, history has shown that some of our world’s most destructive conflicts are rooted in cultural intolerance.  Furthermore, as the divide between countries continues to shrink due to new technology and global economic advancement, the need for cultural tolerance will only continue to grow.  Thus, if we are to achieve collective success as a global society, I believe we all need to open our minds to different cultures and perspectives worldwide.”

His parents have always had the greatest and most positive influence on him throughout my life he states.  Beyond teaching him to always believe in himself and push yourself and learn from failure, his parents instilled unique values that he says have really been the foundation for his success.  Shahil says, “One simple mantra from my father perhaps played the biggest role in my development which was to be a Jack of all trades, master of none.  This guidance encouraged me to try different things rather than focus on any one specific activity.  For example, it led me to try soccer in high school, despite physical limitations related to my weight.  It also led me to learn how to simultaneously manage school, sports, dance and work in college.  My parents never let me give up on anything, and this emphasis on a well-balanced upbringing really set me up for success in ‘the real world.’   These values continue to tangibly impact and positively shape my decision-making process today.”

But with all his incredible dancing success, it might shock readers to know that he never danced prior to college.  In fact, he says he used to despise dancing as a kid. He didn’t mind being on center stage to sing with his sister, but then once puberty set in and his voice began to crack, he looked for a new hobby.  He tried out for his university’s Bollywood dance team as a freshman, and remarkably just barely made the team.  ”Through patience, perseverance, and an analytical approach to learning, I discovered and developed my greatest passion: Bollywood dance,” says Shahil. With a promising professional prospects and with an amazing dancing journey, Shahil Patel’s voice doesn’t ever crack when he is shouting “Balle Balle”!

In 2008, IGN broke the hearts of videogame fans everywhere with its surprisingly awesome trailer for a movie based on The Legend of Zelda - a movie which didn’t actually exist. April Fools, everyone! “IGN Video doesn’t usually do grandiose productions, but we always like to come out swinging for April Fools’ Day,” Fran Mirabella, Director of IGN Video, explained to The Escapist - but how do you top something as notorious as the Zelda movie trailer?

The answer: You do one for beloved shooter series Halo, but you give it a Bollywood-style twist. It wouldn’t have been enough to do a regular fakeHalo trailer, said Mirabella, because nobody would have believed that it was real after the Zelda prank. “So, the whole setup of the trailer is that during the first 15-20 seconds you think IGN just made another serious attempt at portraying Halo: The Motion Picture. Not that unthinkable,” explained Mirabella. “We wanted everyone to think, ‘Oh, nice try IGN! Fool me once…’ Then, when Master Chief’s helmet comes off, you realize we’re doing a Halo Bollywood trailer. Fooled you twice.”

The idea had been to do a Bollywood-style Halo movie from the start thanks to IGN founding father Peer Schneider. As fortune would have it, while looking for Bollywood talent to make it happen, production director Caleb Lawson saw a clip of dance troupe Ishaara performing on America’s Got Talent - and it was a perfect fit. “[W]e immediately knew we had to work with them,” said Mirabella. “Then when we started talking to them, we discovered some of the troupe already knew about IGN and were fans of Halo.”

It isn’t just Halo, either, said Ishaara Co-Director Shahil Patel. “Most of our team is comprised of college students born and raised in America. Halo was the game we all played throughout high school, just like Super Mario Bros. was the game we all played as kids. I don’t think any of us are gamers anymore, but we used to play tons of games like Counterstrike, Splinter Cell, Zelda, Smash Bros., FIFA, NBA/NFL Live, Starcraft, WoW, GTA, Diablo … the list goes on.”

The trick was to blend the essence of Bollywood cinema with the essence of Halo, which Mirabella said was a bit like taking “two volatile chemicals and [shaking] them up just to see what kind of insane, Technicolor explosion we would get.” Bollywood films are a “very rich, involved performance art,” and the team worked hard to combine the traditional over-the-top, high-energy performance with the epic space opera and “really sweet, cinematic shots” of Halo.

Once production started in earnest, said Mirabella, it only took a few weeks to put together – with music composed by Chris Tilton, the man who did the tunes heard in Mercenaries 2 (and who works on Fox’s Fringe) and lyrics translated internally. The result was one hilarious trailer that I chose as the officially unofficial winner of April Fools 2010, and something that Halo fans will probably be bitter about for years to come. Well, the ones without a sense of humor will, anyway.

View Full Article at The Escapist Magazine

More details coming soon!

All of us, teachers included (special shout-out to Ms. Jennings!), made our way to the “cafetorium” (cafeteria + auditorium) where I fiddled around with the speaker system, jumped on stage, and played the song they were about to dance to… Dhinka Chika! I chose this song because in true Bollywood style, it’s a love song, but one with a chorus easy to lip synch and lyrics (in Hindi) suitable for 10 year olds. But more importantly, as a song that was made to be danced to, its upbeat tempo seemed to be a perfect match for a whole group of highly energetic kids.

After about an hour (and a GREAT workout), we were done! I was surprised at how excited they were to try out steps they’ve never tried before, how quickly they picked up the moves, and how much they enjoyed the dance, asking repeatedly if they could practice from the top over and over again. I also thought it would be fun at the end to give all the girls bindis they could wear on the day of their actual performance. Once back in the classroom, I spent a little time with them, learning about their state projects (I remember 5th grade…  my state was Minnesota!) and looking at some of their slideshows, then said goodbye as they ran off to their last class of the day: Physical Education. Wow, kids have so much energy!

Overall, I had a great day and it turned out to be a wonderful experience. There is nothing I love more than kids taking such an interest in a different culture, and having fun at the same time. Unfortunately, I will not be able to make it to watch their final performance in 2 weeks, but I wish them all the best of luck and can’t wait to see a video of the performance!

Last year, I called April Fools in favor of Blizzard, and with good reason – the Irvine-based PC developer almost always goes all-out on its April Fools’ jokes, frequently throwing multiple pranks into the mix. This year was no exception, with its Battle.net Matchmaking service, Diablo III Snuggie and body pillow, and the Deckard Cain GPS (among others) but… sorry, Blizzard. I can’t go with you this year.

The reason I can’t go with Big Blizz this year is because of the video you see here above. This was IGN’s entry into the mix, and while the media giant is no stranger to doing fake videogame movie trailers (see also: Zelda from a few years back) the fact that they opted to go for a completely different take on Halo here is enough to push it over the top.

It’s not enough that it’s just “Bollywood Halo,” it’s that they nailed the stereotypical feel of a Bollywood movie so perfectly that really sells it. Maybe it’s just the moment where the Master Chief just looks at the camera and flashes a grin while the screen shows his designation “John-117,” because that made me crack up.

Is it just me? Am I the only one who finds the idea of Halo-as-Bollywood-action-romance as hilarious as I do?

View Full Article at The Escapist

-So how did this happen? Whose idea was it?

Fran Mirabella, Director, IGN Video: It’s hard to top a serious Zelda movie trailer, which was our prank of 2008. IGN video doesn’t usually do grandiose productions, but we always like to come out swinging for April Fools’ Day. Peer Schneider, who is basically one of IGN’s founding fathers, struck gold when he asked if we could do HaloBollywood.

-*How* did you come up with the idea? Which came first, the idea to do a Bollywood game movie trailer (and you decided on Halo), or the idea to do a fake Halo movie trailer (and you decided on the style)?

Fran: This was a Halo Bollywood mash-up from the start. We are always trying to do something that gets more attention than our Zelda movie trailer, which is pretty tough. So, the whole setup of the trailer is that during the first 15-20 seconds you think IGN just made another serious attempt at portraying Halo: The Motion Picture. Not that unthinkable. We wanted everyone to think, “Oh, nice try IGN! Fool me once…” Then, when Master Chief’s helmet comes off, you realize we’re doing a Halo Bollywood trailer. Fooled you twice.

-How did Ishaara and IGN get in contact with each other?

Fran: IGN started looking for local Bollywood dance talent in the San Francisco area. Our production coordinator, Caleb Lawson, saw a clip of Ishaara competing on America’s Got Talent, and we immediately knew we had to work with them. Then when we started talking to them, we discovered some of the troupe already knew about IGN and were fans of Halo.

-How was the song written/translated?

Fran: Our director on the project, Nick Scarpino, and the whole team here at IGN really wanted there to be a story for Halo fans. We naturally expected a limited number of viewers would understand the Hindi lyrics, so we added subtitles. Nick and the team wrote a short love story that could play out and give the trailer a heartbeat, if you will. Master Chief is captured and turned into the perfect military weapon and he falls in love with his guide, Cortana – something every fan has thought about. Love is a pretty common base for Bollywood films, so we thought it was a another layer of entertainment we could add to the trailer. Translation was done internally at IGN by Shelly Kamboj, who’s in our sales department.

Once that work was done, we handed it over to our friend in the music industry, Chris Tilton. We were very fortunate to have him on board. Chris composes for the Fox TV show Fringe and, notably on the videogame side of things, he recently did Mercenaries 2. He used a few themes that Halo composer Marty O’Donnell had set forth, but the core dance theme of the trailer is all original work by Chris.

-What sort of process was there for melding two completely different genres, action gaming and Bollywood cinema? What were the essential Halo elements, and what were the essential Bollywood elements?

Fran: It was a bit of a mad science experiment; we took two volatile chemicals and shook them up just to see what kind of insane, Technicolor explosion we would get. Thankfully, no one went blind and we ended up with something totally original. Bollywood is a very rich, involved performance art. That meant combining a lot of key moving parts: the music, the choreography, the colorful costumes…and that’s just one side of the trailer. Then we needed to give it a good injection of Halo and sci-fi visuals. Part of the joke was that there would be some over-the-top shots in the trailer, and Bollywood is no stranger to that. So we had the leads winking at the camera, Master Chief dancing on a ship, and, of course, the wedding ring at the end – I hope everyone caught that. We also wanted to make sure we had some really sweet, cinematic shots from the Halo universe. Nick and our post production manager, Brennan Ieyoub, created them all in-house and really showcased how nimble we can be as a team when we set our minds to it. Even though this was a prank, we wanted to take the opportunity to continue to fuel the hype for getting a real, Hollywood-born Halo movie someday.

-Shahil, have you – or other members of your troupe – ever played Halo before? Do you play any other games?

Shahil Patel, Co-Director, Ishaara: Definitely. Halo is probably in my top 5 for best video games in history. I think that’s what made this project even more exciting. Most of our team is comprised of college students born and raised in America. Halo was THE game we all played throughout high school, just like Super Mario Bros. was the game we all played as kids. I don’t think any of us are gamers anymore, but we used to play tons of games like Counterstrike, Splinter Cell, Zelda, Smash Bros., FIFA, NBA/NFL Live, Starcraft, WoW, GTA, Diablo… the list goes on … shout out to Street Fighter from SNES … etc .. Most of us remain kids at heart, so I don’t know if video games will ever get old.

-How long did it take to make? Where’d you get the cool Master Chief suit?

Fran: We had the idea since mid-2009, but we didn’t start any work on it until 2010. With a concept like this, it’s hard to quantify the time spent – you could spend half a year on it if you wanted. But there’s always a lot of coverage to do here at IGN, and we had to keep our core offering of reviews, trailers, etc. moving alongside this production. Most of the time was spent discussing the shots and where we’d get the dance troupe, music, etc. When it came down to the final shoot, editing, and finishing, it was really only a few weeks – which we did in the middle of moving our offices across town! It was a lot of work, but this is a labor of love and something we’re really proud of. We were also really thankful that the original creators of Halo at Bungie, supported us on this. They leaked a screenshot from the production saying something big was coming that week, and it really created this huge viral buildup.

The Master Chief suit, anyone can find online. We made a few small modifications, like getting the visor to read well on camera, though. Likewise, you might be interested to know that most of the props were from a toy store. We had painted N.E.R.F. guns and glowing juggling balls on the set, among other things. We even shot one of us in an ape suit, starkly silhouetted against a desert sun backdrop – it was going to be the Brute, but we cut it in the end. If you check out our behind-the-scenes videos you can see a lot of this.

Halo Bollywood Trailer: Behind the Scenes with Ishaara

We go behind the scenes with Ishaara to show you what it was like to perform in this video.

Halo Bollywood (IGN Behind the Scenes)

We take you behind the scenes of our 2010 April Fool’s prank.

View Full Article at War Cry / The Escapist

While King Khan already has his wax statue at the Madame Tussauds in London along with other Bollywood stars, he is the first and only Bollywood actor whose statue is present at the Madame Tussauds in Los Angeles. However, his wax statuette here would be kept for a limited engagement only till the 30th of April. The buzz is that the statue cost a whopping $ 3,00,000 to make.

While King Khan himself couldn’t be present during the unveiling, the function was a grand event with an appearance by America’s premier Indian dance company and recent America’s Got Talent contender, ISHAARA.

View Full Article at Bollywood Hungama

Please email us at auditions@ishaara.com for an application.  We have several openings we are looking to fill immediately.

Thanks!!

“The people there were extremely talented,” Thakur recalls. “It was a very humbling experience.”

It all started last spring when another Ishaara dancer got the idea to try out for the show. Viswanathan and Thakur joined a small subset of the team who traveled to Los Angeles to audition in May. They were selected to participate in the live TV show and for four weeks in August and September competed against 47 other acts in hopes of impressing the show’s three judges and its TV audience enough to win $1 million and a headline show in Las Vegas.

“At each round, I thought, ‘This is as far as we’ll get,’ and then we got a little farther,” adds Viswanathan, this year’s head captain. “Each round was a gift. Priceless. It was fun.”

Love has a way of being fun, and Viswanathan and Thakur love Bollywood dance, those energetic musical numbers popularized in India’s Bollywood films. In keeping with the genre, almost every dance routine involves a love story with a happy ending. “It’s West Side Story plus High School Musical times a lot of color,” explains Thakur.

Viswanathan and Thakur have been dancing to Bollywood music since age six. “My mom made me do it,” quips Viswanathan, smiling. Thakur nods in agreement; his mom also enrolled him in a local children’s dance group. It was a way to keep American-raised children steeped in Indian culture. By high school, both teens were hooked. “This was my niche, and I instantly wanted to be the best at it,” Viswanathan says.

A group of now-graduated students first formed Cal’s Bollywood dance team in 2001. The most recent iteration, Ishaara (which means symbolic foreshadowing or a glimpse of things to come in Hindi), competes at several collegiate competitions every year; in 2008, the team won Best of the Best and this year took third at Bollywood Berkeley.

Like so many relationships, Ishaara is a time-intensive one. Since joining their freshman year, Viswanathan and Thakur, who first met on the team, spend up to 25 hours a week at dance practice, which often takes place at night in an underground parking lot. That doesn’t include travel to competitions and the day-to-day operations associated with being in a dance troupe.

How do they do it as engineering students?  “It’s tough,” says Viswanathan, who is also involved in insect biology research this semester. “At the end of the day, it’s about balancing academics, extracurricular activities and social stuff. I don’t have much time for relaxation.”

Both men bring an engineering mindset to the group, from using math to help time their choreography to making props, as well as an engineer’s sense of perfection. “You put in all this time and effort for eight happy minutes on stage,” Thakur explains. “When the music starts, you have to perform. The audience has to love what you’re doing. No mistakes.” Dancing is also a welcome break from classes, he says.

So what is Viswanathan and Thakur’s happy ending? Both hope to go to medical school after graduation, they say, but won’t rule out pausing those plans to dance if the opportunity arises. Bollywood, a shameless flirt, beckons.

View Full Article at Center of Innovation at UC Berkeley

In addition to highlighting the work of AIF and the honorees, the evening will feature some excellent entertainment. Signature who wowed the world on “Britain’s Got Talent” and Ishaara from “America’s Got Talent” will perform together on the same stage for the first time ever.

Dhaya Lakshminarayanan, a popular San Franciscan stand-up comic, will be the emcee, and DJ Salim will be rocking the house.

The gala, a fundraiser for AIF, will highlight the Livelihoods Program, which helps cycle rickshaw drivers access commercial credit to purchase their own vehicles, educate migrant children, provide vocational training for urban youth, and works to lessen the digital divide between rich and poor schools.

Companies such as Applied Materials Inc., San Disk Corporation, and Yahoo! will be in attendance.

More details coming soon!

Despite falling short in making the next round on NBC’s hit show America’s Got Talent last week, members of Ishaara said performing before a national audience would aid their efforts to make Bollywood dancing a more mainstream element in American culture.

The group was founded two years ago by UC Berkeley students Shahil Patel and Sian Bentson, who both graduated last May. Out of the 20 current and former UC Berkeley student members, 10 were given the chance to perform on the show when the group was first featured last month.

After several months of dance practice leading up to their debut on the show, the group beat out more than 70 other Bollywood dance teams to become the sole representative of the style on the show in July, said Patel, a double major in economics and psychology.

Though relatively unknown to their peers on campus, Ishaara has won first place in many local competitions from Bollywood Berkeley to competitions across the country like Phillyfest, a major South Asian dance festival in Philadelphia, Pa.

By the time their audition tape was viewed by the show’s casting directors, the group had already made a name for itself within the South Asian community nationwide, said Nickesh Viswanathan, a Ishaara member who performed on the show.

“We feel pretty unknown on campus and that’s partially our fault,” he said. “But in the South Asian community we’re pretty well known.”

Ornate and colorful costumes, playful gestures and an ability to engage the audience caught the notice of the show’s judges, including former newspaper editor Piers Morgan who described their performance as “unbelievably exciting to watch, original and fresh.”

Patel and Bentson said that the experience and support they received while filming for the show was rewarding.

“It’s nice to be recognized for what we did because we put a lot of effort into it,” Patel said. “It’s exciting for us to see that the school and people affiliated with the school are supporting us. We did our best to represent Berkeley on the show.”

Bentson, who graduated with an environmental science degree, said that she studied tap dancing for ten years before trying Bollywood dance. In contrast, Patel had little interest in dancing before coming to UC Berkeley.

“I never liked dancing growing up, I was anti-dance,” Patel said. “But when I came to UC Berkeley, I thought to try something different and it has the competitive drive and a lot of skills and footwork.”

They said the experience would aid them in fulfilling the group’s long-term ambitions.

“America’s Got Talent was a good avenue for (Ishaara) because it’s a variety show,” Patel said. “It’s not limited to one dance style or any style of talent. It provided the best avenue for us to showcase Bollywood dance.”

Bentson added that since their first television appearance in July, changes have been made in future plans.

“We’re hoping to take our team to a more professional level,” she said. “That would be my ideal profession right now. I am hoping this can open a lot of doors for us. I don’t really see myself having a normal, mindless job.”

View Full Article at The Daily Californian

More details coming soon!

America’s got talent, and scores join reality/talent hunt shows each month. They are appealing, compelling and seize audiences attention. But Ishaara’s troupe has taken America by storm, the TV reality show America’s got talent on NBC has been grooving to Bollywood like never before. Their eyecatching costumes, killer dance moves had smiling judges with their ‘socks knocked off’, bringing audience and show’s anchor on their feet, dancing with them; all dunked and dazzled in their high-energy, colorful and powerful performances wowing everyone right from the day of the auditions to their last performance where audience just wouldn’t stop making noise.

From their dynamic rendition of Jai Ho to Pappu can’t dance, they enraptured America to the tunes of Bollywood song and dance, which after Slumdog, has become more than evident. Ishaara was all set to create a new platform for Bollywood in the land of Hollywood, before being eliminated from the much watched show.

Coming from Berkeley, this exotic group is the first generation Indians in America, who are proud of their roots and are keen to explore modern dance style found in Hindi movies today, want communities across US to see the coercive act.

Of the ten terrific dancers (all aged beteween 18-22) that make Ishaara Dance, all are either currently studying in University of California, Berkley or recently graduated. Lead by Shahil Patel and Sian Bentson, they have all come together with a strong passion of dance; they crave about bringing Bollywood to America.

But why Bollywood music?

Bollywood has been an intrinsic part of all their lives, call it their connection with India, when they thought of dance, nothing else came in their minds but the synergy of Bollywood dance that has the capability to entertain and make people smile.

With passion for dance so strong, They are an award winning troupe having performed at inter-college competitions and also at many dance festivals across nation.

Their dedication: Practicing late evening in their parking garage, stitching their own jazzy dance costumes and forming their unique style of heart wrenching drama and powerful music, wooing everyone. America’s Got Talent has brought them out in the open, they are now gearing up for the real action that awaits these extremely talented and galvanized entertainers.

View Full Article at NBC Bay Area By Ramona Giwargis

Currently, Ishaara is ranked as the number one dance group in the Bollywood or Hindi Film Dance category at the University level. Interestingly, I just did a longish story about the growth of Hindi Film Dance group in US universities, which has seen a sudden explosion in the last 5 years and is emerging as a new dance category. Will share the link once the article is published.

Last year I saw Ishaara perform live at Cal Berkeley and these guys outstanding. It is amazing how much energy, time, money and above all analysis goes into the creation of each show. I sometimes think even the original Hindi or Bollywood production folks don’t put in so much time and effort.

Wishing Ishaara the very best.

View Full Article at Kamla Bhatt Blog

I am really glad Ishaara stepped up. I know how hard it is to put so many things on hold to take a chance like this. I have seen this team perform every year for the last four years and every year they have become better. Maybe it has to do with my dance competition reviews or maybe it just has to do with their hard work and dedication, or maybe it’s Maybelline. I’m going to pretend it was the first one because I have nothing else going on with my life. This team is not a fluke like Kashif or Sanjaya. This is one of the most talented teams in the Fusion/Hindi Film competitions. I can’t wait to see what they have in store and hopefully start dating some of them.

Check out my reviews for older Berkeley Ishaara dance numbers below. I really hope they make it until the end of this season. Ishaara doesn’t know this but I met them once and they are really awesome individually. I even tried to hit on the girl with the sexy, raspy voice. They definitely deserve all the praise and all the hype. Curry Bear, along with just about every other Desi dance team, will be rooting for Ishaara every week and voting! The farther this team gets on this show, the more people will recognize our dance competitions. Someone on the DDT forums said it best.

With Ishaara’s success lies the whole desi dance scene’s success. Many people who don’t even know about all the desi dance activity here in the US will now know about it. The competitions will be recognized, the teams will be recognized, most importantly, the dance will be. It’s success overall for everyone.

Yesterday was indeed a big moment in the desi dance competition scene and it will be a day that many of us will look back on. Congrats again Ishaara! Just don’t forget about Curry Bear when you guys are headlining in Vegas!

You already made us proud. Now make us live vicariously through your victory.

Here is the Ishaara 2008 performance review.

View Full Article at Curry Bear

They didn’t disappoint.

The group, which is composed of 15 students from UC Berkeley, danced to the song “Jai Ho” from the soundtrack to the hit movie “Slumdog Millionaire.”

They received a standing ovation from the audience and all three judges voted to send them to the next round of the contest in Las Vegas.

Jude Piers Morgan described the performance as “brilliant.”

Ishaara has won several intercollegiate competitions over the past few years. Their members rehearse up to 20 hours each week in addition to attending school.

View Full Article at Mona Darling

View Full Article at EW’s PopWatch

That said, it was no surprise then when Bollywood dance-troupe Ishaara-consisting of ten students from the University of California, Berkley-indeed proved my hypothesis correct. Adorned in colorful green/gold and red/gold silky outfits, Ishaara stirred up an exotic brew of hot Bollywood dance moves mixed with traditional Hindu steps dating thousands of years back. So impressed was Hasselhoff that his socks were LITERALLY knocked off. Well done, Ishaara! And congratulations on successful introducing Bollywood culture to mainstream America!

View Full Article at Yahoo Voices

The group, comprised of UC Berkeley students, bolted onto the stage and boldly proclaimed to the judges that they were there to “knock your socks off.”

Mission accomplished. Moving to the grooves of “Jai Ho” (the song made famous by “Slumdog Millionaire”), Ishaara rocked the house, bringing the audience to its feet and smiles to the faces of the judges.

After a little digging on the ‘Net. we learned that Ishaara is an award-winning troupe, having won several intercollegiate competitions in recent years and bringing Bollywood glory to Cal. We wish them continued success on “America’s Got Talent.”

View Full Article at A+E Interactive – Bay Area Arts And Entertainment Blog

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