Sunday night on MTV was the Bollywood Challenge. All were given coaching by choreographer Nakul Dev Mahajan.
Last week, during the martial arts challenge, Southern Movement is gone despite having one of the two best performances last week and the audience putting We Are Heroes in the bottom two this week makes this more a popularity contest than one of skills.
In the Bollywood Challenge, each crew was given a classic Bollywood style.
Massive Monkees
Up first, Massive Monkees got Bhangra. According to Punjabonline, Bhangra originated in Punjab and was traditionally performed to celebrate the harvest. Someone plays the drum and other musical instruments like the flute. Originally, men performed this dance while women performed Giddha. Traditionally, the me wore turbins, a long cloth wrapped around the waist called a lungi, the traditional Indian shirt called kurta. This style of dance has spread to South Asia and has come to the U.S. with artists like the Sangeet Group of Califronia.
The Punjab (meaning five waters) is a region that crosses into both Pakistan (eastern region) and India (northwest region). The five waters are the rivers Jhelum (the largest of the five), Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej and Beas–all tributaries of the Indus River. The majority of the Punjabs are Muslim.
Massive Monkees performed to “Bang” by Rye Rye with M.I.A. in red shirts and off-white pants. If you remember, last week Massive Monkees didn’t live up to their challenge (540-kick). Massive Monkees formed some interesting, even awkward looking formations.
JC Chasez said “really worked on constantly moving” and changing levels.
“Well done and well executed.”
Shane Sparks told them “it was one of the best performances ya’ll done in a while” and he loved the transitions.
Lil Mama thought the throwing and lifts were so strong and had a lot of energy.
Vogue Evolution](http://www.myspace.com/voguetheory1)
As Mario Lopez said, last week, some “serious drama went down” in this crew. Leiomy Maldonado walked out on final rehearsal before the performance, even though Maldonado commented, “I am the face of transgender.”
Their task was Rajasthani which they performed to “Calabria 2008” by Enur
Rajasthani refers to a language spoken by 36 million people as well as the largest state of India, Rajasthan. This region borders Pakistan and includes the Great Indian Desert in the northwest and the terminating point of the Ghaggar River. The majority of the state’s population is Hindu (88 percent). For that reason, the two main languages are Hindi and Rajasthani.
Rajasthan dances include Ghoomar in which women perform with colorful skirts, Gair is performed by men and women in a long tunic that opens into a skirt and Bhavai dance where women balance brass pitchers on their head.
Vogue Evolution decided to use scarves and some circling movements. Leiomy was dressed in heels and a red and blue belly-baring top, two guys in mustard colored tops and two in blue tops. They all had scarves of different colors. Probably the best moment was when Leiomy climbed up a pyramid formed by the guys in heels but it wasn’t the most imaginative routine and most of the judges’ comment revolved around the diva-like behavior.
Lil Mama told them “I live for Vogue Evolution” and it was “good but it wasn’t excellent.” Speaking to Leiomy, she commented, “You’re behavior is unacceptable…You always have to remember your troupe…If you’re going to become a woman, act like a lady…do it for the team.”
JC did give them that when it came time to be on stage, “You performed that number like professionals…you backed each other’s play.” Yet he admonished that the show was bout “being what you can be…you have every opportunity to be…”
Before turning it over to Shane, Lopez commented, “This is turning into Dr. Phil.”
Shane thought the routine was “really nice” and “really sexy.”
I agree with Lil Mama–good, but not excellent and not particularly creative. Being a diva or drama queen can’t help the creativity of a group and would make people hesitate to hire them.
Rhythm City](http://www.myspace.com/rhythm_city)
Rhythm City performed to “Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny)” by A.R. Rahman & Pussycat Dolls. Their challenge was Bharatanatyam which one of the crew members on the show characterized as very forceful with their feet and hands.’
Bharatanatyam originated from the southern India state, Tamil Nadu, and is considered the national dance of India. As one would expect the main language is Tamil. The majority are Hindu (88 percent) with small populations of Christians (6 percent) and Muslims (6 percent).
Dressed in purple and turquoise blue, the crew opened with two doing back handsprings to back flips. The performance stayed very acrobatic and exciting.
Shane told them, “Ya’ll bad; I love this group. You’re killing the 'ography…very acrobatic.”
Lil Mama told them it was “the best combination of your style with your challenge” and congratulated them for being “very committed to the challenge.”
JC like that they did a lot of stunt work and “did homage, did it respectfully” (by taking off their shoes) and thought they did a wonderful job of communicating an art form."
This was probably one of my favorite performances of the night.
AfroBorike](http://www.facebook.com/pages/AfroBorikE/243422040351)
Last week, Shane told them their choreography was weak and the crew had a flippant answer. They thought Shane should take a trip to Brazil. Sorry, guys. You’re first week performance was weak and last week’s performance was weak as well.
This week, AfroBorike was dancing to “Dance Bailalo” by Kat DeLuna and their challenge was: Kathak. Kathak is one of the eight Indian classical dances and originated with the nomadic tribes of northern India who were known as the Kathaks. These were bards, or storytellers and they mostly told myths, legends and parables. As with anything old, training schools developed and with Kathak there are three major schools. Interestingly enough, Kathak has some ties to flamenco.
What this crew chose to emphasize was the fast footwork with bells on their feet. The women performed in pink bikini tops with gold and pink bottoms and the men were in gold tops and white pants. They had problems with the synchronization–some of their challenge footwork was sloppy. They still tend to stick to the two couples at the side to frame the couple in the middle, but they kept up the difficulty with the lifts.
Lil Mama told them it was “the best performance since you’ve been on this show.” This is probably true and makes one wonder why they aren’t dwelling in the bottom two.
JC thought it was a good performance while noting that the kicks were out of sync with each other, but he praised the lifts as artistic and creative.
Shane warned them “You got to kill every single time you’re here, represent here” as in America and not Brazil because this show isn’t in Brazil.
I think they failed the challenge because of their problems of synchronisation–they are really about partner dancing, and also because they failed to tell a story as is the tradition of Kathak.
We Are Heroes](http://www.facebook.com/pages/We-Are-Heroes/111877863439?ref=share)
How did these Los Angeles-based ladies end up at the bottom? They were dressed in bright middriff baring tops and shiny leggings and they danced to “Arab Money” by Busta Rhymes & Ron Brows. Their challenge was Giddha which they saw as “a fun dance with fast food work” and clapping and stepping.
](http://www.myspace.com/beatyafeetkings)As mentioned above, Giddha comes from the Punjab region and was traditionally performed by girls and women performing in a circle. Usually, only a drum accompanies this dance and the women wear a tunic top and loose pants (salwar kameez). The dance often portrays archtypes (quarrelsome sister-in-law) or scenes of women’s daily lives (fetching water or preparing meals).
Lil Mama commented “It was good.”
JC like how they fused the diverse styles and “incorporated the task with Indian stylistic lines” and loved that they “got sexy for the first time” while being strong.
Again, this crew was strong in storytelling. They used the song “Arab Money” and there was money thrown around as well as bras.
Beat Ya Feet Kings](http://www.myspace.com/beatyafeetkings)
Beat Ya Feet Kings performed “So Fine” by Sean Paul and their challenge was Garba.
Garba originated in the Gujarat region of India and comes from the Sanskrit term for womb and deep. Traditionally it was performed during a nine-day Hindu festival of nine nights, Navaratri, usually around a lamp or image of the goddess Amba.
Gujarat is the western most state of India and where Mahatma Gandhi was born and led the Indian Independence Movement. The primary language is Gujarati. The population (89 percent) is Hindu. Muslims make up 9 percent. Most of the Hindus of this region speak Gujarati as do most of the Muslims. About 29 percent of the Hindus speak Hindi. A small percentage of the Muslims (less than 20 percent) speak Urdu.
This group had been criticized by Shane as watching too much YouTube. They came on with bright lime green hats and jackets with yellow T-shirts that read
“Download this.” They wore denim jeans.
Shane told them, they n take it to the next level do it from the heart because you love it
JC commented that is was something special to watch someone who’s “fighting every day… It’s special to watch somebody who puts it all on the line” and he appreciated the formation changes and level changes.
At the end of the night, it was Beat Ya Feet Kings that was eliminated. Next week is the Dance Craze Challenge.