September 2019 is going to be big for dancer Adarsh Mishra aka Addyction and for his group The Android Crew. The World Hip Hop Dance Championship is coming up. The crew had qualified and represented India on this prestigious platform in 2017 and this time, they intend to win it. If you think September is too far away and we are talking about them too early, then let it be known that they have already started practising. The plan is to practice individually, as Adarsh is currently based out of Bengaluru and meet in August for a full-throttle preparation for the championship.
This Bhubaneswar-based dance crew also runs The GrooveYard Dance and Fitness Studio in the same city. "The studio was fully set up, so I came to Bengaluru for a job. But when we won the qualifiers round, I realised I cannot do anything else other than dancing," says full-time dancer Adarsh, who has both undergone and taken many workshops in Odisha and Karnataka. While he has attended workshops by international dancers like Waydi Wayde, who founded PSPD 8 Big Dance Centre and others, he has been instrumental in bringing popular dancers like Adam G Sevani, famously known as Moose from the Step Up series. This happened last year and the workshop was conducted in KIIT's auditorium. Apart from this, they organise and participate in several underground battles. The 17-member crew's aim has always been to conduct these kinds of events to sensitise the dancers of the city to the culture and style of hip hop. Even through the classes that they conduct in their studio, their aim always is to teach participants about hip hop culture instead of just teaching them the steps without any context.
Speaking about himself, 24-year-old Adarsh says that he started dancing in the first year of his engineering which he pursued from Gandhi Engineering College, "When I started out, I used to dance to win. Now, I focus on growing. I've learnt a lot from the stage, the style, attitude and moves of hip hop." So, is a full-time career in dance really viable, we ask the Puri-born dancer and he says, "It is when you understand the market situation, you need to know how to talk and teach. And more than anything else, you need to know hip hop inside and out."
Difference between hip hop battles and dance competitions:
- For battles, crews don't come prepared with a set choreography like in dance competitions. The music depends on the DJ and it's all about spontaneity
- Instead of the rectangular stage in an auditorium, the stage is circular for battles with the audience around it
- One can't just do one style of dancing, like in dance competitions. They need to mix it up for battles including stunts, hip hop and more
For more on him, click on facebook.com/adarsh.mishra.9
