When your favourite hero or music director’s song is released and goes on to become a massive hit, you would want to see its video, wouldn’t you? And when you key one such favourite into the YouTube search bar, more often than not, you will find videos of random people dancing to the song, rather than the song itself! Though you might get disappointed initially, or sometimes even annoyed, once you get to watch the video, it would amaze you as they bring in new dimensions and styles to the songs, which you might never have thought about.
This is the trend, that is slowly catching up among young dance crews in the city, as it not only helps them satiate their dream to dance for their favorite songs, but also act as a launching pad to get a wide reach. Especially over the past few months, songs such as Theri Dub Step, Aaluma Doluma and Thalli Pogathey have been subjected to a lot of experimentation. Among the many dance in the city, Dream Team, Strangerz Crew and the Fifth Element have been getting positive responses from fans for their quirky and unique covers. Some of these dancers and cinematographers share their insights on how this new trend is helping them, even letting them reach the original celebrities.
“Though this might seem new, this trend been in existence all over the world for many years. Initially, most of the teams in the city used to dance for famous English pop numbers, but as we know that Chennai is one of those cities, that is strongly attached to its roots, we can relate with larger audience when we give our version of the songs that become viral,” says Seenivasan Villalan from Dream Team.
The crew’s performances for the songs Aaluma Doluma from Vedalam and Rangu Rangu from Theri made Thala-Thalapathy fans go crazy. “We normally plan to release our video instantly after the songs get released, as fans would be restless to see how their stars look in those songs,” he adds. Seenivasan also said that the whole team was elated after Udhayanidhi Stalin tweeted about their video of a song from Gethu — “It not only got us a large set of fans, but also encouraged us.”
For Strangerz Crew, which has a mix of working professionals passionate about dance and some professional dancers, it’s all about paying tribute to the songs that attract them.
Says Krishna, a dancer from the team, “When Thalli Pogathey released, it was so addictive. Our way of expressing gratitude for A R Rahman and Gautam Menon was only by doing something, which would justify our love for them.” Even Pravin G, who’s one of the members of the Fifth Element dance troupe, reinstated the very point which Krishna stated and added, “Never were we criticised for making something like this. My tribute to Anirudh for his single track Akko on Valentine’s Day took me to great heights. I started getting noticed in public,” he muses.
Abhishek, a music data analyst and a photographer by passion, helps with cinematography for many dance crews for such videos, opines that this trend would last for years to come. He even predicts that, in the future, it would not only be a promotion for the dancers, but also for the films as well. “Though it would be unfair for us to take all the credits, we’re happy that certain songs got even more popular as it was choreographed and shared by fans,” he muses.
