BOSTON– Boston Bollywood Xtreme won the first prize in the national South Asian showdown competition that was held in Boston on Saturday. It’s the first time that a Boston team has won this competition. The second prize went to NSU Maasti and the third place winner was SLU Shakti.
Rohit Bhambi, organizer of the South Asian Showdown competition, said the event was sold out for the 8th straight year.
“Teams from all over the country attended the event including California, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Kansas, New Jersey, Missouri, Texas, and Virginia,” Bhambi said. “It’s a pleasure to continue to host this event with all the talent that we present from across North America.”
Boston Bollywood Xtreme: First Prize
Boston Bollywood, the first team to win in the South Asian Showdown competition, was founded in the spring of 2016 by Swati Tiwari to expand horizons of Bollywood dance in the Greater Boston area. Boston Bollywood Xtreme is the competitive team of Boston Bollywood.
NSU Maasti: Second Prize
Three years ago, two freshmen decided that NSU needed an Indian dance team. From that moment, NSU Maasti was created. Maasti started out as a group of six girls who just wanted to dance together.
“We went from a little group performing for small school events, to a group of nearly 40 dancers performing at local and national competitions,” NSU Maasti team told the organizers. “We’ve been so fortunate to be the winners of NSU’s Got Talent, our university’s talent show, for two years in a row, the fusion winners of Diwali Dhamaka in 2015, and the 2nd place overall winners of Diwali Dhamaka in 2016. We’ve also had the privilege of performing at Dance Ke Deewane since it started.”
SLU Shakti: Third Prize
Founded in 2011, SLU Shakti is Saint Louis University’s Co-ed Bollywood Fusion Dance team. Today, Shakti has become a nationally competing dance team.
Bhambi said that Boston doesn’t get to see this level of talent and it’s great to portray all of this here in Boston.
“The continued diversity that the event shows is incredible and we’re very proud of what we’ve accomplished,” Bhambi said. “It’s the first time a Boston team has won this competition so that is also a monumental achievement.”
