Dirty Dancing

Mood: Energetic
Affected people: Students of november and april '09 batches at DXB at S P Jain Center of Management
How many: Approximately 180
Reason: SPectra 2010

The very reason why student life rocks - college festivals. SPJCM decided to conduct its first ever managerial and cultural event in Dubai. Lots of excitement with respect to inviting colleges, meeting sponsors, inviting cheif guests, planning the programs etc.

Amidst all this excitement, Masti-Mallu enters the room and talks to the Patrick Swayze of SPJ, Smarty. Both of them nod heads and part. Later in the night, Smarty calls me and cutie and tells that we are doing a small jig for SPectra. Its been a while since any of us has given any stage performance and we get all excited with the idea.

And the drama begins....

We go to nerdy's room to practice our first jig. As I enter, I see Smarty sitting on the bed and doing some complicated shoulder movements. I so badly want to back out!!! But looking at Smarty's determination, I decide to give it a try. Cutie, me and masti-mallu take our positions next to Smarty and try to follow him as Ranbir Kapoor dances away to glory on Youtube. As age and cigarette limit our stamina, we wind up the practice session in 20 minutes.

Next day, when we are all set to practice, we realise we have company. Beda, kol-gal, angrezi-mem and shuttler are there to cheer, correct and improvise. Beda gets his laptop (by and far the best music system we have) and starts playing the jazzy punjabi number. Smarty puts his brain to work and comes up with two sets of hip-breaking dance steps. In the excitement I bang my leg into the bed, masti-mallu fisted cutie but none of us get the steps right, forget coordination. As we struggle to remember the steps for this song, Smarty gets working on another song and asks us to practice. In the cramped rooms of the hostel, I, cutie and masti-mallu try to dance as energetically as possible. We stand in decreasing levels of energy - masti-mallu whose energy only Michael Jordan can beat, Cutie with the right energy to please people and I with just enough energy to keep people away from death out of boredom. As we struggle with direction, memory and pace, Smarty walks in and tells us to practice different steps for the next dance. Cutie and Masti-mallu quickly decide on what they want to do. And I say "I need time to decide this". Smarty walks back in and tells that this is the last song in the sequence and promised that it will squeeze the energy out of us (why is he hell bent on killing me :( ). Just when our legs are tired and bodies have given up, Smarty comes back and blows the death whistle "Two last sessions and we are off". I could see Cutie reciprocate my sentiments.

Next day, we decide to practice on the stage to mark our positions. And damn, the transition from cramped space in hostel to the big bad stage was terrible. The steps which were to be done with ease and style had to be done in a hurry to cover the space. Smarty and masti-mallu go to attend the class while Cutie decides to give me tutorials on the energy-sucking song. He asks me "Did you decide your step?". I say "I need time to decide this". We practice the whole time with shuttler playing the DJ for us. After an hour, age and cigarettes show their affects and I give up. I managed to convince(underline) people that I remember all the steps. Meanwhile, Beda and shuttler take the roles of music editors for us and kol-gal and angrezi mem go around arranging for our props (dupattas and ribbons - colorful and feminine). As we were all set to leave, comes in Mr. "tadam tadam" and we do one final performance before him. Thankfully he notices Smarty dancing in the front and overwhelms us with praise. Wow learning - "Showcase your strenghts and hide your weakness." As we were about to leave, Smarty asks me, "Are you ready with your step?" I say, "I need time to decide this".

On the D-day, we dress up in smart shirts and dazzling ties, a bit of talcum powder on our faces courtesy kol-gal and walk onto the stage, all nervous. And.....

Priceless things to notice in the video:

1) The worm and wave by Ashish Mehta during the song "Bachna ae haseeno"

2) Energy of Aditya Bansal in the song "Ishq"

3) Expressions of Abhilash Menon in the song "Dekha jo tujhe yaar"

4) Number of times Suryanarayana Gabbita glances at others and corrects himself