Capital-based hip-hoppers going places

It was a dream that the members of Polestar Dance Studio in the city have been nursing for more than five years.

Going through the grind of local dance competitions to the scripted drama of reality shows, their aim was to be at the World hip-hop dance championship organised by Hip Hop International.

Now they have achieved just that, winning a chance to take part in this year’s championship in Arizona, after coming up among the top three in a national-level competition in Mumbai last week that saw the participation of 71 teams from across the country.

“We set up the Polestar group around eight years ago. Initially, we used to practise at various grounds in the city. Later, we rented out a small space. We participated in several competitions and reality shows. Even during the early years, we used to watch YouTube videos of Hip Hop International competitions, to study the latest styles and replicate it here,” says Ratheesh Karunakaran, founder and choreographer of Polestar.

Around five years ago, they started seriously contemplating the idea of participating in the competition.

Intensive training followed. Last year, the visited Mumbai to watch the national-level competitions.

Non-stop training

“In the last one year, the nine member trained non-stop with this single aim in mind. We had to rebuild the team mid-way because five of the members backed out owing to various reasons. Now we have a team that consists of students, an assistant professor, an airport employee, and one who runs a catering service,” says Ratheesh.

At the competition, they sprang a surprise, not dancing to the conventional hip-hop songs, instead choosing Orfeo band’s reworked version of the ‘Padakali’ song from the Malayalam film Yoddha.

“We wanted to bring in an element from our home State into our performance and this song was best suited for that. The judges who came from abroad commended us for our creative steps. Hip-hop dancing involves numerous styles. For the competition, we had to blend in three styles and it worked well for us. Now the challenge is to go to Arizona and compete with dancers from across the world. For that, we are looking for sponsors, as the expense is too high. But we will find a way,” says Ratheesh.