They slept on footpaths to fuel their dream. Now, Dzone Crew hopes to represent India at the World Hip Hop Dance Championship 2019 at Phoenix in Arizona

“We will put our right leg forward and dance our way to America, if people help us with funds,” says dancer and choreographer Deekshith Raj of Dzone Crew, a dance company in Puttur that has made it to the World Hip Hop Dance Championship 2019 at Phoenix in Arizona, to be held from August 5 to 10.

This is a success story of young boys hailing from a small town in Dakshina Kannada, 52 kilometres from Mangalore, who slept in railway stations and footpaths to save money to compete and reach this level.

Right now the three boys — Deekshith Raj, Gagandeep and Nikhil Ashley Mascarenhas — are excited after bagging a silver at the Indian Hip-hop Dance Championship 2019 (mini crew) held at Goa in May this year that qualified them for the world championship. “Nothing can give us more pride than representing India and Karnataka at Arizona, but right now we are unable to afford around ₹8 lakh for the three of us to get there. It entails our expenditure towards visas, stay, air ticket and registration charges,” says Deekshith Raj who is looking forward to raising funds through crowd funding.

Deekshith says, “Our empty pockets should not be a deterrent for representing India at an international platform.” Hip-hop has been a childhood passion for Deekshith, Gagandeep and Nikhil. “I built Dzone from scratch after facing several impediments,” says Deekshith, who holds a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering and works for an advertising agency in Puttur. “Apart from writing to State and Central governments, I have also requested our Minister, Sadananda Gowda, to help us with funding,” he adds.

Deekshith explains that Gagandeep is an engineering student at present and Nikhil takes care of a shop temporarily. Dzone has participated in several local and national level competitions over the last seven years.

“Mid-way, when we went through a patch of failure, several members left, as they felt demoralised. But with support from those who stuck by us, we made a comeback. The years 2017 and 2018 saw us participate in the Indian Hip-hop Dance Championship where we did reasonably well. But with a silver at Goa’s National Championship, we got the green signal to go across the seas,” says Deekshith.

Deekshith remembers the difficult days when the team was raring to participate in competitions, but did not have the necessary funds. “Forget earning for ourselves, even our families didn’t have much hope on dance as a career option,” he says.

But the boys did not give up. “I’ve lost count of the number of nights we slept in railway stations when we visited Mumbai, Bengaluru, and New Delhi. In Goa this year too, during the National Championships, we slept on the footpaths for two days, as the cheaper lodges were all full,” he says.

Deekshith is a self-taught dancer who learned from the Hip-hop masters around the world on YouTube.

“I was drawn to choreography; my inspiration is Hip-hop sensation Dharmesh sir,” says Deekshith, who is all set for the Arizona show with a lungi and moustache, native beats and peppy tunes. He adds, “Have you seen the movie ABCD? Don’t you think Dzone is in the same boat?”

To support the team, visit https://www.ketto.org/fundraiser/dzonedancecrew