Indian dancing duo on America's Got Talent

Two young dancers from India are making the heads turn on world stage. After winning various competitions in India and beyond, they have gained entry into one of the most popular international dance shows, 'America's Got Talent'.

Sumanth Maroju (20 years) and Sonali Majumder (15 years) team together as 'Bad Salsa' have completed the first round at of the show, which is streaming on Voot Select and will be airing soon on Colors Infinity. The duo won India's Got Talent Season 4 in 2012. They are under the guidance of Bivash Chowdhury, who is the trainer and founder of Bad Salsa group (Bad - Bivash Academy of Dance), one of the best Salsa dance academies in India. The salsa dancers became household names after being part of numerous shows in India and are a huge hit with viewers in the country. Sonali had participated in Britain's Got Talent as well.

During an exclusive interview to The Hans India, they share their journey and aspirations.

What do you think worked in your favour for America's Got Talent?

Sonali: We believe Bivash Sir's vision and his determination has worked in our favour for the show. His belief in us along with our persistence and dedication of training for 8 years with passion and the love of dance has worked for us.

You have been a team winning a lot of competitions. What is the strength that each one of you brings to the performance?

Sumanth: The competition within ourselves is our biggest strength. We always strive to perform better than the previous performance. We also aim for a mutual understanding and mindset so that our emotions and actions are aligned with one another. While performing at every competition, we just want to give it our best in every possible way and focus more on our dance rather than who our competitors are.

Which until now has been the most challenging competition that you attended so far?

Sonali: We consider America's Got Talent the most challenging competition so far. Apart from being our dream stage, it is the globe's biggest talent show where the stakes are always high. We feel blessed and honoured to have been given the chance to represent our country on such a pioneer stage and carry the responsibilities of the same with high regards.

Can each of you share your life story before dance happened to you?

Sumanth – I come from Bhubaneswar, Odisha from a middle-class family consisting of 4 members. My father is a railway employee and my mother is a housewife and I have a brother 3 years younger to me. When I was 6 or 7 years, I was into dancing, I was inspired by the dance legend Michael Jackson and Prabhudeva sir. During my initial days, I used to buy disks and video tapes and used to imitate the steps from the videos, I learned the basics of dance at home. Never did I know that there would be a world out there where I could be living my dreams with dance as my profession until I met Bivash sir. After he selected me for the reality show 'India's Got Talent' my whole life changed and things have been great since then.

Sonali – I come from a village named Bagdah in West Bengal. I am the only child in my family. My father is a farmer and my mother a housewife. I began dancing when I was 3-years-old, I used to witness many dances in my village melas and gatherings, which I liked very much. The interest towards dance began from there. However, I had no knowledge of Salsa, Hip-Hop and other dance forms. When I met Bivash Sir, I got acquainted with the knowledge of dance. I credit him with all the knowledge I have towards dance. I feel very lucky to be able to rise above challenges in my life and reach the position I am at today.

Many young dancers are inspired by you; but yours has been a lot of hard work. Can you share details of you practice?

Sumanth: Hard work combined with discipline and passion, have led us to where we are today. There have been days where we rehearsed for more than 14 hours a day. Yes, it sometimes feels very stressful but with the kind of workout, diet, and rest schedule we have the stress is released quickly. For international competitions, we aim at performing never seen acts by elevating our training levels. We have a splendid opportunity to represent our country and we will make everyone proud.

What about future? What are your plans?

Sonali: It is our aspiration to be International dancing stars and to inspire people to take up their passion of pursuing dance. We want to be dancing for the next 10 to 15 years and aim to represent our country at every possible stage across the world. We come from a background where situations were not easy to overcome, we did not have the resources and exposure to reach this far yet we broke barriers and never gave up. On stage, we always strive to outdo ourselves and perform better than our previous performance.

Sumanth: We feel there are a lot of people who do not have the right kind of exposure to showcase their talent and we want to be able to reach out to them. Bivash Sir owns a gurukul where students from different parts of India arrive, stay, and learn the art of dance. Out here, we wish to assemble those talented people who need exposure and train them to their best, so they too have a chance at pursuing their dreams.

Bad Salsa's performance at AGT Season 15: