REGISTRATION
Don’t miss your Chance to Compete against the Best!
Thank you for your interest in the South Asian Showdown XVI. After the phenomenal success of our competition the last 15 years, we look forward to bringing an even better competition to you this year! Teams from these competitions have deemed us one of the “best competitions” in the country, and we look forward to living up to that title again this year.
This year’s competition will be taking place on Saturday, March 1st, 2025 @ the historic Strand Theatre in Boston. Registration is closed and we had close to 50 teams apply! We appreciate every team that applied, but we could only take the following teams:
We will be placing 1st ($5,000), 2nd ($1,000) and 3rd ($500) respectively. However, more importantly than the ranking, we promise to bring the best competition through proper organization. Our goal is to promote our South Asian culture and our love of Bollywood/Fusion in the US, and through proper organization, creativity, and planning we believe this event will help us reach that goal.
If you have any questions, please contact us @ info@southasianshowdown.com.
Judging
Ensure Integrity to our Rich Dance
We understand that teams are always concerned about qualified judges and having an appropriate scoresheet that will fit their style. We go through many means to ensure that our scoring and judges are well qualified for the South Asian Showdown.
Our scoresheet puts the emphasis on creativity and difficulty. Those are the areas that have always differentiated the champions of South Asian Showdown. Our emphasis is on looking for the BEST team of the night irrespective of your style. We want all different styles to compete against one another to showcase which is the best that night. Bottom line to teams is that you have to BRING IT with your style! We want our qualified judges to have a TOUGH time based on your performances. Below is the rubric that we have aligned with our judges:
| Criteria | Points |
|---|---|
| CHOREOGRAPHY | |
| Technique | 15 |
| Creativity | 10 |
| Difficulty | 5 |
| Staging | 5 |
| Performance | 15 |
| SHOW DESIGN | |
| Concept | 15 |
| Music | 10 |
| Costumes | 5 |
| Set Design | 10 |
| OVERALL IMPACT | 10 |
JUDGES
Below is a listing our esteemed judges. This list may still change, but these are all the confirmed judges in alphabetical order:
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Deepta Banik | Deepta Banik is the owner/creative director of Infuzion Artistry. Infuzion Artistry is a Bollywood fusion dance company based in Toronto. Deepta has choreographed and performed alongside various artists such as Priyanka Chopra, Shahid Kapoor, Lilly Singh, and Shawn Desman. Most recently, he performed alongside Tesher at the Juno awards. Deepta is trained in various styles which include Hip-hop, contemporary, jazz, house, kathak, and vouge. Deepta has led teams through 13 competitions in his years of competing. Bollywood America, Bollywood Dance Canada, and North American Culture Show are just a few to mention. In conjunction with being a choreographer, Deepta is also a fashion designer. He is the principal designer for all of Infuzion Artistry's costumes. |
| Jeevan Thomas | Jeevan has been trained in the art form of Bharatanatyam from his teacher and mother, Manju Thomas and had his Arangetram at the age of 17. As Jeevan grew older, so did his love and learning for dance. He excels in hip hop, krump, breakdancing, Bollywood and bhangra. He was also one of the main choreographers and team members of The WantedAshiqz, an accomplished dance troupe of trained, all-male Bollywood dancers from the New York area, who fuse Bollywood and hip-hop dance styles. Jeevan and his team have won many competitions over the years including Bollywood America in 2010, Kollaboration NY in 2011, and placed 2nd at World Of Dance in New York in May 2011 & 2012 and 4th in May 2014. He and his team have also been featured on the hit show So You Think You Can Dance in 2014. He has judged numerous competitions in and out of the circuit for over 8 years in both the United States & Canada and looks forward to seeing the dance culture grow and progress! |
| Pranav Patel | Pranav Patel is a co-founder of AfroDesi, a new fusion style merging afro and indo elements. AfroDesi has had multiple national and international tours. Today, AfroDesi continues to regularly teach in New York, London, Mumbai, Dubai, and Copenhagen. Pranav was a board member of Northwestern Anubhav and won Bollywood America 2014. He has also served as a Director for both SAS and Boston Bhangra Competition from 2016 to 2018 and has judged numerous competitions, including Bollywood America 2019. Pranav professionally toured as a core cast member for Bollywood Boulevard: A Journey Through Hindi Cinema, which began touring in 2017 at the Lincoln Center in NYC. In dance, his styles include bollywood, bhangra, afro, contemporary, hip hop, and Indian folk. Outside of dance, Pranav daylights as a biomedical engineer and Juris Doctor and was recently on the cast of The Mole on Netflix. |
| Shivani Badgi | Shivani Badgi is an NJ/NYC based dancer specializing in Kathak and Lavani. She began her training under Guru Padma Khanna, disciple of Nataraj Gopi Krishna ji, at Indianica Academy and then furthered her dance education at Joffrey Ballet School, Broadway Dance Center, and Mason Gross School of Arts. Shivani is currently furthering her Kathak education with Guru Syed Sallauddin Pasha, disciple of Guru Dr. Maya Rao. She has trained in Kuchipudi for the past 3 years under the tutelage of Guru Aparna Nadendla, disciple of Padma Shri Sobha Naidu. She has performed on reputable stages such as Alice Tully Hall, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Times Square, and Carnegie Hall. She is now the Artistic Director of The Gurukul Performing Arts, a school offering classes in traditional forms of dance and music. |
| Swathi Jaisankar | Swathi Jaisankar is a Bharatanatyam Artist based in Boston. She has won numerous accolades and has given several notable performances in the US and abroad including at the Chennai Margazhi Festival, the World Government Summit in Dubai opening for the PM of India, the United Nations Headquarters in NY, the Indian High Commission in London, and more. Her work has been featured in the Times of India and Gulf News. As a Creative Director at IndianRaga, Swathi choreographed and performed in over 30 productions receiving millions of views online as well as global acclaim. Swathi was also a part of Boston University Jalwa choreographing and dancing in various styles such as Bollywood, Bhangra, Contemporary, and Hip Hop, and won “Best Female Lead” at Jhoomti Shaam 2019. She has been judging competitions within the DDN circuit ever since, including at Legends National Dance Championship 2023, and frequently conducts dance workshops within the East Coast. In addition, Swathi works as a Product Analyst. |