Friday, November 5, 2010

Bollywood Comes To Birmingham!


"The Bollywood Experience" is coming to the Alys Stephens Center on Saturday, November 13 for 2 shows at 10 am and 11:30 am. The show is a family oriented perfomance and is part of the ASC Kid's Club, but interested people of all ages are encouraged to come and be a part of this fascinating presentation.

I had a chance to interview the star of this show, Parul Kapoor, who shared with me some interesting things about herself and "The Bollywood Experience".

ASC: Parul can you tell us a little about yourself!

Parul: I am 21 years old, I am a senior at UAB, studying Marketing and Psychology. I am from India, I moved to Buffalo, NY when I was about 10 years old. I have been dancing since the age of 3, and since then have performed in various shows.

ASC: What inspired you to pursue dance?

Parul: My parents registered me for classical Indian dance classes when I was very young, and ever since I just fell in love with dancing and decided to continue. I completed four years of Kathak (One of the classical Indian dance form) training before moving to the United States. Here in United states I continued to perform in various shows and further enhanced my dancing skills through Bollywood movies.

ASC: What led you to pursue Indian dance and did you study formally?

Parul: I have my parents to thank for this, as they are the ones who recognized my interest and talent in dance and encouraged me to pursuit it at an early age. Yes, I have formal training in an Indian dance form called Kathak, I compeleted a four years course in Kathak.

ASC: What can people who come to your performance expect to see/hear?

Parul: People coming to the Bollywood Experience show can expect to see very graceful and traditional performances from 8 different dancers, see extravagant and glamorous costumes and jewelry Inspired by Bollywood movies, and get a taste of different styles of dance music from India.

ASC: How would you define what "Bollywood" is to someone who is not familiar with the term?

Parul: Bollywood is the name of the Indian movie industry at Bombay, that makes almost 500 movies per year. Dances and music is an important and esential part of Bollywood movies. I plan to give the audience a taste of music and dances of Bollywood. All the performances in the show are inspired by Bollywood movies.

ASC: What do you want the audience to leave with after your performance?

Parul: The audience will experience a variety of performances ranging from epic tales to friendship, family and love and tradition, the show will certainly be an enjoyable new experience for the audience, and it will leave them wanting to see more in the future!