Taking dance beyond borders!

Chase Constantino, the choreographer behind Bharatanatyam-Hip Hop fusion of Rihanna’s Work talks about dance, collabs and more.

Indian forms of classical dance are definitely making a mark in the international scene. Many artistes have shown that traditional danceforms, which are widely misunderstood as rigid, can be fused with hip-hop or contemporary styles, and still be an elegant form of expression. The latest dance video which caught world’s attention is the Bharatanatyam fusion of Rihanna’s Work by Chase Constantino and his crew Broken Dance. While he is based out of Canada, the dance choreographer and entertainer’s tryst with Bollywood and Indian dance began with his roots in Goa. After the video’s success, we talk to Chase about the process that went into it, entering the Indian industry and his inspirations. Here are excerpts from the interview.

How did you discover dance I have always been involved with arts, grew up singing and migrated to theatre and then dance. I studied in Canada and have a bachelor of arts and a diploma in creative advertising... surprisingly, no dance at all. I discovered dance in university, when I was forced to join a school dance team without having danced before. And then from there it kind of took off. Gradually, I met a lot of different dancers from different parts of South Asia and picked up many styles, Bollywood, classical Indian forms, bhangra, etc.

Have there been any collaborations with artists from India I’ve been blessed with a lot of opportunities and got the chance to work with many artists in Bollywood when they would come to Canada. The biggest exposure I had was when I won a nation wide dance competition in Canada to perform as a dancer for IIFA in 2011. Once that happened I was kind of coined as a Bollywood dancer and choreographer. One of my favourite collabs was with the winner of Dance India Dance North America — Rajat “Rocky” Batta, as well as the video collaborations with Superwoman aka Lilly Singh.

What was the idea behind the latest choreography of Work The video was a long time brewing, but took sometime for me to create. One I got the Indian remix of the song from a Canadian artiste Shobhit Banwait, I taught my dancers for a week and spent four hours shooting it. I was happy that it had such a great reception, a lot of the credit goes to the editing of the video by cinematographer, Sunny Tamber.

You also juggle other interests in fashion and music as well... I used to sing a while ago, not anymore although I do want to get back into theatre. I also have a fashion blog as I have collaborated with Canadian-Indian bloggers like Santhushi from TheStyledge.com.

How often do you come to India Any plans to work in the south Indian industry I have been coming to India quite often and will be in India sometime in October/November to collaborate with few dancers and bloggers. I am open to any opportunity that comes my way. If and when they come knocking, I am open to sharing my creative vision in many different outlets.