Boogie Woogie India

With plenty to dozen Reality shows that every channel offers these days, there is no limit to what opportunities it opens up for those with a potential. TV channels provide the best platform, exposure and that helps a reality show participant to not only show case their talent but also form his or her first fan base and taste their first success.

Appearing on TV in front of one billion populations is something that can best happen to an individual who is looking to make quick name and fame. But it has its own painful procedures as well that one must walk on to attain in their initial phase. Many reality show participants take it as big success either when they win the competition or appear on TV but very little they realize that the real competition or struggle only begins soon after the competition is over. That is the time when one needs to put his or her energy to prove and maintain the stardom that they achieved. With TV shows, it becomes easy as production house normally backs a participant and projects them as a larger then life image. And hence the misconception of one being a star leads to a painful reality check later after the show when it gets difficult to maintain the same image.

In today’s segment, let us talk about how to become a star and what one needs to do to maintain that starship once attained. If this article gets too long, I might break it into two parts.

How do you become a star?

Well the foremost thing that is needed is SKILLS, potential, being different, right attitude, killer instincts, LUCK, FANS, a good agent and excellent marketing strategies. But before that there are few things that one must do!

Self Evaluate: First, one must try to figure out what they are and what their goals are and also what one is comfortable with. Don’t have a false image but try to be realistic. There is absolutely nothing wrong in accepting ourselves the way we are. Once we finish evaluating then we must work on packaging right enough to present in the market. It’s all in how you present yourself. Your image, style does count. Work on it. The way we talk and present makes a huge difference for people to like us. Try to analyze how and what your friends feel about you. If there are areas that annoy them, work on that and improvise.

Looks matter only initially in Reality Shows for Audience: Many will be under the impression that if they got looks then they won the world. It’s totally false. Maybe it can fetch initial attraction but it fades out just like a tan in the sun. As soon as another face walks by, this face is long gone. Work on your personality. What matters to your fans is your personality. No one likes to stick around a snobbish or a bad attitude. Fans make you and fans kill you. So chart out behaviorism’s and start working on them.

Create Fans: Your ultimate goal should be in making as many fans as possible and retaining them. The most important achievement in any stars life is his or her fans. And having loyal fans is even bigger then any award. The more the fans, the more the demand, the more the demand, the more offers and it turn out productive for both a producer and an actor. Now how can one build a fan base, we will talk about it in a little bit in second part of this segment.

Build your Image and Style: Evaluate your style. Find out what looks good on you and what you need to do to improvise. It really doesn’t matter what you wear, it should look good on you and you should be able to carry it off well. Don’t adopt a style that is cool to outside world but makes you look uncomfortable. Make your true self more recognizable, appealing and memorable. It’s really not in looks but the way you carry it out.

Be an all rounder: In present world it is not enough that you are only a dancer. You need to be an actor, comedian, singer and a good spokesperson as well. Before you reach out to market yourself, polish your skills. Stars enjoy being the center of attention but for being a center of attention in public mind, you need to come with the right image that can leave a lasting impression. A good star always spend good part of their day working out, practicing their crafts and finding ways to groom themselves better.

Be PPP: My mentor George Brunath always told me one thing. In life and for any career, there are three “P’s” that are essential and that is being Persistent, Productive and Positive. You drop any one of the “P” and there will be a difference in results. Make sure all your P’s are in order and stay with you all the way. It’s really great to be disciplined. Plan your charts, workouts, maintain a diet, set your goals, and keep a check on them. Your aim is to have a better result or performance tomorrow then what you have today. There always has to be improvement doesn’t matter if it’s small but the improvement should be there. Your graph should move upwards in positive and not go negative. There are good and bad days in life but for a good star, such days don’t matter. He or she works the same on any day.

Sell your skills not your soul: Sometimes artists take a shortcut to reach the top and in such shortcuts they sell their soul. No matter what height or stardom you reach at, one should be able to look at themselves proudly especially when alone otherwise nothing is worth it. People normally build a false image and live with it but when they get time to look at themselves they can’t meet their own eye for the shortcuts that they have taken in life and hence some of them, they turn into psychopaths. I am again going to talk about my mentor here, he always says: for success, life is like a triangle. The fatter part below of a triangle is your base, foundation, skills, personality and right attitude. The more time you spend their in grooming yourself, the lesser amount of time you need when climbing up. But if you aim right at top without a foundation, then things tends to be short lived and fade. Plus remember, if you got fans then your fans are following you in big way. Your each and every action is being observed and you definitely don’t want to end up with something that will let you down in your fans eyes.

Love your work: Foremost thing is to realize that being a star is not earning huge money but there are other things that need to be part of it. One have to love working and working great with everyone. Don’t be nice with only producers and directors or fellow actors and ignore the real hard working people who are sweating away for you. Be polite and nice to all. The enthusiasm that you show on your day one, you should be able to meet your every act, every dance, performance with the same enthusiasm even when you are burned out by working long hours. They say, if your work sounds like work, then you are not ready but if your work sounds like fun to you then you have what it takes to be a star. There are no shortcuts in life and as they say no pain no gain but going for wrong pain can kill the person in you. Adopt a right attitude and choose a right LIFE!

This section we talked about what to do. Coming shortly is Part 2 of this section, we shall talk about how to do and how to build a great marketing strategy.

Many have started to enquire about the Boogie Woogie auditions for 2009. Recently we have been receiving many email enquiries to find the schedule in different places in India for this year.

It is great to see the enthusiasm and to know the eagerness participants are going through but at the same time as we are only in beginning of the New Year, it might take little more time to get the audition schedule. We are on lookout as well and as soon as we hear anything about it, we will be more then happy to publish it for you. But there is always something you can do while you wait so that you are well prepared in case the schedule comes in at short notice. Please see below:

•    Practice and improvise your dance
•    Select your songs – at least 2-3 songs in which you should be fluent to give a flawless performance.
•    Make sure none of the songs that you dance have vulgar meaning or feel to it.
•    Make sure your dance moves don’t come out outrageous or vulgar
•    Do not select any song that belongs to: “T-Series, Yash Raj, Big Music and any international music labels.”
•    Your audition needs to be no more then 2 minutes so trim your song well to its best part and prepare well.
•    Prepare yourself a good introduction – think of how you would introduce yourself best at least amount of time.
•    Print your application form and fill all the sections well.
•    Think of your hobbies that you really enjoy and fill in the columns and be prepared to talk in case you are asked.
•    Prepare an audio CD for the songs that you will perform – remember no MP3’s are allowed.
•    Label your CD neatly with your name, name of the songs, movie name and the music company name.
•    Prepare a cover letter showing your interest in audition for Boogie Woogie and keep it along with your application form.
•    Prepare your song by understanding the meaning of the words well.
•    Do find out the actors, directors and any information that you can to project yourself as a well prepared participant.
•    Have PATIENCE and continue to practice and pray.
•    Keep yourself always on positive note.

If you need to contact Boogie Woogie or R & N Productions, then this is the address below:

VIDEOCON BOOGIE WOOGIE,
Sony Entertainment Television,
Multi Screen Media Pvt. Ltd
(Formerly SET India Pvt Ltd)
3rd Floor, Interfae, building No 7,
off. Malad Link Road, Malad West,
Mumbai - 40064, Maharashtra State, India.

If you have any questions or concerns or need any help, feel free to reach out to us at sansuiboogiewoogie@gmail.com. we sure will be glad to guide you as much as possible.

Also please go through the audition category which has many tips and information at your service. It has many pages of information so do browse through them all. It may help you prepare better: http://www.boogiewoogieindia.com/category/auditions/

You can print or download the application form for Boogie Woogie here:
http://www.boogiewoogieindia.com/application-form/

Remember the number one golden rule folks – practice, practice and stay positive!

Have a wonderful Day today!

Yesterday we talked about some common injuries that a dancer may come across and also spoke about ankle sprains, knee injury and hamstring injury. Today let us cover the other two injuries that can be dreadful for a dancer. Hip Injury and Back Injury

As I said yesterday, it is not advisable to dance when you incur any injury. Doesn’t matter how small a sprain or your injury is, it’s always better not to take any chances. Taking a chance can get you through that particular day but might make you suffer for long time in future and it is just not worth it. Remember, a competition can be a part of life but LIFE is not a competition!

Hip Injuries:

Hip Injuries normally result when a dancer is doing a certain degree of rotation. It may be due to the shallow hip sockets which the body attempts to stabilize with a very large ace tabular labrum. What happens is in some cases symptomatic labrum tears and it can lead to an arthritis problem for later on but immediate symptoms are restrictions of certain movements of a dancer. If the injury is severe then one might need to go for a hip replacement.

When a dancer injures hip, if its not too severe then a doctor may advice to take complete rest and later do some strengthening exercises. It is not advisable to try any turnouts and also recommends staying away from any anti inflammatory medication that could mask the pain.

Back Injuries:

A lot of times it is seen that a dancer’s back is frozen or becomes stiff restricting any movement. This may happen due to problems leading to fatigue, hyper mobility, scoliosis, leg length inequalities and emotional stress. If you are wondering what hyper mobility and scoliosis means, then here it is for you. Hyper mobility is where when a dancer wraps their legs around their head as a dance movement. Scoliosis is an abnormal lateral curve to the vertebral column. It is highly suggested that one must go for physical therapy to reduce any inflammation and also using heat and cold patches will speed up the exchange of fluids by bringing a fresh blood supply to the area. Avoiding sit ups, and crunches is must for any back injury.

To avoid getting hurt during dances one can try to decrease fatigue, backing off during growth spurts, getting a correct diagnosis and rehabilitating any residual problems to prevent re-injury. Take proper precautions and take care of your body as you body will take care of you in return.

See you tonight with reviews of today’s episode of Naache Taare Zameen Par – till then have a wonderful time folks!

How many times have we seen a participant with an injury and missing out on their performance or just ending up with an okay performance due to the pains and aches? Its life and sometimes things happen in life.

A dancer needs to be innovative especially when he or she is performing in a competition. As we heard many times that it is the survival of the fittest and so one thinks of ways to not only improve and show a flawless performance but come up with steps that others may not match. That surely can help the performer gain a point or two but sometimes it so happens that we injure ourselves in trying to prove our abilities.

There are five common injuries that are faced by dancers especially during competitions and auditions.

• Ankle Sprains
• Knee Injuries
• Hamstring Injuries
• Hip Injuries
• Back Injuries

Today we will talk about these injuries and how to treat them temporarily. As they say little knowledge at a time is easy to grasp so we will split this knowledge into two to three sessions.

I am sure most of you have studied that we have 206 bones in our body and those who did not study must have come to know of it by watching Munnabhai MBBS

Jokes aside, a human body consists of 206 bones, more then 600 muscles and many more nerves, ligaments and tendons.

For those wondering what these above terms are, please note down that “Muscle” is one of the contractile organs of the body which is a tissue consisting predominantly of contractile cells. “Nerve” is any bundle of nerve fibers running to various organs and tissues of the body. “Ligaments” are tissues that connect bones to other bones and last “Tendons” is a tough band of fibrous connective tissue that usually connects muscle to bone and is capable of withstanding tension.

Now coming back to dance, there are very few dancers who manage to dance all the time without getting them injured. Most of the dancers injure themselves at some point or the other. What causes these injuries? Sometimes due to the pressure or wrong placement of foot, one ends up with acute injuries. Sometimes due to exhaustion, over rehearsals or under rehearsals or trying out new steps that body is not prone to or even trying to match up with your partner’s energy level can injure a dancer.

Ankle Sprains: These are the most common injuries in dance. The cure for ankle sprains is “Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation.” They say an ankle sprain can be of three types. Type 1 could be just a micro tear or excessive stretching of the ligament with no looseness. Type 2 involves a more severe tear which results in a noticeable pop or swelling and some instability. Type 3 involves a complete tear of the ligament with significant instability. Any negligence can result in much more severe injury or might have to go for a surgery.

Knee Injuries: Our knees are more vulnerable to injuries and can result from mild to severe injuries. Some doctors believe that some knee problems occur in dancers with limited hip rotation. Twisting your knees to improve turnout may result in knee injury. One need to follow the same ankle sprain procedure to cure the knee injury plus heat therapy would help a lot. Electric stimulation may help speed up the healing process. If you knee continues to catch or cause swelling and pain, one might need to get an MRI for a more accurate diagnosis.

Hamstring Injuries: Muscle pulls are rarely serious unless they occur in a vulnerable area such as hamstring. This muscle spans two joints which are knee and hip with a large blood supply that causes inflammation and scar tissue when it’s torn. Dancers use the hamstring in almost every movement of the lower body making it easy to overload. Tightness is the main cause of these injuries. This large degree of rotation may be due to shallow hip sockets which the body attempts to stabilize with a very large ace tabular labrum which is the supporting rim of hip cartilage. It may result in degenerative arthritis and one might have to go for a hip replacement. The symptoms are gradual increase in groin pain, causing the dancer to avoid certain movements.

It is not advisable to dance with any of the above injuries. I know in many competitions, it may be a participants only chance but my mother always says one thing “There is nothing greater then health – if health is there then everything is there” so avoid dancing with any of the injuries. It’s true that in some competitions, a judge does not want to hear any excuses and may take your excuse in negative manner thinking you are under rehearsed and avoiding competition or trying to gain sympathy. No matter what one thinks, AVOID DANCING WITH INJURY!!! I tell you my own example. I had gone for a party and had twisted my foot ending with a sprain on my right leg. The party was crowded and it was at a very dear friend of mine and when I wanted to go back home, she insisted I stayed there till the end. Out of courtesy, love, inability to say “no” and over confidence to handle a sprain, I totally ignored my injury. Kept walking and talking in those uncomfortable shoes where as my foot was getting more and more painful. Anyway, when I went home and took my shoes off, I was shocked to see my foot swollen like a potato. Next day I found out that ignoring my foot and continuing to walk them resulted in a couple of fractures on my foot. So my advice friends, even though it’s most important dance for you, never ever ignore your injury. It can be a simple injury or it may be something totally unexpected. It is always better to be safe then sorry when it comes to health. And with Boogie Woogie what do you fear, I am sure those sweet judges will be more then understanding and willing to work out a way for you.

“It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.” Mahatma Gandhi

Tomorrow we will talk about Hip and Back Injuries while dancing.

Have a great day Folks!!

Yesterday we talked what choreography is and what some of the essentials that are involved in choreography. Today we will discuss how to be a good choreographer.

As we know, a choreographer is an artist who tries to interpret his understanding of a song or music in his own way. It can be related to everyday life or anything else. When you look at a choreographed number, you can see what the choreographer is trying to say in those dance moves. What we see is a choreographer’s narration of a song. Just like a poet writes his mind, a choreographer interprets that poetry practically. There is no right or wrong way to judge as its all individual imagination. What one person think or imagines cannot be the same that others might understand. So for the viewers, lesson number one is to watch without really judging and try to understand the choreographer’s point of view of that subject.

It is a common believe that all choreographers must be good dancers as well. It is surely difficult to choreograph if one is not a dancer. It will be like an engineer trying to medically treat a patient. But I want to believe that it’s not an impossible task. Nothing is impossible in this world! Some people are theoretically great and can explain their imaginations better and take the leadership in choreographing a dance as they are good in commanding but lets leave this .01 percent that make things possible from impossible for later topics.

Did you watch the videos that I posted yesterday of two amazing choreographed videos? Wasn’t that awesome? I think it was brilliant!! Do you think you can create something like that? It’s not impossible job. I am sure if you want, you can do it!

Let’s look at some essentials that are required for a good choreographer:

1. A good choreographer should not be afraid of expressing his or her vision through movement. Don’t think about what the world will say after seeing your work – your interpretation is your baby; its your own imagination; you definitely don’t want others to rule your mind but want to show them what your point of view is. Whether they like or not, it doesn’t matter. Your work is your work and you stay put with your own style!

2. A good choreographer is always bold and not limited to someone’s opinion.

3. Be your own boss when it comes to your creativity – let no one influence you.

There are three major steps to succeed in choreography.

1) Select your music

2) Design your movements

3) Choose the right dancers

The most important part for a choreographer to do is to select the music. Music can break a vision. But many times we see in Bollywood industry that the music is already composed and is given to the choreographer to do his work. In this case one must listen to the song many times. Get your inspiration started. Once your inspiration is building up, distinguish if it came from the lyrics or from the music. It’s very important that you must feel the song and get it observed in your heart and mind. If the song has absorbed you and have hyped you enough, you are ready to choreograph it. You will be able to speak each and every word, beat and rhythm in your interpretation. The common believe in good choreographers is that if a song touches your heart then it will touch others too. It should provoke you enough that your work ends up being a master piece.

Now we come to our next step – Designing. But how does one make it possible? To let your imagination run and wild, you must have privacy. Find a place where you can turn the music up, loud and clear and listen to every beat in it. Choose a place where you can be alone and yourself. And when need arises you should be able to jump onto the floor to put those imaginary steps into practice. Try to distinguish special moments in the song. If there is incredible crescendo then you need to make sure to have a big step that will translate that leap properly. Fill in all the empty spaces with smooth transitions. Never leave dead space unless it’s relevant to the story. One thing to keep in mind as you put your masterpiece together is to never let the song take charge of your choreography. Remember if people need to hear the song they can just play the audio, they don’t need to watch your video to listen to the song. So it is your responsibility to bring the song to life, and present it in such a manner like it was never heard before. Do chart the steps down to avoid forgetfulness.

Next is to choose your dancers carefully. It always helps when in audition you look for dancers who can express their emotions well enough or even have acting experience. Watch for dancers who pull you in through their stage presence and the ones who make you feel what they are doing. If a dancer can move you then they do have the capability to move your audience as well. They say an unemotional performer trying to deliver a moving piece can ruin the performance or the meaning of the song. On the same hand an over emotional performer too can crush the message. So be careful in picking your cast.

Many choreographers make copies of the design steps or interpretations and keep the original for themselves. They give the copies to each of their cast, sit with them and narrate what and how they feel because sometimes what is written on paper may not be the exact replica of thoughts. Once the narration is done with the casts, encourage them to study and know the piece fully so that when next time they see you, they are well prepared and can do justice to their role.

Important - Practice practice practice till you succeed should be the attitude. If making changes to your script is necessary for the betterment of your piece, do it but stay true to your thoughts. They say anything that is done with business in mind will produce a different output then what is done by heart keeping self satisfaction in mind.

Spread your work!! You can start displaying your choreography at your local organizations. Go and offer your help in schools, colleges, social organizations, festival authorities in local areas and many other places. Make a video and upload it on YouTube. Let people watch your work. Don’t be afraid of others stealing your work or copying it. Let them copy. I consider copying as a good thing. If your work is worth then it will make others spend their time and energy to copy and use it. Your demand increases with every copy that is made. But if your work is saved in your own home and not out there, then it’s of no use. People like what they see and if it’s accessible then you are in demand. Out of sight is always out of mind! So the main aim is to get proper coverage. As your work gets noticed you shall become successful and sought after choreographer. But don’t loose hope if it takes time and have patience. They say patience always bears sweet fruit. The most important thing is – “Believe in yourself”!!

Things a Dancer should Promise himself/ herself:

1. To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
2. To speak of health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet.
3. To make all your friends feel that there is something wonderful in them.
4. To look at the sunny side of everything and make your dreams come true.
5. To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and expect only the best.
6. To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
7. To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
8. To wear a cheerful expression at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.
9. To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
10. To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.
11. To always point your toes.

Attributes that a Dancer must have:

1. Strength
2. Joint Flexibility
3. Muscular Endurance
4. Cardiovascular Endurance
5. Coordination

Ideal Characteristics of a Performer:

1. Experience and skill in a number of dance forms, epescially the one represented by the choreographer.
2. Interest in the arts and a great desire to dance.
3. Strong, healthy body, with a practical regard for joint action.
4. Broad perceptual field and an open mind.
5. Lots of energy, courage, patience, and strength.
6. The ability to cooperate and get along with others.
7. To take criticism and suggestions easily.
8. Tom move with conviction and projection.
9. To have time and energy for rehearsals, and a willingness to work.
10. The ability to move with urgency and passion.

Many times it so happens that when we practice, sometimes we get tired. But as they say practice makes a person perfect and so we must go on but then we find ourselves in a situation where we feel tired and exhausted. We feel there is still a long way to reach the spot where we can say “Yes we are ready to give a flawless performance” and feel the need to train ourselves more and more. At times mentally we are ready but then sometimes our body gives up. We feel we cannot handle it anymore. What should be done at this point? Is it a good idea to carry on even when you are tired? Will that do good or bad to your performance? Well as we talk the positives and negatives of training under such circumstances let us figure out the basics first.

Getting tired after a rigorous training is normal and at this point if you push yourself much harder then your body might give up on you but if you feel tired at the beginning of your training then you need to analyze what is wrong. Is the practice from previous day making you feel tired or are you falling sick? If the previous is not the case then you must consult a doctor as soon as possible as it is not right to take chances just before your performance. It is better to take precautions and be safe then feeling sorry later on.

But if you’re hard practice has made you all worked up and tired and your body needs rest then I will say – Rest if you must but don’t you quit!! Get yourself a big glass of fresh juice and if there is no fresh fruits available go for a lemon juice. It will rejuvenate you. Take a little time to yourself to relax while sipping to your favorite lemonade and once you feel all relaxed, jump on to the dancing floor to burn your energies out.

Okay, what do you think – is it right to go on training when you are tired? Although there are several arguments that people feel regarding training while tired let’s look at some of the positives first:

• They say if we are serious in our work and want to be perfect then tired not tired does not matter. Our body gets immune to rigorous work out as we push ourselves. And the most important thing is that it makes a good foundation for us to survive in the long grueling competitions that we will be part of. We need to have done enough physical conditioning to be fit enough to get through the competition. And also they say if we stop training every time we start to get tired, we are unlikely to have done enough work to get through a serious of tough practices for us to survive.
• If we can successfully continue our training when we are tired, we will be getting valuable practice at maintaining our concentration and technique when fatigued. It definitely will be much easier to find ourselves to perform successfully when we are all fresh. They say right – “if you can succeed in bad times then you can RULE in good times.”
• Sometimes we don’t have enough time on hand to practice as the performance or the audition is getting close so we will have to work with whatever the little time that we got. To keep up with our other commitments and also to practice, we will have to work double the hours when the time is available and at this point tired or not tired, we will just have to cope up with it.
• We tend to get into a habit of stopping every time we feel tired. We a lot of times never start after we stop for either a longer period of time or just forget about it. It creates a mental block that we set for ourselves to stop practicing as soon as we feel a bit of fatigue is setting in. That is really bad and we are not creating good examples nor we fit ourselves in the category of best practices to survive a competition. Although we don’t want to over train ourselves but we surely need to familiarize ourselves with what it is like to play when we are tired and prove to ourselves that Yes we can do it! And think about this, sooner or later we are going to find ourselves in a competition of the fittest where we might feel weary before we even start. So train yourself better.
• Sometimes even though we may be already tired, we may need to go to training anyway because we won’t have another training session available for a while. So as they say make hay while the sun shines, we must train ourselves and utilize the opportunity of time and resources that we may have on hand. But on days like this you can always focus on exercises that are less physically demanding and work on fine tuning of your techniques.

Now let’s talk about some of the negatives of training while tried. Even though we talked about all the good reasons to continue practices when tired above but it doesn’t mean that it does not have any drawbacks. If we are really feeling fatigued, and decide on continuing training then there might be circumstances like below:

• Let me give you an example – take a rubber band and try pulling it from both the ends. If you keep pulling it what happens? Yes you are right – it will break. So the same way we will increase the chances of injuring ourselves when we continue to practices and plus when we are dragging ourselves out, we tend to get sloppier and worn ourselves out which turns out to be even worse.
• As we get tired, our mind looks out for check out. We need to be mentally alert for every move that we make as one small mistake can ruin our balance and performance. Also when we are not mentally alert, we tend to learn the wrong steps. Our understanding power is actually working to its minimal which is not right. What is the use of tiring ourselves while training but learning and understanding it all wrong? It is not only waste of time and energy but also harmful for your performance. I would say if you can afford it, you are better off calling it a day.

So as every step has its own pros and cons so does the training cycle while feeling tired too. It is up to us to analyze to see how tired or fatigued we are and if continuing at this point will be a benefit or will ruin our chances further. It is always better to be safe then sorry but what ever you may decide, decide it with due respect and be willing to take the responsibility of your actions. Take control of yourself.

Recently a lot of emails have been pouring in asking how to participate in Sony’s Boogie Woogie or what is the best way to get enrolled for an audition. Many know auditions are mostly over in most of the places for this year but this news should not make you feel low as the door to show case your talent is not closed yet.

Boogie Woogie Rules and regulations ask you to register for an audition in your nearby location but for some reason you are not able to register then there is nothing to worry about. You should send a video CD of your performance to the Mumbai office and you will be called upon based on your talent. I wrote about video CD in my previous articles too and it should be treated important. Why? Here is a scoop – the auditions that were held in different cities in India were mostly held by the Boogie Woogie team for recording purpose to be screened later. The results were not announced instantly. The participants were videotaped based on 2 minute of their performance and were sent back. These videos were or will be screened by Sony’s Boogie Woogie and will be called upon later if they meet the talent criteria. So you see whether you went for the audition or send them a video CD, it is going to be the same thing. What I see is - there is still time to show what you got and this is what I love about Boogie Woogie – nobody looses.

So if you were part of the audition and are waiting for the results to come, then please wait patiently as they say patience bear sweet fruit. But if you desperately wanted to go for an audition and did not get through to all those busy lines or unanswered lines and missed out on a face to face audition – don’t worry. You still got time. Do this:

• Get yourself in a costume.
• Get some help and make a Video CD of your performance.
• Choose a song that does not belong to the companies that we talked about yesterday.
• Choose a song that does not have any vulgar words in it.
• Make sure your CD is good quality - meaning a video and sound  should both be clear.
• Label your CD neatly with your name, song that you are performing and the movie it belongs to along with singer, Music Company.
• Write a cover letter showing your interest in audition for boogie woogie and along with your application, mail your Video CD to:

VIDEOCON BOOGIE WOOGIE,
Sony Entertainment Television,
Multi Screen Media Pvt. Ltd
(Formerly SET India Pvt Ltd)
3rd Floor, Interfae, building No 7,
off. Malad Link Road, Malad West,
Mumbai - 40064, Maharashtra State, India.

Official Website: www.setindia.com
Email: feedback.set@setindia.com

• Last but not least - Pray and stay positive!

When you video tape, tape in sufficient light. Also make sure no one is talking in middle of your performance. See that there is no disturbance. Please don’t get diverted while performing. Keep your expressions in place. Make sure your facial expressions and your movements are all in sync with the song that you have chosen to perform. Think about this - while recording your video CD, in case you go wrong, you can always correct that. That is so much better then the one time chance you would get in face to face auditions. So prepare well, do your best and leave the rest to God.

We do have Boogie Woogie phone numbers in contact but I would strongly advice NOT to call them. They don’t encourage phone calls and plus you don’t want to do anything that might irritate them and ruin your chances. I listed their “official website” and also their email address above for your convenience. You will always find their information handy on this site.

Lastly - remember, if you need any advice, suggestion or help, feel free to reach out to me. This site is solely a fans site, it is your site and you are free to discuss anything. Good Luck!!

As we are aware that whether you go for an audition or to perform in Boogie Woogie show, you are required to carry your own music CD. The song that will be performed needs to be carried by the participant and will not be provided by the Boogie Woogie Show. But this is not all – there is more towards it. Please read below carefully what the show talks about the music CD. Hope this will help you in preparing well:

Boogie Woogie Rules and Regulations say:

“Participants shall carry their own audio CD which is in good working condition for the purposes of rendering performance in the Auditions. It is advisable to carry more then one audio CD in case of any failure in the functioning of audio CD at the time of performance. Participants shall submit the audio CD to the team deployed by R&N TV for Auditions. The length of the song must not exceed 2 minutes and it should be on an audio CD format. MP3 audio is not accepted. The song choice must be Hindi or regional language Indian songs. All Indian songs available on standard Indian music labels are only acceptable. For Participants submitting a medley, the songs must be edited properly. Un-edited or badly edited songs shall lead to disqualification of participants. At the time of submission of audio CD, the participants must write down his/her name, the name of the song along with the album/ film from which it is taken, and the name of music company which has published the music of the film/album. Participants are prohibited from playing music owned and copyrighted by T-Series, Yash Raj, Big Music and any international music labels for their audition performance.”

Well I think they put the rule above pretty crisp and clear. Let’s talk about couple of the points which I see it as very important:

•    MP3’s are NOT allowed. Even though MP3’s are very popular and easily available over the net they still pose difficulty sometimes in playing them on many music systems. Many music systems do not play the MP3’s right. They get stuck or are not compatible like for instance when I download MP3’s on a CD and play on one of my music system; it plays the first few songs and will stop. The specification of that music player did say it is MP3 compatible but it is beyond me to understand why the music stops in middle. It does not happen on other music players. And we don’t know what kind of music system that will be there during audition so please carry an audio CD with you. Now if you have your song only in MP3 format, you can always burn that song on an audio CD. I will soon give details of how to burn an audio CD which will be in another article (it will help you in case you don’t know already.)

•    Boogie Woogie has listed few companies that you CANNOT play their music. T-Series, Yash Raj, Big Music and any international music labels. Reason? Copyright and other legal issues. Many of these companies have a rule that you cannot play their music without proper rights or permissions. I know Yash Raj Productions don’t even let the actors to perform on the music of their films that they acted in. Sharukh Khan is never seen singing or performing on any song that belongs to Yash Raj banner. They have some crazy rules and so does the other companies. I would say please do your homework well. Choose a song that does not belong to any of the above labels. You definitely don’t want to prepare one great performance and later you come to know that you are disqualified. So please stay away as far as possible from the above labels.

Remember – It is always better to be safe then sorry!

You prepared really hard all year long and mastered the piece that you are going to be performing. You passed your audition and now you are selected for the next round - a round that you have been so excitingly looking forward to. It is your big day. It is a day that you dreamt to perform in Sony’s Boogie Woogie. And that special day is only hours away. You neatly packed all your essentials and everything is ready to go. You just need to sleep so that you can welcome your big day.

But next day Morning you woke up and didn’t know a new challenge was already there waiting for you. A challenge that brought you a really bad throat, watery eyes, and you realize you have fever running and your body feeling relentless. At the same time the big opportunity that you worked hard is here knocking on your door. What would you do? As they say the show must go on so how would you deal with such a situation?  What steps would you take to make sure your performance is not affected?

It is very exciting to see huge traffic on this blog with hits multiplying manifolds with every passing day and so I thought it is time now to get little interactive as well. Please write if you were in such a situation what would you do. You can write under comments. The person coming with the best solution or suggestion will win a surprise prize

Good Luck!!