Zürich

Danny always has goals for DBDC. Sometimes his goals seem to be out of this world but somehow we always manage to reach them and go beyond. Our own dance school and the tv shows are just few of the targets we have hit. Going abroad is the next step.

Earlier this autumn we had our first show outside Finland in Tallinn, Estonia. Unfortunately not all of our dancers could go there so even if that was the first show abroad, our second one in Zürich on November 8th was definitely the more special one.

Considering it was our first bigger show abroad our journey went surprisingly smoothly. As our flight was very early in the morning we stayed in a hotel at the airport the previous night. Some of us didn't get much sleep but not because of partying but because some were still stitching lights to costumes and doing some other last minute preparations until late hours. We managed to almost miss the flight as well but that was only because yours truly had some problems parking the car… We already had the picture in our mind how we would have to call Danny and Rami who were already in Zürich that they would have to come up with a duo performance quickly. But after all we did reach the flight in time and had a chance to catch up with sleep. Although some of us rather played with Vuokko's photo booth application...

Flying DBDC Style... :P

In Zürich we had a warm welcome first by Danny and Rami the Photographer who were waiting for us at the airport and later by our lovely hosts from the Indian Association of Greater Zürich (IAGZ). IAGZ had invited us to perform in their yearly gala that was held in the beautiful Congress House by the Lake Zürich. It always brings a little extra excitement to a show when you know the audience is mainly Indian and other artists performing at the gala (Gyansundari's Dance School who performed beautiful Bharatanatyam dance and singer Nitin Shrivastava who performed Bollywood hits from 1940's to 2014) were amazingly talented. We really had to give everything to stand out. But we definitely got the feeling that it would be a good night when we saw the waitresses joining our dance during our practice session. It was wonderful to notice that our performance touched people and made them happy. We can really export our show outside the Finnish borders and make our message universal. This show was a proof of that.

Dancing waitresses 

Zürich show was not special only because we went there with the whole crew including Rami. The show we prepared for it was something we had never done before. It consisted of two parts. First one was theme performance dedicated to everyone who ever lost their loved one to cancer. Danny and Kati were playing the lead roles and such amazing job they did! It was truly heartbreaking.

Kati and Danny were shining like stars!

The second part was more traditional DBDC style: breathtaking half an hour full of Bollywood hits. We did a number of new songs including burlesquey Asalaam- e-Ishqum and recent hit number My Name is Ranveer Ching. So a lot of new songs, new props, new costumes and all together one hour show - we could really feel it in our muscles!

It's DBDC showtime!

This show took more practice hours than any other show before. For the theme performance we had to come up with the plot, record the voice over, practice with new props (like HUGE white fabric, heart shaped umbrellas and illuminated dresses). To make the show flow smoothly with all the costume changes we divided the group so that not all of us were dancing in all the songs but people were running on and off the stage all the time. 



Big part of the performance day is practice, getting ready, posing with friends and of course fooling around a little. :)

This time around it was time for Kati to take a bigger role as a choreographer as well – Asalaam-e-Ishqum-medley, Yaro yarodi and Sara sara saara kathu were all Kati’s choreos. I actually don’t know how she pulled through everything! She designed the new costumes. Some of them were made by our tailor Kristiina, some were ordered ready made online. So she looked all over internet for proper dresses and when not all of them arrived on time she stayed up all night to stitch dresses for us. As we were practicing our group numbers every evening and Kati had her own classes to teach as well, her and Danny only had the nights to practice their duos and solos. Not to mention they also had the after school kids club to take care of every day so they probably managed to add more hours to their day somehow or else I don’t know how they made it! So big HUGE thank you to Kati, our multitalented, beautiful, hard working superwoman! Without her dedication none of this would have been possible.

AMAZING Kati! <3

The next day we had the chance to walk around Zürich and admire this beautiful city from close. Some quality DBDC familytime before heading back to Finland.

Sunday walk :)

At home we have quite a busy pre-xmas party season going on so still many gigs to go this year. But we will definitely remember our special show in Zürich for a long time and all the new friends and memories we made.

Thank You Zürich!!

Dancing With The Stars

2 minutes and 30 seconds. That's the length of the performance we did in the latest episode of Dancing With The Stars. You could think that such a short performance is a piece of cake for us or that it would not be a big deal since we've performed in TV shows many times before. But more than 1.5 million people watched the episode so it was HUGE for us. Actually it was the most watched TV show that week in Finland. Earlier I wrote that we practiced around 10 hours a week for this show. The last week before the show the amount of practice probably doubled and I stopped counting the hours. You would not believe how much work is behind these two and a half minutes! And it's not like we would be practicing the same routine for hours and hours. Danny always keeps changing small details in the choreo a lot all the way until the performance. We also had a reporter from Helsingin Sanomat visiting one of our practice sessions and a full page article and video about Danny & DBDC was published on the eve of our Dancing With the Stars performance. So quite a lot of media coverage during one weekend!

We had a group of 20 people dancing in the show. Susanna, Hilla, Laura, Amanda, Outi and Paula were performing for the first time with us - quite a start for their DBDC-career! And they did an amazing job.

Hilla's debut with DBDC was full of emotion!

The show day started early in the morning already. We met at our studio around 9 am, danced through the song a few times, checked That all the props, costumes etc. was with us and then set is our way towards Helsinki - on time for once! It is quite a colorful caravan when DBDC cars hit the road. Myself, Danny and Linda had the honor to drive our crew to Helsinki this time. On a side note I have to say that people were actually fighting for a spot in my car.! ;D I guess some were worried that Danny's driving style would be too Indian... Although this video shows that eventually atmosphere was high in his car as well.

Every time we have a show in Helsinki, we take a break at the Linnatuuli. It is a tradition for many of us to have a panini and coffee there and it almost feels like we cannot go to any shows without stopping there. It brings good luck, it really does! 

We arrived in Helsinki almost an hour early. I guess it means this show was really important for us since we usually arrive in Indian style on the last minute. We first went to the dance studio where also the star couples practice routines for the show. At the studio we had our last practice session and started to get ready with hair, costumes and make up.

Last practice at Dancing with the Stars studio and some basic stretching by Eevi :) (pics by Hilla)

Usually we do our makeup ourselves but this time we had invited our wonderful make-up artist Vilja with us. She has done make up for our photo shoots before and it felt so good to have a pro like her with our team to make sure all of us were at our best during the TV shoot. She had quite an intense day as well doing the make up for 18 girls - big thank you is definitely in place!! 

In the afternoon we shifted to the TV studio and saw the star couples practicing their jive marathon. I think it was at this point when the excitement among our dancers really started to grow and it started to hit in that in just few hours we would be performing for more than 1 million TV viewers LIVE.

Props, hair, make up - GO! (Pics by Vuokko)

Before the live show there were still run throughs at the TV studio. And a lot of waiting as well. Luckily it never gets boring When spending time with DBDC and there is always someone's hair That needs braiding, costume that needs fixing etc. And if nothing else there is always time for some selfies! 

Also we managed to get some of the celebrities in pictures with us (side note: Pete Parkkonen is so HOT! We wish him all the best in the competition.).

With the stars :)

I don't really know what was running through my head minutes before the live show. I know I was more nervous than usually but also just could not wait to get on the stage. The Feeling when you dance in front of a cheering audience on such beautiful big stage is just something unique. You forget any fear or stage fright because you know it is the kind of feeling and opportunity you might never have the chance to experience again. So you just let go and enjoy the moment.

I think the performance itself went really well. And it was over so fast! So many hours of work, such a long day and then it all comes down to 2 minutes and 30 seconds when all the 20 dancers danced their heart out. It was such an intense experience that it was difficult to remember any details about the dance or how it went afterwards. Luckily we have proof that it was amazing! You can watch whole episodes here, our dance is in the beginning.

The after-show feeling is both happy and sad. Happy that it was so wonderful but sad that it actually is over now. Luckily we still don't have to start biting our nails for lack of practice sessions. Our next goal is in Zürich on November 8th. A lot of work is still to be done for this one hour spectacle that we are going to perform there so practices are nearly every evening and about 10 hours during the weekend. So something very special coming up soon. 

All the girls

The Happy Team after the performance.