IndiaPost.com - Boogie Woogie US finalists chosen

NEW YORK: Sony Entertainment Television Asia (SET Asia) conducted the US finals of the Boogie Woogie Chalo America dance competition on June 26. Nikkitasha Marwaha from Washington, DC was crowned the winner in the senior category and Komal Sharma from Illinois was crowned the winner of the junior category.

This spring, competitions were held in eight locations, around the country. From each state, a junior and senior finalist was chosen to move on to the US finals. From the eight finalists, two judges had the difficult task of choosing the junior and senior who would represent the United States in the International Finals.

Bollywood star Jimmy Shergill and fashion designer and dancer, Misha Patel, had a very difficult task, as all finalists had superb performances. In the end, it was Nikkitasha Marwaha from Washington, DC who won the senior category and Komal Sharma from Illinois who won the junior category. Senior runner up was Kruti Shah from Los Angeles and junior runner up was Luv Karia from Connecticut. Nikkitasha Marwaha is not new to the Boogie Woogie Chalo America competition. In the first round of competitions held in 2003, she was crowned the US Junior winner and lost to India in the International Finals.

She auditioned again in 2004, but did not even qualify in the local level of competitions. Never willing to give up, Nikkitasha continued to practice and this time, as a senior level competitor, she is going on to the International Finals once again.

"We had an amazing amount of talent at the competition," commented Sony Entertainment Television Asia's, Executive Vice President, International Business, Rajan Singh. "It's wonderful to see that today's youth is still so connected to Bollywood and Indian pop music, even though they are spread throughout the world."

The Boogie Woogie US Finals were presented by the FIA - New York, New Jersey, Connecticut at Royal Albert's Palace in Fords, New Jersey. List of Boogie Woogie US Finals contestants: Junior category Arnav Boppudi - Washington, DC; Shilpa Dias - Texas; Ananya Kar - Michigan Luv Karia - Connecticut; Ananya Ranjan - Los Angeles; Sindhu Ravuri - San Francisco; Sarena Maya Shah - New Jersey; Komal Sharma - Illinois; Senior Category Vaibhavi Bhavsar - New Jersey; Chinmayi Ghatrazu - Texas; Nikkitasha Marwaha - Washington, DC; Khushboo Mittal - Illinois; Anisha Patel - Connecticut; Margie Patel - Michigan; Kruti Shah - Los Angeles; Nisha Umesh - San Francisco