Cannes red carpet’s first brush with glitzy dancing

Ballet dancers on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival—ASIAN AGE

Ballet dancers on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival—ASIAN AGE

In my column last week, I had written about my trip as the Indian representative of dance at the prestigious 66th Cannes Film Festival red carpet. Indeed the entire experience of walking the red carpet not just for one night but for four nights with my partner Jesse Randhawa was a dream come true and a big honour as well.

But one thing that took me by surprise at the opening ceremony was the unusual entry of dancers on the red carpet.
We had just finished our day one at the red carpet walk with Jesse in her emerald green Gavin Miguel gown and I in my Deepak Shah of More Mischief tux and had taken our allotted seats, when, on the big screen, the smooth and light music changed to a fun party number. We were all shocked as an old vintage car drove into the VIP enclosure and five couples dressed in the 70’s style cloths stepped out of it. They got off in complete style as if they were the stars of some film, making their appearance on the red carpet. But, as soon as they got on to the red carpet, they changed their personalities and broke into a jive number.
We started to wonder if it was a flash mob, a promotion or just some people trying to gather free publicity. The dresses flowing, the hats flying in the air, cartwheels, somersaults, you name it and it was on the red carpet. The sober high fashion red carpet that Cannes film festival is famous for, turned into this big huge party place with dancers all over the place. The international press went crazy clicking pictures after pictures, and dancers wooed the media like no star could. Well this is what I call the power of dance, as it makes the most serious place and people turn happy and joyful.
The dancers spent not just a few minutes on the red carpet. They were there for very long. They got more time on the red carpet than even the jury or the top stars did. This is the strength of dance and a dancer, as they mesmerise people and make them forget everything. They take them into a trance, into another world, that is only ruled by dancers and their art. Time is just a small factor in this case.
The dancers danced from the red carpet and reached all the way up to the steps of the grand theater and, no they did not stop there. They danced with more vigour and zest and the entire paparazzi along with the people waiting on the roads went berserk. If you have visited the grand theatre, you will know that to stand on the steps of the theatre is like being on the mountain top and seeing the city from there. The fans gathered on the roads began to dance along , and the jive number played almost like the Cannes festival anthem.
The lifts, the drops and every move that the dancers made were so perfect that it looked like it was rehearsed for months. Later when I spoke to one of the dancers, I was told that it was just planned within 2 days. The dancers were there to promote the film The Great Gatsby, which was being premiered, and the dance and dressing was according to the film that has the 60’s and 70’s style in it. I was also told that they were all professional ballet and ballroom dancers who were hired to do this assignment and not the dancers from the film.
I recollect the days when I had worked on Britney Spear’s music video Womaniser and Rob Marshall’s film Nine. We had loads of rehearsals going into it and hearing that the performance for the promotion on the red carpet had taken just 2 days of rehearsal, was a bit shocking for me. This live performance seems inspired from Bollywood as it is in Bollywood only that we do a two-day rehearsal or almost no rehearsal before a show or a shoot. It is done on the spot and is impromptu most of the time.
Nevertheless, the dance was mesmerising and so enchanting that I choose to ignore the time taken to make it happen. It was a dance that was never seen on the red carpet of Cannes before and I wonder if it will be witnessed a second time. What I do hope is that now, since India is making a huge splash all over the world with its cinema and its 100 years, next year India gets to dance on the red carpet too. If I am on the red carpet again next year walking for the Indian dance community, I would be glad and more than happy to choreograph
it or at least let you all know what happened
there.
This dance surely made me realise the power of dance, and how it can change the moods of people and the way a red carpet is looked at. So, all those people who felt that dance is meant for certain informal and casual occasions only, please think twice. Because, if it can happen on the most prestigious and talked about Cannes red carpet, it can happen anywhere in the world.

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