The Anatomy of a Show

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By Malay Vyas

HOUSTON: Long after the seats are dusted off, stage cleared of all clutter, green rooms stripped of all costumes and the excited  chatter of the dancers has faded, the anatomy of the show usually points at the key technical and production aspects.

Sponsors are the lifeline to any show and without the help of Bay Area Gastroenterology and the Allergy Clinic – the mains sponsors, Indo-American News, Masala Radio, Lights Camera and action/Fox news with Ruchi Mukherjee and George of Asianet TV the media partners, and supporting  sponsors – Ruhrpumpen Inc,  Dr. Vinod Bhuchar’s Office, Subodh & Sonal Bhuchar, Dr. Willam H Reading’s office and A Media Production played a crucial role in contributing to the success of “The Show Must Go On”.

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The performance of the Naach dance team who took stage on August 22 was there for everyone to see and will be played over and over again on video links but behind the curtains there’s a creative team that worked tirelessly and efficiently to help the performers of Naach,  Make up Artiste Sharuba Ahmed and the team of volunteers from “DECA” – Austin High School .

Dance, Light & Sound – three basic ingredients to a performance,  need to work in  perfect harmony to treat the audience with an entertaining show. As Naach Houston’s Artistic Director and ace choreographer, Mahesh Mahbubani points out “Trust is the key ingredient to an amazing collaboration, I trust my lighting director Arif Memon , we are both from Bombay and  share the common ground of  working  in Bollywood.  Arif agrees as well “we speak the same technical language”. As a team, they have churned out some of the most entertaining and aesthetically appealing Bollywood dance shows in Houston. Arif attends all technical runs and costume rehearsals. “I look closely at costume colors to enhance and highlight the dances through creative  lighting”, he says.

Arif keeps his guru Alyque Padamsee’s mantra close at heart “any show you do has to be better than the previous one”, a line that is well recognized at Naach Houston as well. Mahesh and Arif like experimenting with new ideas and hence every Naach show is different from the previous one. It’s a complete package of entertainment with a keen eye for every technical aspect , enhancing the collective creativity of the whole Naach Team.

Both Arif and Mahesh find it challenging and exciting , working with  a very talented team of  young, enthusiastic and   innovative Naach  choreographers -Star Gilani, Hasina Sadiwala, Shah Ahmed, Shailee Gandhi, Amita Batra, Malika Ghei and Nirju Tailor, adding a diversity and variety to the choreography repertoire of Naach.

 From the hustle and bustle of working with film stars in Mumbai to creating shows in Houston, there have been challenges for both Mahesh and Arif. As an Artistic Director of Houston’s first and only fulltime Bollywood dance and fitness studio, Mahesh is constantly envisioning newer ideas to bring a higher ‘entertainment quotient’.  Mahesh has done  pioneering work developing  and creating a career option in dance, nonexistent  6 years ago when he came to USA, in the areas of  teaching, choreography and performance

 Arif as a Technical Director for many a Bollywood show, and an Actor , uses his deep voice and excellent Urdu & Hindi diction, has worked with theatres of different calibers. Both Mahesh and Arif as Mahesh puts it  “ Every challenge is simply an opportunity to grow and expand the creative repertoire, the bond that joins these technical geniuses is the same… both believe that “the show must go on”… and it will.