Bollywood lands US ice dancers Olympic silver

The 2002 Bollywood hit Devdas 'landed' US figure skaters Meryl Davis and Charlie White a coveted silver medal in the Vancouver Winter Olympics on Sunday. They scored 67.08 for the original dance - set to the tune of a hip - shaking Dola Re Dola - and 108.55 overall with Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera.

The two University of Michigan students’ costumes were classic. Davis’s dress, with its ruby - red skirt and brocaded bodice ( ghagra choli ), was simply gorgeous. The sapphire blue stole (dupatta ) made for a good prop, too, as she flipped it around to the beat of the music. White wore an eye - catching sherwani with jewelled cuffs.

Their Bollywood- style dance was a feast for the senses, packed with interesting body movements and complicated and unique steps. But they did more than just look pretty. They were so fast they were practically sprinting across the ice, yet they stayed in character throughout and never lost the playful, facial expressions that transported the audience to a wedding in Mumbai.

For anyone who questions whether ice dance is a sport, just watch their twizzles - spinning turns - that they paired with arm and hand movements. The Indian - themed original dance was actually coach Marina Zoueva’s idea. She spotted a scarf in a Hermes catalogue with an Indian - themed design and immediately thought of Davis.

But the two ice dancers didn't want to simply play characters on the rink. So they called Anuja Rajendra, who combines Bollywood music and dance with exercise at her BollyFit studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Rajendra, who once performed professionally, not only showed them how to move their arms and bodies in true Indian dance style, but also suggested the music and taught them about Indian culture. "It was interesting, stuff we weren't familiar with," White said. Their Bollywood dance at the US trials for the Olympics has been highly acclaimed. A dance video has gone viral on YouTube, with just one version garnering almost 2.5 lakh page views - many from India. The significance was not lost on Davis and White as they did an encore at the Olympics.



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