By: Priya Gonsalves
It is well known among the Street Dance community in India that the very first individual to introduce Street Dance styles to India is none other than Prosenjit Guy Kundu, better known as “Kundu”.
His story is unique and endearing. A testament to how a single person can create cultural ripples that can spread across a nation.
Back home Stateside, Kundu has worked with artists like A.R. Rahman, KRS-One,Ashanti, Faith Evans,Rah Digga, Fantasia, Anastascia, etc.
Kundu came to India in 2005, curious about his heritage being Half Indian, but also with a vision to teach dance, Street/Urban styles to the youth which was pretty much unknown in the country at the time.
Not only did he succeed in doing so, he is responsible for teaching most of the first wave of young B-boys and Street, Hip-Hop, House dancers the basics of these styles who have taken their journeys with dance forward spreading their knowledge.
In 2006 ,Kundu introduced Sumeet a.k.a. Ninja, Simon Talukdar and Venky a.k.a B-boy Young Soul to one and other, organizing free practice sessions which the boys would attend. With his guidance and support they created Freak N Stylz crew, India’s first B-boy crew, which after many changes and additions is now representing India for the first time, making history at The Battle Of The Year qualifiers in Thailand.
It is safe to say that there are crews and b-boys in the hundreds and more cropping all over India, a phenomenon that not many Indian’s abroad are aware of.
Kundu is now a judge on a well known reality TV dance show on Street Dance in India called Footloose, proving that Street Dance is here to stay in India.
http://youtu.be/q1khU_4_xJQ
Footloose Dance Tutorial by Prosenjit Guy Kundu
On speaking to Kundu about his view for the future generation of dancers in India, this is what he had to share ” I feel the future is promising in India for Street Dance, in the next few years a lot of the West will recognize the wealth of talent Indian kids have to offer, I’m so glad to see the kids mobilizing themselves and owning and protecting their passion, India has a bright future in dance, and I am grateful to have shared my experience half way across the world with these kids.”
A short film made in 2010, speaking about the scene in India and Kundu’s contribution to “The Culture.”
Kundu currently has a community/company with his partner Priya Lisa called Syntheskillz, (www.Syntheskillz.com) promoting Urban Dance in India. He lives in India and is respected and recognized as a true pioneer of Street, Urban Dance in India, singularly causing what now can only be called a dance Phenomenon in the country.
Photo Credit: Alexandre Dupeyron