Indian dancing duo set to make debut in Indoor Asian Games

The second edition of the games is taking place in Macau, China, and most of the events will be held at the Macao East Asian Dome till next November 3.

Preeti Gupta, a doctor, and Shannon Benjamin made it to the second Indoor Asian Games after clearing the selection rounds in countries like Singapore, Macon, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Hong Kong.

“I guess they were interested in promoting dance as a sport. First of all, because no one really considers dance as a sport, it is just entertainment for people. They don't understand that dance could also be a sport. So, that was a new thing and we were dedicated enough to go ahead," said Preeti.

The dancing duo is training under Latin American dance choreographer Sandip Soparrkar, who is the first and only Indian choreographer internationally registered in the field of ball dance.

“The international Latin American board of dancers has a lot of rules to it right from costumes, steps to everything else. So, keeping that A, B, C, D steps, we need to kind of do some permutations and combinations and put them together for maximum creativity. That's what I have tried to do,” said Soparrkar.

Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan and his wife Jaya Bachchan have sponsored the entire trip. They are also bearing the expenses on training, costumes, travel, food and accommodation.

Designer Neeta Lulla has designed the costumes for the two, which they displayed at a conference in Mumbai before leaving for China.

Celebrities, including Amisha Patel and Rakhi Sawant, attended the function to boost the morale of the dancers. (ANI)