Shirley Rodrigues, a 33 year-old mother of one from Chicago, was recently declared winner of Zee TV’s “Dance India Dance Super Moms” North American edition. Amirita Mudhar of Maryland was placed second, while Sunita Malhotra of Massachusetts won third place.
Rodrigues, an instructor at the Chicago branch of Arya Dance Academy, has worked as a professional performer and an assistant choreographer for the past 15 years in the Bollywood industry. During her stint in Bollywood, she has performed with and trained several Bollywood actresses including fortunate to Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Kareena Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Priyanka Chopra, and Sushmita Sen.
Her journey began last September, with ground auditions, in different cities across North America, after which 53 participants were shortlisted for the mega auditions held at the Royal Albert’s Palace in Fords, New Jersey, in November.
The top 12 dancers were then flown to Mumbai, where the semi-finals and the grand finale were held at the Mahalakshmi Studios in December. The finale was shown on Zee TV last month.
“I feel so blessed and content after winning the title,” Rodrigues said. “It was one of the greatest moments in life,” she added. Rodrigues said she was proud of both of the dances she did on stage, and was able to show the judges a variety of her skills. “At the end of the day, all of us karasupermoms have a 24-hour job,” she said. “You have to make time to be a part of a competition, and you need to really work hard and really make that time out of somewhere.”
The finale was judged by former Miss America Nina Davuluri and Rupal Patel – founder Arya Dance Academy.