'America's Got Talent' Season 15: Bad Salsa awe judges and viewers with Bollywood-styled dance routine
'America's Got Talent', the nation's premier talent show kicked off with another live quarterfinal episode on Tuesday night, August 18, on the NBC network. As with last week, this is another audience elimination episode and as the host Terry Crews stressed, it was up to us, the audience, who would be making or breaking the next big star on the competition. Crews also had a special shout-out for the thousands of assembled viewers who could be seen on the big backdrop of the massive set in Universal Studios, Hollywood and engaged in a quick spot of audience interaction. As for the judges, they came ready and excited to see which contestants would be bringing their A-game for the quarterfinals.
The usual jury members Heidi Klum, Sofia Vergara and Howie Mandel were all present and accounted for, with one notable exception. Kenan Thompson, the resident star of 'Saturday Night Live', was present in Simon Cowell's stead since the infamously outspoken judge is still recovering from his horrific bike accident a couple of weeks ago. Thompson noted that the show had been getting a considerable amount of love and also urged the AGT aspirants to seize the moment when it came their way. "Turn those nerves into superpowers," urged Thompson. As usual, the stakes are high and demanding. All 11 contestants performing this week will be competing for just 5 places in the semifinals, and viewers will get the chance to vote up to 10 times for their favorite act, until voting closes at 7 am ET on Wednesday morning, August 19.
One of the best acts who certainly deserved America's votes were the Indian dancing duo, Bad Salsa, who showed they were capable of shining on their biggest stage yet. In their video introduction, 15-year-old Sonali Majumdar revealed that her family had come to India from a village in Bangladesh and that her father was a farmer who barely earned a dollar a day. But while growing up, Sonali was inspired by the famous actresses she saw in Bollywood and kept dreaming that her life could change one day. All that came to fruition when she started practicing with the 21-year-old Maraju Sumanth in Kolkata, India and they revealed that their dance guru Bivash was a major reason for their success. Now, after many hours of hard work, they felt blessed to be on the biggest talent competition in the States and revealed that they wanted to bring Bollywood to the world and win the hearts of the judges and the viewers.
What followed next was a masterpiece of clockwork timing and precision, as the duo went into their energetic and acrobatic routine, which was televised from India. There were twists, flips, turns, cartwheels, splits, somersaults and even ballet moves, all performed at such a blinding speed that it was hard to keep up with them. At one point, Sonali even went into a series of multiple 360-degree spins that would have even left a professional ice skater dizzy. They were even some death-defying drops from a great height and the duo succeeded in wowing us all with their spellbinding routine.
We'll take some chips with our @badsalsagroup. 😉 pic.twitter.com/bHuE7HFMLz
— America's Got Talent (@AGT) August 19, 2020
The judges also were gushing once they were done. Heidi said they were like a dance act mixed with a danger act, and noted, "You should be called bad-ass salsa." Sofia also said they were spectacular and noted they looked amazing. Kenan said despite a slight stumble near the end, they were going so fast that even the show's modern technology could barely keep up with them. Meanwhile, Howie declared that they had been the best of the night this far and said he loved them.
Viewers online also clearly were in love with Bad Salsa's incredible dance routine. One fan noted they were definitely excellent.
Another supporter said that the Indian duo ate that up entirely, and it's hard to disagree.
Bad Salsa looks a cinch to get through to the semifinals based on that routine, but now it's up to the American public to decide. Make sure you vote as much as you can till 7 am on August 19, when we'll get to see the results live on the NBC network at 8 pm ET, August 19.
