A Birmingham troupe has danced its way to international success by being crowned world champions. The Nachda Sansaar bhangra team has won the world bhangra dancing title in Chicago.
Gurcharan Mall, who launched the group 14 years ago, and is the troupe's manager, said: "I'm over the moon and so proud of my boys. They are very dedicated and deserve this world title so much. We had been working towards this title for the past three months - such a lot of effort has gone into it."
Mall has also been appointed artistic director of the Punjabi Music Dance Academy UK. The academy will partner Indian universities in music. The group has already performed in front of the Queen during her Golden Jubilee visit to Birmingham's Symphony Hall last summer and also participated in the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in Manchester. They also performed at the Eurovision Song Contest and the G8 Summit hosted by Birmingham in 1998. The team which went to Chicago included seven dancers, two dhol players, one flute player and a chimta player.