Image Credit score: Netflix / Getty Pictures
Joya Kazi has been dancing since she was eight years outdated. Since then, she’s constructed a wide-spanning profession – choreographing for movies, music movies, and tv reveals, to not point out touring along with her dance firm. Kazi labored on The Afterparty and By no means Have I Ever, plus music movies for Wu-Tang Clan, Saweetie, and Raja Kumari.
Most not too long ago, she co-choreographed the brand new Netflix hit, Better of the Finest, with Makenzie Dustman and Phillip Chbeeb. The success of Lena Khan’s movie about friendship and dance has made Kazi proud. “It actually is surreal,” she informed What’s On Netflix, “and it comes with a whole lot of, I’d say, accountability and a way of respect for our tradition and general validation. I really feel like for thus a few years we had been consistently having to elucidate what Bollywood is and nearly persuade folks as to why our artwork issues. Now, it’s a worldwide dialog, so it’s unimaginable.”
The film has a honest love of dance. No irony right here even with the faculty film sports activities tropes. Did you join with the sincerity?
Effectively, I lived in that world.
At UC Davis, proper?
Precisely. Twenty years in the past, I began Davis’ very first aggressive Bollywood dance crew. Again then, we known as it Hindi movie dance as a result of that phrase, Bollywood, had nonetheless not been coined. I lived the rivalry, the drama, the two:00 a.m. storage practices, DIY-ing props and going to the warehouse attempting to determine which nails and screws you’re supposed to make use of for a hinge door.
On prime of that, all of the coaching. It was actually fascinating to see how Maitreyi and Priyanka actually jumped into that position, as a result of neither of them actually had any dance expertise previous to that. To begin from scratch, particularly for Maitreyi, and construct the core of a contest dancer, it was like leaping by means of hoops.
Better of the Finest. (L to R) Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Maya, Nico Greetham as Harry, Ankur Rathee as Ronak, Priyanka Kedia as Anjali, Amryn Khurana as Sumi in Better of the Finest. Cr. Emily V. Aragones/Netflix © 2026
What do you train them alongside the strains of, “That is what somebody at this degree of expertise, as your characters are, would know or do”?
There was a whole lot of nuance, particularly what I used to be doing as a co-choreographer in addition to a cultural advisor. You’re carrying this accountability of being one of many only a few individuals who has been entrusted with the accountability of representing a large number of cultures. South Asia is so extremely various.
Whereas retaining in thoughts that this isn’t a Bollywood film, this isn’t about India, that is a few very distinctive South Asian American voice, I actually wished folks to really feel not simply the dancing, but in addition the tradition. Then how do you do justice to the director’s imaginative and prescient, what the group expects of you, and in addition be sure that your dancers and your actors look phenomenal?
I used to be consistently workshopping motion to be sure that it made them shine. Maitreyi and Priyanka did 4 months of coaching. I labored with Maitreyi on By no means Have I Ever beforehand, and we had loopy turnaround occasions for that. We in all probability solely had three hours to work on a routine, then we might have rehearsals for about 10-minute sections whereas she was getting her make-up touched up in between scenes.
However that was a really completely different beast from what that is.
On this course of, she had sufficient time to actually really feel the frustrations and the fatigue of a coaching dancer. She’s extremely clever and disciplined, simply has phenomenal psychological readability and reminiscence. However for this, you want muscle reminiscence. And so, it was great to see her work by means of that course of with a lot grace to get to the very finish. She pulled off Kuthu, hip-hop – I imply, every part underneath the solar.
They usually name for such completely different muscle reminiscence, proper? What’s the problem in bringing completely different types of dance collectively?
We pulled from a wide range of dance varieties, as a result of that’s actually what South Asian American tradition is. We’ve roots coming from completely different states in India, the place each state has its personal delicacies, its personal clothes, dance types, a number of languages.
After which there’s this new tradition that has been created that exists solely in America, identical to Creole tradition is a mixture of Caribbean, French, Indigenous. In the identical approach, South Asian American cultures have formed this Bollywood dance right here.
So we’re doing classical dances, people dances like Bhangra and Garba and Kuthu, whereas additionally being influenced by American popular culture. So, you’ve gotten all of those different Western types in it. For us, I wished to be sure that we weren’t simply taking place a guidelines and saying, “Oh, let’s be sure that we get this and this,” as a result of you possibly can solely scratch the floor with illustration.
It’s not about attempting to characterize every part and everybody. I wished it seamless, the way in which that we wove the varied types collectively wanted to really feel genuine to an actual crew.
Better of the Finest. (L to R) Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Maya in Better of the Finest. Cr. Emily V. Aragones/Netflix © 2026
The dances at all times outline character and propel the story in Better of the Finest. What was the start, center and finish for you in how Maya and Anjali would specific themselves?
So it’s a gorgeous story of sisterhood and seeing these childhood buddies now thrust into this loopy world of Bollywood in school. They’re determining who you might be individually and in addition, on this dynamic of friendship, who you might be on the earth.
After which other than that, dance-wise, I’d say that there’s a magnificence in them turning to their tradition at first, center and finish. It’s one thing that by no means leaves them, however by the top, they really use it as their superpower. Whereas within the very first dance, one of many fascinating notes that I obtained on my first a number of drafts of the opening Bharatanatyam classical dance piece was that it was too cool.
And so, that is additionally an fascinating factor about being a choreographer and desirous to do your job nicely, but in addition desirous to characterize the group nicely. So, you need to determine at a sure cut-off date, do you need to do that job nicely and repair the director and the script’s voice, or would you like every part to be spectacular?
I needed to maintain stripping that opening piece all the way down to fundamentals as a result of the script required that their X-factor was really turning to drones, not their Indian classical roots. However by the very finish, you’ll see that in that museum scene the place Maya has her solo in silence. She turns to her classical roots. The women return to doing the routine they’d been creating as kids, and that turns into their superpower. I like the message of proudly owning your tradition, and that’s actually your superpower.
For a finale that complicated, do you and the guy choreographers ever counsel, for this transfer, a large shot or medium shot would possibly serve the transfer finest?
I, with my different choreographers, labored collectively as a crew in tandem to create every of the items. For the digital camera particularly, it needed to be choreographed into the motion. There are occasions the place you’re really contained in the dance, not simply viewing it past that fourth wall, however there’s so many various components of that dance which might be occurring. You’ve got statues which might be shifting, work and set partitions shifting.
Truthfully, that was in all probability probably the most nerve-racking week of making preparation.
There have been actually some days the place we might inform the dancers, “Guys, if we don’t get this within the subsequent 10 minutes, this whole part shall be scrapped.” And so, we had unimaginable dancers that pushed by means of. They had been pushing these units, leaping by means of holes within the wall, frames within the wall.
And if any certainly one of them in any layer doesn’t full what they should full by the rely it ought to have been accomplished on, it’s a domino impact. It’s important to return to the very prime and full that entire factor. In some way, with the grace of the universe, it occurred.
Better of the Finest. (L to R) Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Maya, Priyanka Kedia as Anjali in Better of the Finest. Cr. Emily V. Aragones/Netflix © 2026
Whenever you’re educating dance, particularly to leads with out years of expertise, is there an intuitive or emotional a part of dance that you just at all times attempt to train as nicely?
For me, my strategy is at all times certainly one of a whole lot of grace, kindness and love as a result of I understand how tough it’s to be an expert dancer. I labored as an expert dancer myself for thus a few years, and I do know what it’s wish to have simply fought to get into the room, after which to be offered with one thing that’s utterly overseas to you will be extraordinarily intimidating.
There are a whole lot of feelings and psychological roadblocks. I strive my easiest to show each single nuance in as many various methods as attainable. If my dancers usually are not understanding what I’m attempting to speak to them, it’s the way in which that I’m speaking it. I actually attempt to give them as many technical cheats.
I additionally clarify to them that talking completely different languages is rather like dancing completely different dance types. One factor that’s essential to notice is that, identical to how you’d have an accent while you swap between languages, perhaps you’ve gotten an accent of your mom tongue, that additionally exists in dancers. We had dancers that had by no means completed Indian classical dance types or people types. After which, we additionally had a bunch of dancers who had by no means completed hip-hop or ballroom.
I actually tried to make it in order that they’re capable of perceive the small accent adjustments which might be required. On the finish of it, it’s a two-way road. In giving all of them of this grace and love and data, simply with their vitality as they offer that again, it simply builds into one thing actually stunning.
Better of the Finest. (L to R) Priyanka Kedia as Anjali, Ankur Rathee as Ronak, Tanishq Joshi as Vishal, Amryn Khurana as Sumi in Better of the Finest. Cr. Emily V. Aragones/Netflix © 2026
For the antagonists, the Richie Wealthy USC dancers, perhaps who’re competing for the incorrect causes, how does that have an effect on the way you see them, their choreography? What’s amiss in how they dance?
So the voice of the motion, even when we’re coming and pulling from the identical dance types… For instance, I take advantage of Punjabi people dance and Bhangra in each UCLA’s ending efficiency in addition to USC’s as a result of this can be a highly regarded dance type that’s really used within the circuit. However the vitality may be very completely different.
For UCLA, I wished it to be very joyful, heroic, and charismatic. There’s pleasure. They’re our heroes. With USC, it’s cutthroat. For instance, one of many strikes I’ve is them taking their thumbs throughout their neck. I used to be like, “Yeah, let’s simply put that in there. It’s very cutthroat.”
As somebody who’s been dancing for some time, what’s unstated between longtime dancers and buddies, one thing that felt very truthful in Better of the Finest?
One of many issues that you find yourself creating as you dance with one another is that this nearly mind-reading functionality. You realize when a dance pal of yours – or a dance sister, dance brother, how we check with it – is perhaps forgetting choreography or has made a mistake, and everybody else simply feels it and adjusts it in order that the viewers by no means is aware of. Otherwise you simply really feel that somebody’s going to be late or there’s a dressing up mishap occurring and how you can modify.
Equally, you possibly can see that in Maya and Anjali, particularly in that ultimate museum scene the place Anjali simply feels it and she or he is aware of, “Oh, okay, that is my second to return and help her on this, and I do know what we’re going into now. We’re going to return to our roots, to that dance choreography we created as five-year-olds.” I imply, it goes past the rehearsal studio. It’s one thing that bleeds into your every day life. It’s a help system, a spot the place you’ll find a secure haven for all times.
Better of the Finest. (L to R) Hasan Minhaj as Hamza in Better of the Finest. Cr. Emily V. Aragones/Netflix © 2026
Do you’ve gotten a whole lot of nostalgia for the UC Davis days of constructing units and costumes?
I’d say that being in that circuit, being on certainly one of these dance groups, it’s actually a masterclass in understanding human connection. It’s not about choreography, but it surely’s about human connection and studying how you can take care of a number of personalities, take accountability, how you can lead, and how you can permit others to additionally lead. It created this blueprint for you for the remainder of your life. These had been the years the place I fashioned the vast majority of my basis of how I transfer by means of the business right now.
Trying forward, what do you hope to perform with your organization, Joya Kazi Leisure?
Oh my goodness. I must say that I’ve gotten to some extent in my life the place the imaginative and prescient boards and the targets that Joya from highschool or school and her very Virgo self would have listed out for her really not actually exist.
I’ve gotten to some extent in life the place I’ve simply type of surrendered to the universe. On this line of labor, so long as you focus in your data, your coaching and your craft, what’s meant for you’ll at all times discover you, and you’ll’t deal with that timeline.
Proper now, we do have some actually nice initiatives developing on the Disney parks. My touring present, Rhythm India, will go on tour once more subsequent yr. And every part that reveals up between every now and then, it’s like I’m greater than grateful for it. However I’d like to tackle different initiatives the place I get to return in as, even within the very least, a cultural advisor.
I really feel like that was in all probability certainly one of my contributions that I’m most happy with, particularly on this movie, working very carefully in tandem with Lena, Prashanth and Hasan on casting, ensuring that we searched excessive and low. And I pitched those that I don’t even know a number of occasions, two, thrice, simply to get them into the room to provide them a preventing probability.
So we had South Asian American our bodies within the room, attending to additionally assist form the units within the finale scene of the museum. So I made certain that we had significant art work like Raja Ravi Varma’s portray Lady Holding a Fruit. So that you’ll see these three work that come alive in that choreography, and even the shows.
I made certain we had Pattachitra pots from West Bengal. In our UT Dallas piece, that could be a Pakistani dance that may be Islam-adjacent, however we’ve got a set that’s a saloon bar. I wished to be sure that it was nonetheless respectful and applicable. And so we switched out any type of alcohol for actually enjoyable drinks from South Asia like Fanta, Crush or Orange Crush and Rooh Afza.
So it’s like these types of issues are so necessary and imply rather a lot to folks when you’ve gotten that voice within the room. And so I simply actually hope that there are extra alternatives to have the ability to characterize our group in as better of a approach as attainable that I might do.
