Meet, 24-year-old Preeti Tiwari aka 'Shawty Pink' aka the fastest B-girl in India

Hip hop and B-boying, as the name suggests, is seen largely as a boys-only club. So when a young girl breaks into the break dance scene, overcoming several odds, it makes a story worth telling. Meet, 24-year-old Preeti Tiwari aka ‘Shawty Pink’ aka the fastest B-girl in India. Her inspirational story was documented in a video on the YouTube channel 101India. The channel, which is described as a youth focused channel serving entertaining videos trying to connect urban Indian audiences, features a series called HipHop Homeland, an in-depth look at India’s underground hip-hop scene. [caption id=“attachment_2603756” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Shawty Pink in a screengrab from the video.[/caption] In the video, she recounts how she started in the field, as early as fourth grade, without any formal training. “I learned dance only from television, that was the only source in our hand,” she says. However, she faced her first setback in seventh grade when she had to drop out of school because of financial crunch. Her dad had lost his job. But she didn’t let that deter her and the then teenager took up a job at an STD which earned her a measly Rs 1,000. It was then that focused on her dance then and joined a dance group by the name of Dog Kombat Crew (UDK). She honed her skills and became one of the top B-girls in the country. However, it was still not smooth sailing as she hurt her wrist and a wrist operation in the same year as when international event Battle of the Year came to India for the first time. But she decided to participate anyway and danced through the pain to reach the semis. Since then it’s all looking up for her and with this video she hopes to inspire other dancers who give up on their dreams. It is tough for people with no means to make their name in the field, but with determination and hard work, your talent can earn you money as well, signs off ‘Shawty Pink’. Watch the full video here.