BOLLYWOOD DANCING, STEP BY STEP.

Byline: Vicki Smith Paluch Correspondent

With its joyful and exotic fusion of Eastern and Western dance styles, Bollywood is poised and ready to take off as two local dance companies stage very different Bollywood dance spectaculars.

Belly-dancing identical twins Neena and Veena, known as the Belly Twins, tap their Indian roots to bring a Las Vegas-style revue of Bollywood music and dance to the Alex Theatre Friday through Sunday in their show, ``Hooray for Bollywood.''

The show features 40 lavishly costumed performers who will not only dance but perform specialty acts with fire, swords and snakes. The use of aerial gymnastics will lend a Cirque du Soleil air to a show that celebrates the mega-musical numbers of Hindi-language movies from the genre affectionately known as Bollywood.

The following weekend, the Blue 13 Dance Company will present ``Karishma,'' an exotic Indian fairy tale choreographed and conceived by artistic director Achinta S. McDaniel as a Bollywood ballet inspired by ``A Midsummer Night's Dream'' and ``The Wizard of Oz.'' ``Karishma'' will be performed by a cast of 21 on Sept. 2 at the Ford Amphitheatre.

Bollywood films have created an entirely new genre of music and dance that is highly expressive, narrative, dramatic and sensual. Bollywood incorporates a wide variety of dance forms -- Eastern and Western -- to create its unique and globally popular style of free-spirited, colorful and bright cinema filled with dancing and music. Most films from Bollywood -- the catch-all name is a mix of ``Bombay'' and ``Hollywood'' -- are chaste romances set in exotic locations and jam-packed with music and dance numbers.

The Belly Twins, Neena and Veena, grew up in Northern California doing classical and folk dances from India, performing at family and community social events: weddings and family gatherings.

``Our mother is from Punjab, India, and our dad is half-Indian. We have relatives in the Middle East, and that's where the belly dancing comes in. But Indian dancing cannot be confused with belly dancing. They are totally different,'' said Veena from the Glendale office of their production company, Bellytwins. ``We started the Indian dance company nearly 10 years ago, making ours the first Bollywood dance company in the U.S.''

``Karishma's'' McDaniel grew up in the Indian community of Cleveland, where she also fell in love with Bollywood films and their musical numbers. She went to New York University, where she majored in dance. ``I want to advance experimental and nontraditional contemporary dance while preserving the cultural and classical forms of India,'' she said, noting that the choreography uses such dance styles as break-dance, ballet, fire dance, modern dance, folk and classical Indian dance, jazz and aerial acrobatics.

Both shows are having their world premieres.

HOORAY FOR BOLLYWOOD

Where: Alex Theatre, 218 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale.

When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 7 p.m. Sunday.

Tickets: $35 to $125. [phone]. www.alextheater.org.

KARISHMA

Where: Ford Amphitheatre, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. E., Hollywood.

When: 8 p.m. Sept. 2.

Tickets: $22, $12 for children 12 and under. [phone]. www.fordamphitheatre.org.

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(1 --2 -- color) Indian dance abounds as ``Karishma,'' top, and the Belly Twins' ``Hooray for Bollywood,'' above, come to Los Angeles.