Raghav Juyal

Raghav Juyal (born 10 July 1991) is an Indian dancer,choreographer and actor. He is renowned as the King of Slow Motion for his surreal dance moves in slow motion style and for his flawless reinvention of the Slow Motion Walk. His stage name Crockroaxz best describes his dancing style which is an amalgamation of being powerful like a crocodile and creepy like a cockroach. He is a greatly charming anchor Raghav has become a youth icon inspiring dancers, who gleefully imitate his trademark moves and dance style, popularly known as Crock-style which means the mixing of Crocodile and Cockroach.

He rose to fame after being a finalist in Zee TV dance reality shows like Dance India Dance (Season 3), as a skipper for the team Raghav Ke Rockstars in DID Li'l Masters 2 and Dance Ke Superkids.. His team was declared the winner in Dance Ke Superkids under his captainship.

Career

Dance India Dance (Season 3)

Raghav became popular when his audition video went viral on YouTube and was back on public demand. He received individual popularity via the show Dance India Dance 3 (2012) aired on Zee TV. He dubbed himself as Crockroaxz and was not professionally trained by anyone prior to coming on the show. Raghav showcased a new dance style but wasn't selected in the Top 18 by the Grand Master in Mega Audition. Later, on public demand, Grand Master Mithun Chakraborty made an exception in the format by reintroducing him on the show as his Trump Card in the Wild Card round. Through which, he entered the competition again. Master Terence Lewis (choreographer) said,

"I wish to apologize to all the viewers since I think we did a big mistake by not selecting Raghav during the auditions. Later, when I saw Raghav perform and the kind of acts that he is capable of doing, it totally surprised me. Whatever Raghav does, its 80 percent his own creativity and may be 20 percent my inputs. He is an amazing freestyle dancer whose core strength is his body control and his USP being is his slow motion or speed breaking moves. The feel with which Crockroaxz does an act even ace dancers take ages to gain mastery over that. Raghav is a treat to watch and training him is every choreographers delight."

Thereafter, Raghav proved his versatility and individuality by creating unique fusions with different dance-forms and went all the way up to the finale. He was the most popular contestant of the season having garnered the most No. 1 positions in weekly voting. At the Grand finale, he was voted with 3,481,685 votes in the 2nd runner up position despite being a wildcard entrant.

DID Li'L Masters (Season 2)

After DID, Raghav became the skipper of team Raghav Ke Rockstars in DID Li'l masters (Season 2) where he choreographed for Saumya Rai, Rohan Parkale. He was chosen as a choreographer for his originality, innovative moves and choreographic ingenuity displayed during his stint in DID 3. He was the only skipper to lead both of his students to the Grand finale, in which Rohan and Saumya attained 2nd and 3rd runner up positions respectively.

Dance Ke Superkids

Raghav, then, choreographed for Zee TV's show Dance Ke Superkids as the Captain of DID Li'l Masters (Season 2) team Yahoo and competed against DID Li'l Masters (Season 1) team Wakao – with Dharmesh Yelande as the Captain. His performances on the show prompted the esteemed choreographers and judges, Farah Khan to declare him a "Wonder of the world" and Geeta Kapoor to deem it unlikely for anyone to be able to dance like him in the world. In the Grand Finale, his team was declared the winner.

2014–present

He played a pivotal role in a Bollywood movie Sonali Cable produced by Ramesh Sippy Entertainment which was released on 17 October 2014 on jenish rana's demand. The critics singled out Raghav's vivacious performance and praised his screen presence.

He also worked in the film ABCD 2 which was released on 19 June 2015, directed by Remo D'Souza co-starring Varun Dhawan and Shraddha Kapoor. He also hosted the show Dance Plus on Star Plus. He also Hosted Prem Ki Diwali along with Karishma Tanna telecasted on Life Ok. He was seen in Khatron Ke Khiladi season 7 as a contestant.He hosted the season 2 of the show Dance Plus which is being aired on Star Plus.

Currently he is hosting Rising Star along with Meiyang Chang which is being aired on Colors TV.

Influences

Raghav accredited learning dance from Internet and Television. He created a fusion mainly inspired from the slow yet powerful movements of a Crocodile and the swiftness of a Cockroach.

His signature step is his Slow Motion Walk. Choreographers like Remo D'Souza and Terrence Lewis have stated that, they had never seen anyone emulate the effect as realistically, before Raghav, Geeta Kapoor said that no one can do Slow Motion better than Raghav Juyal.

Personal life

He is the son of Deepak Juyal, an advocate & Alka Bakshi Juyal. Raghav is currently living in Mumbai and comes from his home town Dehradun, Uttarakhand. Born in a Garhwali family he belongs to his ancestral village Khetu in Uttarakhand.

Raghav had never taken any formal training in dance, but picked it up from watching performances on internet and television. He started winning laurels as a dancer right from his days in Doon International School. Later, he joined DAV (PG) College to pursue his B.Com.

Filmography

TV Shows and Appearances