A Backbeat! Bright Colours! Busting a Move! It’s a Bollywood Flash Mob Friday, May 30 @ 12 pm in Confederation Park

TD Ottawa Jazz Festival is just a few weeks away. In anticipation of the 34th edition, which takes place from June 20 to July 1, unsuspecting lunchtime strollers in Confederation Park will witness an array of moves and grooves as dance troupe Kuljit and the Bollywood Heat busts into impromptu performances on Friday, May 30, starting at noon.Everyone is invited to witness the surprise performance and photograph and record the event. And if you’re so inspired, feel free to join in the dancing!It’s not Ottawa’s only chance to witness Bollywood performances in Confederation Park… Just a few weeks after the flash mob, the Festival will launch with a Bollywood Extravaganza on Opening Night, June 20.Thanks to funding from the Government of Ontario, Opening Night will showcase a Bollywood Extravaganza with Jaffa Road kicking off the evening on the Main Stage at 6 pm, followed by Autorickshaw at the Laurier Avenue Canadian Music Stage at 7:30 pm.The evening will be highlighted by Indian superstar Playback singer Richa Sharma – one of the top five selling artists in India. Her voice is one of the country’s most recognizable and can be heard in such Bollywood blockbusters at Taal, Kal Ho Naa Ho, Umrao Jaan, and My Name is Khan. Hear the hits of Bollywood cinema in the park on June 20!After Sharma’s Main Stage show, head to the nearby Marion Dewar Plaza to see DJ Rekha perform in the OLG After Dark Series at 10:30 pm. The British-born, New York City-based DJ is also a curator, record label owner and educator. Called the “Ambassador of Bhangra” by the New York Times and named one of the most influential South Asians by Newsweek, Rekha is among the first DJs to merge classic bhangra and Bollywood sounds into the language of contemporary electronic dance music.