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Tea and crumpets Biffy? I say, there seems to be a slight nip in the wind. 

Ghungroo-shimmying Bangalorean Raghu Dixit, after being invited to perform along with contemporary dance troupe Nritarutya for The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations, was officially invited to have tea with Her Majesty. Bring on the scones and cucumber sandwiches, we say!

Take a look at the invitation for the reception from “The Master of the Household” below.

Lungi or no lungi, that is the question

An overwhelmed Dixit tells us how he feels about meeting British royalty

Just when I thought playing at The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and that performance going to over 240 countries was quite special, the invite to join The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh for tea at the Windsor Palace is the icing on the cake! The whole experience itself was mind numbing. Our meeting with The Queen was rather quick. She thanked us for coming all the way from India to perform for her. The walk through the grandeur of the castle just blew our minds. The inside of the castle took us back in time through history and the royal lifestyle.

Mayuri Upadhya of Nritarutya was also invited to partake in a little Earl Grey with the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh. “It was an incredible experience to meet The Queen, she was most gracious and charming. I can’t wait for the final performance tomorrow,” she says.

Along with Raghu Dixit and Mayuri Updadhya, Lindiwe Mkhize and Andile Gumbi from the musical The Lion King and international delegates from around the world also came to the gathering. Though you’re strictly not allowed to take photos at the royal residence with the Queen, here are a couple of pictures from the castle grounds.

Raghu Dixit, Mayuri Upadhya from Nritarutya with the stars of Lion King at Windsor Castle

That's a pimped out crib yo

Raghu Dixit and Nritarutya have started their practice sessions at Windsor Castle and there will be a final dress rehearsal open to an audience today (May 12), a day before the grand event on May 13 (find out more about his romp around the British Isles here). The special performance includes Raghu Dixit, a troupe of 12 dancers from Nritarutya, a 70 member orchestra from the UK and over 550 of the Queen’s horses all performing to Raghu’s tune ‘Mysore Se Ayi’. Mayuri from Nritarutya has conceptualized special puppet headgear for the dancers and the costumes for the dancers have been created by acclaimed designer James Ferreria (more details about that here).

Here is a video of The Raghu Dixit Project‘s recent gig at the Alchemy Festival in London (more about the collaboration with Bellowhead and dancer Gauri Sharma Tripathi here).