Mathur found Chris Martin, the lead singer of Coldplay, modest. He was just glad to be there, down-to-earth. Bruno Mars, on the other hand, was an attention-seeker. He had a perpetual smile on a face that always looked at the cameras. But when he talked to you, he talked to you like he had known you forever.
And then Beyonce entered into the room in a hotel bathrobe.
Strutting up to the fans with the same strut as she has in her videos, Beyonce was a soft-spoken woman surrounded by security guards who wouldn’t let Mathur take a picture with her. And in spite of Beyonce’s tardom, Mathur watched her practice for the show for what seemed like a million times.
Even for Mathur, who contributed to the visual effects in the halftime show, work started two weeks before the Super Bowl. When the Super Bowl committee reached out to local dance teams to perform, the Mona Khan Company submitted their own resume, and Mathur, a 13-year company member, was selected to go. As she attended daily rehearsals, she became a part of the preparation for what needed to be a perfect event, including a rehearsal for those who were in the “fan pit” below the halftime stage. While her role did not demand the most out of her dancing repertoire, she learned the rehearsal techniques of the artists while practicing. For instance, Mathur practiced her choreography to Beyonce’s single “Formation” in the singer’s own fashion.
“[The other artists’] music was playing on the loudspeakers, except for [Beyonce’s,]” Mathur said. “Hers would just come in our headphones, so no one else in the stadium could hear it, just the dancers.”
For the show, Mathur played three roles; she was part of the giant Pepsi logo at the introduction, a flower during Coldplay’s “Adventure of a Lifetime” and a dancer on the field for the finale.
“It was definitely different on the real day,” Mathur said. “We saw thousands of people in the stadium and we realized there were millions watching on TV.”
After staying backstage the entire game, Mathur was abruptly told, “Okay, we’re going.” Then, she was in formation on the stage of the most televised event in the country. But with her comfort in her role and previous large-scale performances, Mathur did not feel anxious.
In the past, Mathur has performed with Mona Khan Dance Company in the semifinals of America’s Got Talent, for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and at Barack Obama’s Inaugural Ball, so Mathur had performed at this level before.
“We’re a Bollywood dance company. That’s what differentiates us,” Mathur said. “We have costumes that all colorful are fun. But we also combine Indian and American songs together. We’re combining cultures and making fusion.”
While she was not allowed to tell anyone about her performance in the Super Bowl beforehand, Mathur told a few close friends and her math teacher Joe Kim, who despite her warning, told all of his classes about the student who was performing at the Super Bowl.
And the day after the big performance, Mathur felt the post-Super Bowl blues.
“On Monday, after the Super Bowl, I was like, ‘Oh, this is weird not seeing Beyonce today,” Mathur said.
