Of the many innovations A R Rahman has brought about, few are as interesting as the one about adding dance element to the live show.

He offers to do more of it in his 'Jai Ho: the Journey Home' tour that kicks off in New York on June 11 at the Nassau Coliseum. The tour will take him and the troupe to over a dozen cities in America and Canada, before leaving for Europe.

The high-tech show will have magical lighting and artistes exuding a variety of genres, including Bharata Natyam and tap dancing, the organisers say.

Any Rahman show creates a lot of excitement says the show's producer Deepak Dattani, but after winning the Golden Globe, Oscars and the Grammy, the expectations are soaring.

Undoubtedly the hottest show in North America this summer, the 'Jai Ho' concerts will also feature one of the most versatile singers in India, Hariharan; recent sensation Javed Ali and a host of relatively new singers.

Rahman started using dancers early on in the half-a-dozen concerts he has presented in North America and elsewhere. "But everything is at the service of music," he says. "We have used awesome technology and spectacular scenes but at the end of the event, everything will be done to enhance the music."

He spoke to India in New York at the Bombay Palace restaurant soon after his April 19 press conference in the city. "We are not doing something for the sake of creating glamour," he says.

He remembers going to light concerts in Chennai in his school and college days. "The singers would often stand with a book in their hand and sing," he says. It was like a lamp post performance.

"There was nothing wrong with it, but as I was creating my own music - and it was a very young music - I felt the artists should move their bodies. The audiences should not feel that they are being punished for nearly three hours. I am generally a shy person, but when it came to live shows, I had to teach myself to sway to the music. Audiences were enjoying the new concept and I decided to go farther, adding the visual excitement."

Of the 20 cities the musical tour will visit, a majority are in America and Canada, including Atlantic City and Vancouver. The company will also perform at three venues in the United Kingdom, and in Paris, Amsterdam and Zurich.

"This tour is going to be one of its kind,' the promoters say in the press note, 'For the first time has an Indian artist embarked on a true road world tour. The entire crew of 75 people that includes technicians, dancers and artists, and A R Rahman will be traveling at different venues with hardly a gap between the shows.' The final performance will be in London July 25.

Dattani, who joined the press conference via video in Mumbai, said the talks on the show started soon after Rahman's double Oscar victory. Despite the technical wizardry that employs the best Hollywood can offer, he said, it is essentially an Indian show, often a nostalgic trip to overseas Indians. "The soul of India can be experienced," he said.

This is the first time Dattani and Rahman are working on a global production, which has already played in Australia. Dattani's Rapport Global Events has produced Indian musical shows in many countries in the Gulf region. In nearly two decades, Rapport has organized over 500 events, including tours by Asha Bhosle, Akshay Kumar, Shah Rukh Khan and Rani Mukerji.

Amy Tinkham, creative director of the new Rahman show, has also helped mount live concerts for top American artists like Mariah Carey and Britney Spears. 'Through the vast tapestry of music that is A R Rahman,' she said in a statement, 'he takes us on a virtual journey through beauty, culture, and spirituality. This is uniquely Indian, both ancient and Indian.'

She said at the press conference that she had to be careful to choose the best dancers and acrobats. The Rahman show deserves nothing less than the best, she asserted.

For nearly three years, fans have been watching Rahman on their television sets. 'It was time to give Rahman to them in flesh,' she added. While it is going to be an East meets West show, she continued, 'Like his music, it breaks all borders.'

Rahman said having Tinkham direct the show was a "huge relief." Else, he would have been burdened in choosing the artists and wondering if people will turn up on time for the rehearsal. "It used to show on my face," he said, referring to the tension at the previous concerts.

Rahman revealed he would ideally like to have a live show every second year. "That would mean that I have three or four new movies released in the duration and I can add new songs to my shows," he continued. "But the past three years have been unbelievably busy and crazy; I just could not produce a series of live shows as I am doing now."

A few weeks before the Rahman show, singer Sukhwindar Singh will also tour over half-a-dozen cities with his own 'Jai Ho' show. The previous Rahman shows used to be filled with big singers like Sonu Nigam and K S Chitra, a popular singer in South India. But this show has new singers like Benny Dayal.

"Some of the singers who have been featured in my previous shows have grown bigger and cannot be with me for over a month," Rahman said. "As for the very big singers, I felt I have not been doing proper justice. What is the point in having them in the show when they get to sing two or three songs?"

As for the visual components of his show, Rahman said was a bit surprised that other Indian composers and singers had not given it due importance. Many Indian artists come to America or the UK thinking that after all we are from India and it is enough to have made this much progress. The sky is the limit if you want to go for innovations, Rahman said.

One reason that there were not many big time artists in the current show, an insider speculated, was to save money for the special effects and dance numbers. "I have always sought to be adventurous but this time, after the Sydney show (of 'Jai Ho'), I felt we could be more adventurous," Rahman said. "Audiences expect from me not only a variety of music... but also something that satisfies their senses at different levels. To give them something less than what we are offering would be cheating, I feel."

"Never mind if we fail in trying to be bold and colorful," he added, "We will remember that it was worth trying."