When I used to fall asleep as a toddler, my mother would put on old Punjabi songs. Apparently, I always woke up doing bhangra. That’s where it all started, my passion for all things dance. My first stage performance came when I was seven. I attended Shiamak Davar’s Winter and Summer Funk programs, got selected for Shiamak Davar’s Institute for the Performing Arts, and traveled with them to Pune to perform for the inauguration ceremony of the Sahara Pune Warriors (an IPL team). But I always craved an opportunity to truly showcase my talent in a show choreographed and orchestrated by myself.
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That opportunity presented itself to me this year when, as the seniors in school, we had to organize our annual school fest, VIVUM. I was appointed as the HOD of the Dance Department, and had only three weeks to choreograph around eleven dances, teach those dances to the dancers, arrange for costumes, and coordinate with the tech department for our light and stage requirements. Yet I never felt tired. Every passing day filled me with more anticipation than apprehension about the approaching performances. We performed brilliantly at both ceremonies, but there was an incident when the music department forgot their cue and didn’t stop the song. For two minutes I danced impromptu on stage, undeterred and perfectly at ease, if only because I love dancing. The euphoria of having my art form appreciated is still fresh in my mind.
Nietzsche famously said, ‘I would believe only in a God that knows how to dance’. I believe that dancing is the one art that enables us to transcend our worldly connections and connect to something beyond us. It is the most natural, raw, and pure of art forms, a form of communication of emotions and ideas that existed before language was invented. I’m truly myself when I dance, more so than I am otherwise. Dance is part of everything I do. I sometimes break into mini routines in malls, or even while studying. In fact, I imagine routines to every song I listen to. As cliché as this sounds, I cannot imagine my life without dance, and I’m sure it’s always going to be an integral part of my world.
