..ummmm...


Peace.Joy.Love.Laughter.Inspiration.Growth.Faith.Patience.Perseverance.Acceptance: All can easily be rolled into one to be the person i am, or more aptly,the person i seek to be. i have been a dancer all my life ,and dance is really what i believe i do best, even though there still are "miles to go"!! to move, create, inspire, share, build and grow together , through the vehicle of Dance is what i perceive to be my "calling" in Life. and there i find not only the pursuit of my dreams and my happiness, but also God's blessing, in its purest form .. God, Parents, Family, & F.R.I.E.N.D.S (!) blend into my system of "jewels" of Life. apart from them, i've been lucky enough to have had some incredibly inspiring teachers as "influences" : Jacquie Bird, Soraya Franco, Robin Merchant, Ashley Lobo to name a few .. Luam is yet another choreographer that deserves special mention.. as she has been one of the Hugest Sources of Inspiration to me(online only though)!!! JAZZ funk/lyrical and contemporary are areas of interest to me and what i work in :) its interesting to note how one is capable of tapping into one's various shades as a dancer, like an artist that dips into his palate for different colors: Spunk that screams out loud in a Funk piece; Profundity that comes through in contemporary,Discipline and Finesse in a Ballet piece , while sex appeal in Salsa, for instance.... is what intrigues me the most about these various forms , yet a commonality amongst them : a Passion to Express ......... Peace.


As i take you through this little blog, i hope you vicariously enjoy my journey as a dance artist! it has been one of immense joy and hard work, inspiration and growth, and a sense of being committed to my purpose... Gifts that I today seek to impart to as many as possible through this God-given vehicle of Dance !!!



Cheer$ !!

P.S: there is a lot more "detailing" that needs to be done.. Please (pretty please!) bear with me as i try and put this blog together!!! okay.. enjoy :)

Also, pardon me for the complete lack of chronology (the series of events per year) , but then Thats what I call "OrganiZed ChaoS" !!









Wednesday, June 30, 2010

BRACE yourself for bad quality video (sorry??!!) and see me have FUN with a couple of students : summer of ' 09!!

Students and I have fun with a "STEP UP" track! This was ' 09 and brings back memories of us experimenting with BEGINNERS FUNK JAZZ! for people who haven't quite danced before , I think they did a pretty good job and am so very proud of them!!

p.s : I cant tell you how very sorry I am for the quality of the video!!!!!!

Monday, June 28, 2010

Arabesque indeed :) as of ' 08 :)

Ballet Arabesque :
Balancing it on the sofa .. as though it wasn't hard enough already!!! phew!!

but well.. cliched as it may sound.. "The Pursuit is the Reward" !!
Cheers!

p.s: and if you were to compare with the following "version " of arabesque, Damn I've improved!! LOL ;)

My Jazz Intermediate Class : Winter of ' 06 !! (Aah! the Good 'oL days!!)

SPLIT
there was a time (i think i was 13 or 14 years of age) and I would be so totally obsessed with this strange "need" to just be able to split!! thats it!! it was as simple as that!! I just wanted it so bad .. and am so very glad , I managed!!!!! at the right time!! It's only today, as I look back do I realize how very useful this little "trick" has been in my dancing years!! phew!! LOL



ARABESQUE again!
okay .. thinking way back into 2006.. .. this is okay :)










BARRE ..
.. .. the truth behind every dancer's life !!










POINTE :) & PULL UP !!






Sunday, June 27, 2010



“The wise man in the storm prays to God,
not for safety from danger,
but deliverance from fear”


Ralph Waldo Emerson

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

PERMania 2010 :)


a penchant for makeovers & photography thus inspired !! Yes, Narcissist I am!

Pathways World School 2009-10 !


as Visiting Faculty for the Dance Department , Pathways World School ('09-'10) ;
I experienced the joy and challenges of having to teach a whole range of children spanning age groups between as little as 2 yrs (day care kids) and 18 years (Grade 12) !
It was fun to be able to teach all sorts: from an Asereje for the kids to a Rhydhun for the seniors, needless to mention a more hip Lady Gaga routine for the adolescent part of the school, the Middle school!




the School Building did manage to elicit responses like , "Wow! that looks like a resort!"from almost anyone who saw it. I tried to refrain from getting too carried away, but well.. i must confess to a few episodes of getting lost in the vast landscape that is Pathways!!






thats Norbu Tshering and I :
Visiting Faculty for Dance!

it was fun and a great learning
experience for me to work with him.
A natural with kids, he worked hard
to hone them not only into better
dancers but also more confident
individuals!





Flying High :
during our Children's Day performance , wherein all the Primary School teachers danced to entertain the kids .. after all, its "their" day.. !

p.s: and this is one of my all time favorite pictures for obvious reasons!








a better view of us performing a Bollywood number for the kids! super fun!












chilling on a bean bag : after performance !













My favorite favorite grade in the whole school : Grade 1 !!!

all dressed up and beaming for 2nd October, Gandhi Jayanti (if my memory serves me right!)!!





SENIOR SCHOOL CHILDREN

performing a piece called " Within Us" : a theatrical amalgamation of Jesus Christ Superstar, Rhydhun and Jai Ho(from the movie Slumdog Millionaire), showing different human dispositions like chaos, peace and a celebration of the human spirit .


This piece was performed by the Seniors for The Annual Founder's Day (December,2009) . However, due to the usual chaos before any show, I failed to click their snaps on D-day ! To give you an idea, however, are these pictures from their Dress Rehearsal!!! enjoy :)









Star jumps










the entire crew :D jumping for joy at the Grand Finale !!!!






MIDDLE SCHOOL

Core Group Dancers of Middle School , grooving it to "UMBRELLA" (by Rihanna) , and freezing in the end !

p.s: Awww!! my haute girls and macho boys!! :D

PRIMARY SCHOOL

Simply a snippet from the Founders' Day Tech Rehearsal ! Grade 4 performs as Norbu watches on ... !







sets during the day!








My "Korean Beauties" ! these are some incredibly cute Kindergarten Kids dressed up as Koreans! well.. owing to the vast racial diversity in the school , these kids dressed as Koreans, Africans, Asians, British etc.. and their piece was.. well.. worth a watch ;)






a mother dressing up her "African"
kid.. also my Centrestage Girl,
Jessica!










My "Girls" (and one boy LOL) on show day! and NO! those are NOT their costumes!! ;)
















and that is "Gurkaran" (the first to get dressed haha!) alongwith "Aditya Vohra"(one of the Loudest kids you could encounter); almost as if to say , "you aren't ready yet lad??!!"














Our Kingdom Of Indians!and thats Little Pranav posing for me!!















Sophia, Amy & Anjali from Grade 2 playing the "fishes" they eventually performed as !






Alexandria and Jessica
goofing around as usual ..

memories etched out for a lifetime ...

:)

okay, this insanely long post has finally come to an end! You may return to doing whatever it is that you were !!

Friday, June 18, 2010

Surreal ... summer of ' 07 !

My photoshoot for clothesline , " Surreal" ... .. trying different moves, that in the end, could be related only to the Contemporary Dance Form, in whatever measure possible!!

... an exhilarating experience. Our stylist, Ajay Bisht(a pleasure to work with) kept the whole environment relaxed and easy; having styled me in different moods : from a "fringe-wig and skirt" look, to a radical "new yorker' look(which you will see in my subsequent posts!) .. it was fun as it was learning to create so much right from scratch !!

Photographer Vishwa (also a pleasure to work with!) did such a fab. job putting everything together .. well.. I'm a FAN!!


Apart from the posters that went up in malls(yayayayay!!) , this photograph was also eventually published on 5th January,2008 ,titled "FOR THE NEW YOU -Repair Kit", in "The Times Of India" across the country!! thats 2 times yayayayay !! LOL

JACQUIE's workshop : Summer of '08 !!


How do I begin this one?

Jacquie is the one with the most interesting hair (in the above snap, standing right behind me) !! And if u are having trouble locating me, I'm the one blowing the "flying kiss" !!

One teacher , who besides having taught us dance and a whole new style of movement , even expanded our mental horizons in ways that need only be experienced. Aware of her unique gifts as a teacher, she regards herself as 'an ambassador of Life'.. . something she did live up to, so far as my experience tells me!

So, obviously, we all did have super-duper fun in her classes! they were a terrific mix of Jazz, Modern and Hip-hop vocabulary :D we all shaped up not only as 'break-outta-that-box" individuals, and braver dancers, but also as people inspired to find their own unique voice in this mad world of dance.









my friend, Ana, and I , tired ... Just tired... after one of the classes !!















Thats .. obviously "US"!!! .... at the end of an "emotionally charged Workshop" !!!!


As we preferred calling one another ,"the Mamas" ! LOL


















One of those times I fail to explain my own behaviour !! To get all emotional & passionate is one thing, but for a girl to strike a hee-man pose, is quite ANOTHER!!!! anyways, another picture from our last day ! Memories that I'm darn sure we ALL cherish till date :)



and OH! the following is just a short video from the workshop... and it was my FAVORITE routine :D



$urreal .... summer ' 07 :)

the dancers' photoshoot for Surreal that I've posted earlier and shall not bore you further with !!!!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

O man! OMAN :) summer of 2008!


~ alright! I'm going to be sharing bits n pieces (literally!) from our MUSCAT(which is in OMAN , just in case you're geographically challenged like me.. No kidding!!) trip, 2008! We were part of a theatrical production called "Salaam India", directed by Lushin Dubey.As dancers, we performed our pieces throughout the play... with temperatures rising every now and then...eventually exploding into mad fits of laughter, it was quite an experience! (needless to mention shopping sprees at the malls , and an enlightening visit to the "Souk"!! and Of Course!!! the simplicity of the pristine beaches that posed a striking contrast to the formidable vehicles on the loose!! Did I ever see a car that was NOT a BMW?! "I don't think so!!"!!! LOL
AND OH!! if you're still wondering, the food picture is basically a glimpse of the delicacies we drooled on!

enough said.... Black Eyed Peas couldn't have been more accurate in sayin' , "Let's Get It Started" :D



THE DANCE CREW ARRIVES AT THE MUSCAT AIRPORT! " as WELCOME as the flowers in May " !




My FAVORITE sea food platter :)
fish in lemon-butter sauce, pasta , squids, sea food salad !
aah! just couldn't have enough














the super-awesome pool at the hotel :)
as I wave out in sheer excitement!
Despite the arid land, Muscat treated us to the Lake, the Beach, the Pool .... all swam like there's no tomorrow (even the ones that couldnt)LOL!!
a picture of an "inland lake" , and 'limestones" .. .. awesome I agree! But not as good as the pristine beaches .. that I could not click for the benefit of this blog, as I was "oh-so-busy" practicing the classic " Dirty Dancing" lifts in the air only to be dropped with a zillion 'Splashes" back into the water!!! if only i had a water-proof camera....
Darn it!
AFTER THE PERFORMANCE ...... as HAPPY as CATS in a FISH shop US! Having worked (work??!! well.. more like "Danced") & enjoyed to the full.. , gladly posing for the last shot ! Can u see how happy we all are?!

having had our fair share of fun and work , travel and play; we all got back and so it was.....

Sunday, June 13, 2010

ummm... one of my favorite favorites :)
If a dancer danced and no one saw,

did she really ever dance at all?

As turns collide to make her tears,

Does movement die between the fears?

Even if they stand to watch

Even as they wipe their sleeve

She does not care to ever stop

She knows not when they turn to leave.

While opinions matter and fall behind

When the room is empty and had its fill

When all the world is deaf and blind

She loves the dance and dances still..... - LUAM (yet another one of my Inspirations)

Wednesday, June 2, 2010


Stretched beyond My Limits!!!!!!!
a spontaneous JAZZ IMPROVISATION ROUTINE. sorry for the tilted video.. uploaded as recorded! Lesson to learn:always carry your own camera! For all you know, the best compositions happen at the most unexpected times!! Yes! I reiterate!!