She is one Indian Salsa dancer who has made it big abroad, I have been always fascinated by her beauty and the heady spins she can do. Here I am copy/pasting few excerpts from her interview she did for Salsa Vancouver. One day I might get a chance to interview her.

Tasleem – Where are you originally from?

Magna – I was born in New Delhi and I lived there for the first six years of my life. And then I moved to Toronto, Canada, with my family. And I lived there for about nineteen years. Now I’m based out of New Jersey.

People often find it unusual that I would choose to salsa dance if I’m Indian. I have been asked many times why I chose salsa and not Bharat Natyam or Bollywood dancing (laugh). Have you ever gotten those kinds of comments?

A lot of people have mistaken me for being from some Latin country. So when they find out I’m Indian, some people do ask why I never did any sort of Indian dancing. But I never actually studied any type of dancing at all. My interest in salsa came about when I watched the movie Dance With Me. That’s what drew me to salsa. Maybe if I had watched more Bollywood films, perhaps I might have gotten more into Indian dancing instead. But now that I’m at where I am with my dancing, I have a greater appreciation for other dances and would definitely like to study other forms of dance, but I just happened to fall into salsa first.

I am intrigued by the Facebook messages I often get from “Salsa India”. What is the salsa scene like in India?

I don’t know what year they’re in right now. But the first year I went, it was 2005 or 2006, and they were already in their 2nd or 3rd year there of the Salsa Indian Festival. They have two events over there. One of my friends Kaytee is the one who does the Salsa India Festival in Mumbai. And there are actually A LOT of dancers there. In every year that I’ve been there and seen them, they’ve progressed SO much. It was incredible and I was surprised. I mean, I was already surprised to go back to Delhi, where they first did the event. And it was just really surreal for me to go back to where I was born, to teach salsa, of all dances. And then in the few years I’ve been back, it’s been amazing. It’s just a really good scene, and the dancers are all very dedicated.

Does anything stand out to you about your travels to various salsa communities around the world?

I find that in a lot of countries where Latin dancing is not part of the culture, where people have not grown up with the music, those countries and those cultures tend to put a lot more effort into learning and mastering the dance. They don’t believe that they were born with it, so they take many classes, practise a lot, and put time into joining dance groups or teams. In particular, in many of the Asian countries I’ve been to, the dancers have been phenomenal, beyond my belief.

Do you think dancing can be learned at a high level even if a person doesn’t have a background in it or an environment in which they grew up in it? You learned it really quickly, without taking many lessons at all. Do you think it’s something that you either have or you don’t, or is it something that can be learned?

I would say that it’s a combination of both. I know people who are more dedicated than anyone I’ve ever met, but their level of progress is somewhat stinted. There’s just something that’s still missing, you know?
At the same time, growing up with the dancing or music doesn’t make you a fantastic dancer either.
The good thing about salsa dancing is that it’s not as rigid as other forms of dancing. It’s very social, it’s a dance that’s open to all ages, all body types, and for that reason, it’s very liberal in what it permits. And because it’s liberal in that sense, it doesn’t require the same kind of technique you’d need in ballet, for instance. As long as you have your basics, and you can follow decently, you could still have fun, and people would have fun with you, and you could progress on that level.

What do you think has helped you progress so quickly?

A lot of people tell me, “You just have it”. I think that comes from a very strong awareness of my body. And when you’re aware of your body, to the smallest fibers in it, you can manipulate it and create whatever you want. For the people who I know who still keep taking lessons all the time, and they’re still not there yet, at the level they want to be, it’s because they still don’t look comfortable in their body. If you’re not comfortable in your body, it’s probably because you don’t understand what it’s doing, or when it’s doing something. It still feels very awkward to you. When everything that you’re doing – all of your movements, how you got there, how you maintained it, how you got out of it – is something that you can comprehend, and you can also be in that moment instead of looking at your body from the outside in, then I think you progress much faster. That’s when the sky’s the limit.

What do you do to achieve this awareness?

I think one of my reasons for my personal progress has been because EVERYTIME I dance, it’s an active moment. EVERYTIME I dance, I’m thinking about what I’m doing, how my body is feeling. I ask myself, “Why did I lose my balance?” Or I experiment and say, “Let me try something different the next time I do that move and see how that works.” I am actively involved in every aspect of my dance. The more active you are, the more you can get out of it. It’s really a matter of being active. If you want something, go for it in every breath that you breathe.If you’re getting into the dancing passively, then you might not progress in every aspect of the dancing. Socially, I think you see that a lot. There are some dance teams that are FANTASTIC performers but not as good at social dancing. And there are some people who are awesome instructors but they can’t dance as well socially.

With 39 swing dance flips in a minute, Salsa guru Lourd Vijay has set a new Guinness record. Indian Salsa guru Lourd Vijay has added one more feather to his cap — a Guinness World Record. The dancer (34) recently set a new record for the most number of swing dance flips in a minute, adding six more to the previous record of 33.

“I had no intention of breaking a record,” says the dancer, “I’m often in Mumbai to judge reality shows; I am also a talent scout. I was approached by the production company of Guinness in March to find someone who could break a record — there are many in dance such as rock and roll flips and hand hops. Surprisingly no one was willing to give it a shot.”

Vijay then decided to do it himself. He chose three of his dancers who would work with him on the record. “I needed girls who weren’t too tall or heavy. The ones I picked were from across the country and, therefore, we couldn’t start practising till everyone reached Mumbai about three days before we went on stage,” he explains.

Having introduced Salsa in 1997, Vijay has also been working to promote Latin culture music and dance in the country.

For this record, he says, mental preparation was important. “I have been doing Pilates for eight months and that helped me. The work-out focusses on core and upper body strength, which was necessary for the flips. On March 18, we reached Mumbai and practised for three days. We first saw how many flips we could do in a minute and then in 10 seconds. We reached 33 on the second day of practice and then became confident.”

And with 39 flips in a minute, the record was broken comfortably on the sets of Guinness World Records ‘Ab India Thodega’. “I didn’t think it was a big achievement till it was aired and people began to call to appreciate me. But now, it feels good to have done something like this,” he says.

Following this, Lourd Vijay is engaging in a host of activities this year — his dance studio’s Summer Festival Final, a tap dance workshop and an International Salsa Congress.

Article source: http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/metroplus/article2009147.ece

Super Super Salsa Goddess Avan!

Avan & kaytee performing at itc grand central, the chemistry between the two is unmistakable.

Nicole and Salsa India @ sqeeze

Sneha Kapoor & Richard Tholoor of LVDS made it to the Semi Finals of the European Open Salsa Masters.
A proud moment for us and for India.
First time ever for India to compete and to actually make it to the Semi Finals.
They have also qualified to represent India at the World Salsa Championships in Las Vegas.

ISN’T Kaytee a bit overdressed for the occassion???