Article Published in http://www.deccanchronicle.com/node/113434

I met Anu Bose when I was 14. We had a common close friend in Delhi, and I would see her every time she visited from Mumbai.

A little intimidated by her rebellious style, I stayed away from getting to know her better. Since I lost touch with our common friend, I lost touch with Anu, only to meet her years later in Mumbai as Anu Ansari.

I now noticed a change in her. Her rebellious streak had given way to a calm and more reserved person. Very different from the girl I knew, who was full of life, fun and wore her heart on her sleeve. Although we bumped into each other on and off and promised to meet often, we never got down to actually doing it. Finally, I called her for my birthday party after knowing her for 30 years.

She came with her friend who was a Salsa teacher. Even though I had a sprained toe, we danced and had a great time. She convinced me to come to her new studio. Something had changed in her. “Salsa opened something inside me that was locked for too long, and it set me free,” she said, as we sat in Studio 189, her chic and neat dance studio in Tardeo. “Dance and music are in sync with what you feel. Salsa connects the dots between what you feel and who you are. The dance has allowed me to express how I feel with freedom,” she said.

“As women, all our lives we end up playing different roles,” she added. Anu is a great sister to her brother, actor Rahul Bose, who she describes as “her backbone” and their relationship as two souls merged into one. She is a homemaker and a responsible mother to her daughter, Alya, who she calls her very “heartbeat”. “There was no space for me. Duty was my commitment and duty my goal. My own person took a back seat, and I lost myself,” she said.

“There was no space for my feelings, aspirations or goals. I became a different me, and slowly got shrouded by insecurity and low self-esteem. Many women go through a change once they turn 40. My mother once said to me, ‘A woman needs to revalidate herself as an individual — without tags attached of belonging to anyone’,” Anu said.

Alya, Anu’s 15-year-old daughter, recognises her mother’s devotion towards her upbringing. She gave Anu an ultimatum. “Within a year, I want you to be happy, working and in a relationship,” she told her loving mother.

“There were a lot of things pent up inside me in the form of stress and compromise. Dance allowed me to be myself. When I dance, it’s my space and I am protective abo-ut it,” she said. “Salsa helped me get my confidence back.” “In life there comes a time when you look at yourself critically, know your strengths and your dark spaces; know what you are capable of, recognise your weaknesses, and then accept yourself,” she continued.

“I am happy and comfortable with myself today. No more killing myself trying to be perfect. I got lost trying to do that. Perfection is indeed a bubble, and pressure makes it pop at some point,” she added. Many 40-plus women and younger people use Studio 189 to rejuvenate themselves, release their tension, and give themselves a chance to feel a selfish pleasure. “We are empty vessels at the end of the day,” said Anu. “You need to refill it to be able to give back,” she adds.

I just hate how Salsa is danced on bollywood numbers, the fusion of bollywood & Salsa looks downright ugly and titillating. But this is my personal opinion, though I beleive fusion is good and it should be done tastefully, in a way it can enhance both merging cultures and enrich them instead of turning them in pop culture. This is exactly the kind of choreography I have in mind, and who else than Lourd Vijay can understand the art behind the dance. Check this beautifully done Salsa merged with Indian dance mudras by Lourd and his team. (Though I wished I had a better quality video of the same).

I just love these guys, love the way they move, they dont seem stuck in a rut, thier movements are free flowing and fresh. Check out this amazing routines by M.A.D at the @Wasup Andheri Festival 2012.

I had a enquired a few years back, that who are the prominent players in the Salsa teaching scene in Thane. I was given 2 names Nakul and Dipaali. I had the pleasure of meeting Nakul several times, but never knew who Dipaali was, Until I stumbled on a video on Facebook, it was a dance sequence with Cornell. I was at once blown over by the video and asked Dipaali Manddavkkar for a interview. She was generous enough to indulge. Below is the interview and the video! Do check out the interview below and if you are in thane, go and learn a few moves from Dipaali.

• 

  How and when did you get introduced to Salsa?

A: While working with GOLDS GYM I came 2 know about Salsa Dance Style in 2002 through a Work Shop. and fell in Love with Salsa & started learning..

• How long have you been dancing Salsa?which is your “other” favorite latin dance?

A: I have been Dancing Salsa since 2002…

I Like all the Latin & Latin Ballroom Dances.. But I love “RUMBA” after SALSA…

• What difference has Salsa made to your life?

A: Salsa has actually changed my Life…as After learning Salsa & other Latin Ballroom Dance Styles, Contemporary, Hip-Hop & Belly Dancing I started my own Dance & Fitness Studio ” PACE & PASSION’” in Thane…

Salsa has made me more Open minded & Social person..
I just forget the world when I Dance & teach Salsa..

The Most Important to mention I got a Chance to Star as a Lead in a Marathi Movie named ” THE STRUGGLERS AMHI UDYHACHE HERO”

• 

  When did you decide to take to Salsa dancing as a profession by being a instructor and performer? what is your experience with the same till now.

A: After falling in Love for Salsa & Latin Ballroom Dances I decided to take Salsa dancing as a Profession… Since then I’m not only teaching only in my studio But in many other places also…

Me & my Team take Corporate Workshops, College & School Workshops & also Perform, Choreograph for different Events.
We also give Our students the Chance to Perform in our own Annual Shows or other Events..

• 
  

  Have you attended Salsa congresses or festivals in India or abroad , if Yes can you describe some of those experiences to us?

A: Couldn’t Yet attend Salsa Congress.. But would Love 2 attend in near Future….

But I have Won All India Dance Sports Championship for consecutive 3 years..

• What kinds of dances does your dance school teach and where are you located?

A:

We teach
SALSA
BACHATA
MERENGUE
WALTZ
TANGO
SAMBA
RUMBA
PASO DOBLE
BOLLYWOOD
HIP HOP
CONTEMPORARY
BELLY
CHA CHA
JIVE…………..
you name it n u get it…..
Add: Pace & Passion the Dance & Fitness
Lok Puram Federation Hall, behind Regal Plaza,
Opp Hiranandani Meadows, Thane w. Contact 9967277202

Check out the video below

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.

Since I live in Powai, thane is equidistant from say bandra, the party is held in a discotheque of a 4 star hotel by the name of United 21, the complete address is here.

One of my friend Bindu who lives in thane and is one of the principal instructors with Nakul was kind enough to let me know the details of the Salsa Party which is organised by this dance school only once a month at this place.

The Review.

As soon as I entered and changed in to my Salsa shoes, I had enough girls who obliged me with a dance, most of them were beginners and I prefer to dance with beginners. The experienced and good dancers were dancing with the other experienced dancers. The ratio of boys to girls “for heavens sake” was evenly matched, or I am sure they were more girls there on this particular day, I was dancing non-stop and had to leave because of hunger pangs.

The only complaint is the floor of the discotheque is too smooth made of plasticky disco material, which made me slip quite a lot. I wish it was a wooden flooring. But a fantastic experience here, do check out this Salsa party which takes place only once a month, called Nakul/Bindu or United 21 for more details.

Kalpana recounts, “I had been performing in the US for the past two years where I choreographed the show as well as performed but this time’s performance gave me a bonus in that I got selected to be part of Shaan’s video. The shoot is expected to start by the second week of March and I have heard the song and liked it.

I consider myself very lucky to be a part of this album. Shaan is amongst the well-known singers in Bollywood and I am keeping my fingers crossed.’’

Kalpana’s talent comes with the confidence that is earned after years of practise. She has perfected those salsa moves from the masters in Mumbai like Anand Majumdar and Mickey.

But salsa is not her only forte. “I am acquainted with every kind of Western dance and am presently trying to master the intricacies of belly dancing.

Learning the classical forms like Bharatanatyam, Kathak etc is also on my agenda and I plan to take this up soon.’’ Dance has been an obsession for Kalpana for as long as she can remember and she recollects childhood memories of mimicking dance moves in front of a mirror.

Her confidence is rightly placed when she remarks, “I know that I am a good performer. Whenever I am on stage, I forget myself and that is a big luxury.’’

Kalpana presently runs a dance studio called Kaaps in Kochi where she has an ever increasing number of students.

She muses, “In the initial stages people were not aware of Salsa as a dance form but all that has changed now with Kochi becoming a happening place with a cosmopolitan crowd, theme parties and a vibrant north Indian community.’’

Coming full circle as a complete performer is Kalpana’s acting prowess which was on show in a Tamil film.

She has also not shied away from doing an item song for a Kollywood track and believes in trying everything that comes her way.

While most orthodox parents frown at the very mention of an item dance she asserts that her parents gave her all the freedom to pursue her heart’s desire.