Young women & their unique style ~ Salsa Circuit latin news| salsa music| salsa dance

It's difficult to imagine somebody who never shook a leg till her twenties will break all norms to be a hip-hopper and the first break-girl of India, or a trained bharatnatyam dancer since childhood will one day be teaching salsa to people. Two young women talk about their journeys, how they followed their instincts and did what they never expected from themselves.

They challenged stereotypes, faced resistance from many ends, yet created a niche for themselves. All they did was dance to their tunes-the way they liked it best!

Move over B-boys
It's time for the B-girl breaking, an element of hip hop dance, has mostly been associated with boys as it demands immense power and stamina. No wonder, we know it better as b-boying. Ambarin Kadri from Mumbai challenged this odd equation and tried her hands at a dance format that's largely a guys' domain. At the age of 24, she has earned the reputation of becoming the first break-girl of India. AmB, as she is popularly known among fans, is earning kudos for her hip hop moves. Ask her how tough bboying is and she will cut you:

"It's not b-boying, it's b-girling. Simply put, any boy doing break dancing is b-boying, while a girl does it is called b-girling." However, it wasn't that easy to turn AmB from Ambarin. Coming from a conservative family and with no formal training in dance, it was tough for Ambarin to convince family members when she decided to make a career in dancing. "I took to dancing very late as I was always into books and painting with no inclination towards dance or athletics," recalls AmB.

It was during college days when Ambarin started participating in dance shows and to her surprise, earned a lot of appreciation. Right from belly dance, jazz, bollywood style to jive-she dabbled with every form of dance. She experimented with hip hop too and found it most exciting and challenging. "A friend introduced me to a group of hip hoppers. I was thrilled to see their act. I started imitating their moves and would practice them for hours. The fact that there was no girl in the group motivated me to try something new which no other girl had done so far," says AmB.

"Unlike other dance forms, hip hop didn't have many rules. It gave me a sense of freedom- something I was looking for. I started enjoying it and gradually it became a passion," she adds.

It wasn't a cake walk in the beginning though. "Initially, I couldn't even do the basic steps properly. But I picked up with time. After four years of practice, I am now comfortable with freezes, foot work and toprock, but power move is something I still need to learn," says AmB. "Lack of physical activity during the growing up years has also come in the way as this dance form requires tremendous energy. Nowadays I invest considerable time on physical fitness too," she adds. Besides dance practice, she does workout which involves resistance training and weightlifting.

Her turning point came when the dance group, Roc Fresh Crew, accepted her as an official member. "It was a big boost. Their confidence in me made me dream big," she says. Today our group is well recognised. "We do advertisements, music videos and conduct dance classes. But our passion lies in "battles", a term used for dance competitions," she says.

Her ultimate dream is to win a hip hop competition internationally. "Even though I started late, I have worked hard and results have been great so far. I know I need to push my body harder. Today hip hop is no just a dance format for me, rather it has become my lifestyle. It has changed my perception and attitude of dealing with things. I guess I'll always be a b-girl as long as my body supports me," she says.

From Indian classical to Salsa
Having learned bharatnatyam since the age four, Kanika Sharma could have easily cashed in on her years of training and made a great career in classical dance. However, after graduating in Bharatnatyam, Kanika took a U-turn and set on a complete opposite path.

"I decided to start afresh and took to Latin American dance instead. Salsa, jazz, jive, cha cha cha-all these seemed fascinating to me and I started learning them one by one. They were totally different from my previous training and it was tough to adapt to new styles," says 29-year-old Kanika. Since then there has been no looking back for Kanika who is today a dance fusion expert, a wedding choreographer and a salsa teacher-all in one.

As she picked new dance formats, choreographing fusion came naturally to her. Before she could realise, it had turned into a passion. "I started choreographing inter college dance competitions and shows. Soon I was choreographing dance numbers for friends' and relatives' weddings," she recalls.

Gradually, Kanika took wedding choreography at a professional level and has been doing it for the past eight years. "Wedding choreography isn't only about teaching someone a few dance steps. It's a very personal thing where a lot of sentiments are attached and as a choreographer, you need to be sensitive," she points out. "For every wedding, I conduct training for about 1-2 months," she says.

Meanwhile she also opened Dance Cafe studio four years ago. "It's a centre dedicated to fitness, music and dance where we offer training in different dances," she informs.

Recently she got an offer to choreograph a Bollywood musical. "It will be based on the theme of Indian wedding and will be showcased at the Kingdom of Dreams, Gurgaon.

The idea is to present Indian culture in a vibrant and entertaining way," she says. It will be completed by the beginning of next year. "I have selected my team of around 50 dancers Rehearsals are at their peak and we are all too excited about it," says Kanika.

Source: Monalisa Das