“It all started when I was 18 and learning
salsa in college,” recollects Vallary. She adds, “But it was only after my
teacher made it compulsory to learn Latin Ballroom that I developed an interest
in it. Of course, within a couple of months, I was in love with the style.” For
this alumnus of St Xavier’s College, Mumbai, soon it was about choosing between
‘a life of dancing’ and ‘a life without it’ and the choice she made was an
obvious one. Now, 6-7 years later, Valary boasts of having trained under some
of the world’s best dance trainers in Italy, UK and Thailand, to name a few,
and specialises in Cha Cha, Rumba, Samba, Jive and Pasodoble.
After she started working as a dance
trainer at an early stage of her training in order to support it while still in
college, Vallary’s hard work and commitment towards dance saw her win competitions,
trophies and accomplishments at national and international championships
thereby propelling her closer to the art form. Soon enough, Vallary was training
people for the country’s leading state Dancesport championships and introducing
the idea of ballroom dancing to the corporates in Mumbai as the co-founder and
principal teacher at a dance academy that she started with her then partner. However,
Vallary’s thirst for more knowledge in dance made her take the next big step.
Vallary recollects, “I did not want to live in a bubble and think whatever I am
doing is great. I wanted to grow a lot as a dancer, a teacher and an artist. Armed
with an endless appetite for ballroom, I moved to Bangkok keeping in mind a beautiful
and unique choreography that I had seen of Uapan Snidvongs from Thailand. At
his studio in Bangkok where I trained for a long time, I also experienced some
fantastic workshops by top coaches like Graham Oswick (England), and Gaynor
Fairwhether and Mirco Saccani.”
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Vallary goes on to comment on the way dance
is taught in foreign countries as compared to in India. She says, “In my
opinion, I don’t think there is a lot of difference in the way of teaching,
although, there definitely is a difference in the way of learning dance here as
compared to in foreign countries. Dance is an investment of time, money, energy
and effort and a lot of sacrifice and there is just a larger percentage of
people abroad who are able to and willing to make that investment.”
Then there are other challenges. Vallary
elaborates, “In India, the biggest problem that students face while learning
Latin Ballroom dance forms is the lack of a teacher, especially for higher
level training. Also, you need a well equipped studio all to yourself every day
to really create good dancers. In cities like Mumbai, while there are some
teachers, it is extremely expensive to hire studio space with wooden flooring,
let alone owning one. This is not such a big problem abroad. There also aren’t
many good level competitions at the moment here in India to motivate dancers to
do better.”
Contrary to popular belief, Vallary dismisses
claims of Latin Ballroom dance having gained popularity in India. Vallary says,
“I don’t think that the style has gained any real popularity in the recent
years unless we are calling any kind of couple dancing as Latin Ballroom. Although
a lot of international styles have gained immense popularity and we do see
quality dancing here, competitive Latin Ballroom, just like ballet, is a
difficult discipline. It takes time before something new can become popular. It
starts with fascination, and India is definitely at that stage with regards to
Latin Ballroom. I do hope that it will settle in soon and we will have a lot of
our own international champions.”
(Vallary
Lokre will be conducting Latin Technique and Choreography Workshop on May 29,
30 and 31, 2015 at The International Centre Goa, Dona Paula)
