Dance is an art that beautifully communicates the emotions within through fluid actions and
expressions. The Goa DanceSport Association team comprising Sara Mascarenhas,
Nelson Menezes and Sian D’Souza, were the shining forces representing Goa at
the India International Tanzsport Contest 2018 held in Mumbai, last month. It
was an international competition of Latin and ballroom dancing for which Sian
D’Souza won a gold medal in adult Solo Samba, and silver in Cha Cha Cha; Nelson
Menezes and Sara Mascarenhas, won three silver medals in the Samba, Jive and
Cha Cha Cha categories, and bagged a bronze in Rumba for the same.
The dancers have been learning ballroom and Latin dances at the
ballroom and Latin dance school Dance illusion,under the tutelage of Dr Martin
D’Costa and Flossy Santos. Having trained themselves internationally, they have
an experience of over 10 years in teaching ballroom dancing and are the only
dancing couple in India to have won the Nationals in all 10 dance forms. “It is
the love that they have for ballroom dancing that motivates them to make time
from their busy daily routine work and teach ballroom dancing,” Nelson Menezes
states. Sian D’Souza believes that it was the hard work and patience put in by
the teachers that helped them achieve such pride for Goa. “Having less time for
rehearsal, there wasn’t any pressure put on us but patient corrections were
made by our trainers, giving us the motivation we needed for the contest,” Sian
said. With a competition so big, the judges for the event were professionals
from all around the globe.
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Dancing isn’t just for the youth; it is for all those who have a
passion and love for the art of dance. The India International Tanzsport
Contest 2018 was a major platform for this, as it had contestants as young as
five years old and those who were over 60 years of age. There were also
competitors from Mumbai, Pune and Singapore. “It was a tough competition
indeed, but an exciting one with people of all age groups giving their best,”
Sian said. Dance is all about movement, presence of mind and pace. For a
competition like this one, all that matters is your interest and love for
dancing. Sian suggests that “No matter how old you are, if you love dancing,
start now. Never leave your passion, live it.”
For Nelson Menezes, the relationship with dance has been an
interesting one. Being a complete non-dancer, he started off his journey with
Dance Illusion and is now proud of the achievements and acknowledgements he
receives. Ballroom dancing is not only an art anymore but has now become a
sport. It is recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and is
also included in Indoor Asian Games. Nelson opines, “As more and more people
are showing interest in dance-sports, it is believed to be picking up pace in
recent times.”
In the fast moving world, and the constant urge to be fit, dance
is the best way to do this. It acts like a stress buster from daily routine
work. Since there’s music, body movements and loosening up oneself in dancing,
there’s enough enjoyment while working to keep yourself fit.
Nelson expresses, “We as dance-sports athletes lack exposure due
to financial restrictions.” For this, a kind request goes out to the Government
of Goa to help dance-sports athletes with the finances required for their
training, costumes and participation at National and International events. Goa
is stocked with upcoming dancers, each just waiting to come out of their
cocoons, no matter the age, and dance to their very best.
(With inputs from
Mellisa Pacheco
