Goan dancers are known for their versatile style in ballroom dancing and yet many dancers are
moving away from the ballroom circle and exploring various other forms of
dance, in Goa and India. Keeping up with the latest trends, many dancers are
showing their talent in contemporary, Latin and acrobatic performances as well.
Though a small state, Goan dancers are reaching a wider audience through their
talent.
Coming from the town Ponda, two powerful salsa dancers, Amit
Rajput and Sakshi Kurtarkar, have been creating a storm on dance reality shows
on national television. Amit started out as a student of Bollywood dance before
moving to Latin dances and after being an instructor himself, he is now paired
up with Sakshi and they have been winning hearts for their moves on stage. They
were the semi finalists for the show ‘India Got Talent’ Season 5, part of the
top seven on ‘Dance Plus’ and winners of ‘India Banega Manch’. They were last
seen on ‘High Fever’. “The journey has been incredible. We started dancing on
television nearly three years ago and this is our fifth reality show. Since not
many choreographers are experienced with Latin dances, we have to choreograph
are own moves. In Goa, since it is a small state, we all feel that we are the
best but once you move out to other cities, you come across many more talented
people. Our susegaad attitude should never hold us back,” says Amit. Amit and
Sakshi also choreographed a song for Hrithik Roshan and Gautam Yami in the film
‘Kabil’ and are working on songs for Bollywood films.
Cecille Rodrigues was a part of ‘Dance India Dance (DID) Super
Mom’ season 2, ‘Dance Ka Tashan’ and ‘Zee Rishtey Awards 2013’. She started out
with Zumba classes and auditioned in Latin dance before getting selected for
her first ever reality dance show. “It was one of the best decisions I have
taken; it changed everything for me. Not fearing what the result would be and
not interested in the fame, I wanted to challenge myself every day, which I did
for those 5-6 months that I was in Mumbai and on the television show. That was
the most important thing for me. I just wanted to do something different and
when my son was two and a half, I took the decision to go on a reality show and
after coming second all over India, it changed my life, my perspective started
changing. If I could do something that could push young boys, girls and women
into achieving their dreams, then I have achieved something,” says Cecille.
Martin and Flossy D’Costa of Dance Illusions have been teaching
ballroom dancing in Goa and have stuck to the genre for the last 13 years. In
Ballroom itself, they have been teaching Latin dances like Cha Cha, Bachata,
Jive and Salsa. “There are social dancers who enjoy dancing at a social
gathering and those who participate wholeheartedly in dance competitions. You
can easily make out the difference once a well practised person takes to the
floor. Through the Dancesport competitions, many youngsters have participated
in Goa but the number still remains very small. There is great potential but
you also need the finance to sponsor the travel and accommodation once you are
selected for the next international round,” says Martin. They are the only
couple in India to win in both, standard and Latin categories, a total of ten
dances in the year 2008, 2011 and 2012.
Darryl D’Souza from Calangute and Raquel Fernandes from Arpora
had made a mark in acrobatics on national television, starting out with shows
like Sony’s ‘Entertainment Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega’, ‘India’s Dancing
Superstar’ on Star Plus, ‘ Adhur’s’ on Kannada TV and ‘Are You Ready?’ on ETC,
Tamil channel. “I started out with freestyle, Bollywood, Latin and then acro
dance, which helped us stand out on national television. My first reality show
was three years after starting my career. But after dance reality shows, I feel
my dance career in Goa has grown tremendously. Also, I have noticed that
parents are encouraging kids to join dance classes,” says Darryl.
When
it comes to ballroom dancing in India, Goa is the final destination. However,
with the latest dancing stars, it goes on to show that Goan dancers have much
more versatility and cannot be categorised as just social dancers anymore.
