A little bit of
struggle builds character. A lot of it sometimes makes the dream crystal clear. When you are thrown
into a situation that is extremely challenging, it suddenly dawns on you with
alarming clarity what it is that you exactly want.
Deboshree Roy
Chowdhury, an artist who turned her life around with sheer drive to follow her
passion, was present at a recent gathering titled ‘Sunday Stories’ at the Royal
Enfield Garage Café in Baga. Today, her brainchild, ‘Studio Naach’, is an
address for dance, yoga and other creative ways of expression in Goa.
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A fiery soul,
Deboshree Roy Chowdhury is a Bengali born in a family of scholars and thorough
intellectuals; geniuses and scientists all around. In the middle of science,
her love for art was born. From a very young age, she remembers how much she
enjoyed dancing whenever she was alone. Alone time equated with dancing time.
That still remains the same till today. Having lost her mother to Cancer at the
age of 10 and being in a life-threatening situation due to a misdiagnosis, she
truly valued love and happiness more than anything else. With time, dance
became her medium to heal. It became her home and her abode.
During her college
years, she found a deep pull towards social work and helping the
underprivileged. She felt a natural desire to help people in any way that she
could. Her life turned when she was offered a scholarship to train
professionally in dance and start a career in dancing. She had to choose
between her love for the craft and her love for social work. Letting go of a
chance for Masters in Social Work, she decided to follow her dream and delve
into the world of Contemporary Dance amidst a lot of resistance from her
family.
As her career
progressed, she went deeper into the world of dance and performance. She went
on to perform at a premier performing theatre in India called ‘Kingdom of
Dreams’ in Gurgaon. This was her first step into the world of musical theatre
and what went on to create shows. Being the first cast of performers, she
learnt firsthand how much of preparation, planning, discipline and imagination
it took to bring something of that magnitude to life.
After over 300 shows,
she felt the need to deepen her training and raise her skill set. Around the
same time, an audition for a dance company opened up in Goa. Being raised in
Delhi, the very chance to be able to move to Goa was nothing short of a dream
for her. Deboshree says she didn’t think she would make it. She did! Goa
happened!
She joined Omaggio
Performing Company and stayed with them for four and a half years. During this
time, she was introduced to Aerial Arts and Modern Dance along with Ballet
Training.
As her creativity
spread wings, along with delving deep into dance, she felt the urge for
expressing in more ways than just dance. She started a fusion wear line under
the Naach banner. Indian fabrics intrigued her and asymmetry ruled her signature style.
Little did she know how her designing experience would come into
play later on.
After starting Studio Naach, she needed something different for
her body after years of rigorous dance training. That’s when she first trained
and then jumped right into a solo performing career as an aerial artist and
continues to collaborate with different performing companies in India.
All through this, the desire to help and share still remained an
intrinsic part of who she was. Aerial Flow, a unique balance between Yoga and
Aerial, came into play as she created this new untried curriculum. What
transpired after has been nothing short of a miracle for her. Her class is now
full of people from varying backgrounds and ages. All through her career, she
understood the value of true support and creating an atmosphere of
encouragement for anything to thrive and grow. Today, people of all ages,
shapes and sizes fly in her class. She is astounded and awed by how much the
human body can achieve, given the right environment.
Goa
inspires Deboshree and today she is letting her creative wings open up and let
her fly. ”Let us empower where we live. Spread love through the roots that bind
us together and let us create through our imaginations and from thin air bring
into life all the magnificence that waits to be shared. It’s one life. May it
be a story worth telling,” she smiles and signs off.
