24 July,2011 10:12 AM IST | | Yoshita Sengupta
A professional dance company in Dadar has opened doors to three year-olds who idolise Salman Khan and Hrithik Roshan, and have no control over their feet when they hear a jazzy Bollywood number
If you think you are the biggest Salman Khan fan, there's a three year-old waiting to give you stiff competition. Walk into Expressions Modern Dance Company (EMDC) on this Tuesday or Thursday, and meet the real fans.
The afternoon we dropped in, Hitaishi Sharma walked into class and said to her teacher, "I won't dance to any other song unless you play Dhinkachika (the latest rage from Khan's Ready)." And as if on cue, two other classmates leapt up in a tantrum, demanding the same.
Three year-olds Jiyaanah, Yuvika and Hitaishi dance to Ainvayi Ainvayi
(Band Baaja Baaraat) in the EMDC dance studio in Dadar. Pic/ Pradeep
Dhivar
Wondering what toddlers are doing in a professional dance studio? Sharma and her friends have been taking Jazz Bollywood lessons for the last five weeks. Currently, the class has four students, each assigned an instructor who stands behind the bundle of energy, guides her through steps that come with innovative names like Spiderman and comb your hair, to make sure kiddies remember them.
"A class for older kids is a world apart from one for toddlers. Toddlers don't get the beat and rhythm easily, and have very short attention spans, so we need to keep them entertained and engrossed by playing games or talking in between dancing," says Mitali Shirodkar, 26, senior instructor at the academy.u00a0
"It's also important that the kids like the song, else they will refuse to dance. In fact, sometimes they need to be bribed," laughs Shirodkar. And to keep the kids happy, instructors stock up on stickers, fridge magnets, pom poms, and chocolates that go to them as giveaways. "Sometimes they are happy with little rewards, like a star that I draw on their palm."
One look at the kids, and their parents can tell you they are happy customers. "When the kids wake up in the morning, the first thing they want to do is go to dance class," says Bhavya Sharma, whose three year-old daughter and niece have enrolled here. "In fact when we get out of home to leave for class, the kids are so excited, they can hardly wait for us to stop a cab. We stay five blocks away from here, so they just run the whole way." The next batch of Jazz Bollywood for toddlers begins post August 7.
For details call: 24366777
