Choreographer Geeta Kapur: I prep before going on set, or I’d look foolish

Itrsquos not uncommon to hear Geeta Kapur go ldquoStupendo fantabulously phantasmagorically magicalrdquo when she is overwhelmed by a performance But Geeta Maa as people fondly call her is equally critical while judging dance reality shows As a judge she believes it is her duty to nudge dancers in the right direction After wrapping up the fourth season of Super Dancer the choreographerdancer is now moving on to the second season of Indiarsquos Best Dancer In a chat with midday she discusses how the reality shows are as much a learning experience for her as for the contestantsEdited excerpts from the interviewJudging reality show after show do you run out of compliments to giveEverybody is different so no two compliments will be the same especially if theyrsquore genuine I believe in being honest Back in the day we knew of only four styles right now the kids are experimenting with so many dance forms I prep at home before going on the set or Irsquod look foolish If I see a unique dance form and donrsquot know of it I discuss it with the dancers or the super gurus for more knowledge In the last dance show Tushar Shetty choreographer did Chicago stylestep I asked him what it was because I knew of Chicago the city I then discovered that Chicago HipHoppers has created their own step and named it thusIn Super Dancer they introduced 75 different dance styles in a special episode How many did you know of beforehandI didnrsquot shoot for that episode but I caught up on it on television I knew a lot of them but there are only a few that I can do I know a lot theoretically but practically I am not good at many of themOver the years have you tried out any new styles besides classical dancing which is your forteI have tried contemporary and a fusion of hiphop While doing films we used to fuse a lot of ideas and styles Bollywood dance is not exactly rigid So I learnt to break the discipline and pick up more styles and became good at it which is why I still get work offersIn the past judges have often said that they feel unworthy of judging some contestants What is your standI feel honoured because it is rare to get such an opportunity to observe and learn I never say lsquoHamari aukat nahin hairsquo but I feel grateful that the contestants are accepting our verdict despite knowing that if they call us on stage we may not be able to do it Anurag dada Basu blatantly says that he is scared they might just ask us to come on stage and do it I feel I could match steps with them Right now I am not doing performances because I have a slipped disc Once it heals I want to learn styles that donrsquot look ugly on meDo you feel any dance style would look ldquouglyrdquo on youI have only tried things within my limitations Sometimes I have also tried things knowing that they may not look good on me At such times I could sense my body language is not correct or the required discipline is not there When your body is not adapted to a dance style the awkwardness shows It also may amount to disrespecting the people who created the style Making a mockery of something someone had worked so hard to put together seems incorrectThe last film you choreographed was Happy New Year 2014 Have you left your career as a film choreographer behindI got a lot of work offers post Happy New Year but my mother fell ill from 2019 and was hospitalised So I was only doing reality shows at the time In June I helped in choreographing a song for Sooryavanshi I am an oldschool choreographer and love to do songs with romance and montage But right now everyone wants to do hiphop and other things which I donrsquot find inspiringAlso read Geeta Kapur pens a heartfelt note for cojudge Nora Fatehi