Mysore :
Her approach towards her passion is special. While many pursue things of their interest as a hobby, she decided to make her passion her job. Dance is what she loves most as she believes it is a brilliant form of communication and says doing what she loves most and also teaching the same to aspirants around her has filled her with a sense of fulfilment.
Pooja Joshi is the artiste and teaching and performing varied varieties of dance forms is what she does at her dance studio in city — Beyond Taalas which she loving has called a ‘creative factory.’ “It’s my first baby,” says the mother of a 6-month-old, “I started the institute in 2011 with an aim to provide a platform to the talented dancers in city to help them bring out their best and ever since I did, I have been thoroughly enjoying learning, teaching and performing dance.”
Pooja who has completed her Masters in Business Administration, initially worked as a lecturer at colleges in city while doing which she yearned to come up with something of her own and be an entrepreneur. And being married to Snehal Igloor — yet another talented dancer helped her give shape to her thoughts. “I loved teaching but I always felt I should do something of mine as dance had been my passion since childhood,” gushes Pooja who started dancing at the age of four, adding: “I discussed it with my husband who was full of encouragement and I took the risk of starting off the dance studio which is shaping up well with time.”
Taught at the studio are about 10 different forms of dance that include pure Bollywood, hip-hop, Latin-American and salsa to name a few.
Pooja is well trained in all the forms of dances taught within her studio. While she is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer, she has also had the privilege of learning Bollywood dance form from none other than the ace dance choreographer of the Tinsel Town — Saroj Khan herself. “I went to attend a dance workshop by Saroj Khan at Bangalore where I got an opportunity to get trained under her. Apart from this, I have attended several other workshops and have learnt all forms of dances taught at my Studio,” Pooja adds.
The artiste also invites talented and renowned choreographers from Mumbai to teach students at her studio, apart from conducting exclusive dance classes for women and kids which she says are a platform for them to open up, apart from learning the technicalities of dance. “Being a woman, I started an exclusive women’s batch as I always felt women never get an opportunity to open up and express themselves as they spend most of their time doing things for their families within the four walls of their homes.” And the batch was an instant hit where she saw women shed all their inhibitions and dance with happiness Pooja says, who feels happy that she was successful in achieving what she wanted to.
What’s more, the dancer says she has also made everyone at home including her parents and in-laws dance at a family wedding just to help them understand what she does and how wonderful dancing can be. “And they all loved doing it,” she says, who is glad that they have all been very open minded and supportive and not conservative like most others.
Pooja has given over 70 performances so far, apart from having been rewarded several times by varied organisations in recognition of her talent and expertise as a danseuse and choreographer. And at an age so young, Pooja has managed to train several talented people who also have gone on to start their own dance institutes and studios which fills Pooja with a sense of pride. “I am glad I have trained people to a level that they have established themselves. ”
Pooja is a resident of Vijayanagar in Mysore and can be contacted at her studio or on Mob: 98862-41091.
— AN
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / December 30th, 2013