Dancing their way to success
Last updated 4:55 pm, Wednesday, November 14, 2007.
By Jessica Mehroin Irani
Chennai: Choreographers are no longer the old-fashioned ‘dance masters’ of the 70mm era. They are now on stage and on the small screen, at corporate shows and college events. Choreographers are showing off their salsa, hip-hop and jive moves and raking in the moolah.
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Going the Latino way - People dancing Salsa at the O2 Health Studio.
(Photo: Jessica Mehroin Irani/Digantik) |
In 1998, Farah Khan's choreography in ‘Koi Mil Gaya’ made all youngsters dance. Dance competitions at college cultural events became a must-have. This gave a chance to budding choreographers to groove their moves. Raghu, a freelance choreographer, said “I earn anything from Rs 5000 to Rs 8000 for training a group of college girls in contemporary dance for one month.”
Another freelance choreographer, Denver Nicholas, has been conducting corporate dance workshops and he has choreographed stage shows and musicals since 2000. He prefers the flexible timings and enjoys the option for creativity that it gives him. He said, “Theatre gives me the best platform to experiment, where the goal is to show an amalgamation of various dance forms”. With wedding sangeets being the new mantra in the last two years. He has choreographed a few sangeets and charges around Rs 25,000 for six songs. In a month here might be only one or two sangeets that he takes up.
Dance events at the annual shows of corporate companies are another money-spinning area for choreographers. Prasanna, Artistic Director of the Swingers, said, “For a troupe of 12 members with lights and sound, I charge anything from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakhs per show depending on the corporate.” Every corporate has one annual show per year. Business houses also hire these dance gurus to conduct workshops to de-stress their employees.
Often business houses engage an event management company to organise these dance shows. Dhananjay who heads the events division in Sanguine Media, said “The client leaves it to us to select the dancers. We pick up students from various dance schools and we pay Rs 25,000 – Rs 30,000 for a troupe of six dancers per show.”
Choreographers are also getting global exposure with Musicalslike like ‘Broadway’, ‘Harry Potter the musical’ and ‘Thillana’ (an amalgamation of Tamil songs) being staged. And the most sought after place for dancers are dance schools or event management companies.
Amrita Ram, Managing Director of That’s Entertainment, says “We have a permanent troupe of 12 dancers who travel with us. These are people who have taken up dancing as their career and we also have a few college students.” She also added that she does not hire dance students to choreograph her shows, as the students do not have much experience.
Reality dance shows on TV like ‘Nach Baliye’, ‘Mastana Mastana’ and ‘Jodi No 1’ are a big hit with the audiences giving a chance to the choreographers to showcase their dance talent. Satish Kumar, troupe member, said “I’ve been working with That’s Entertainment for five years now. Earlier I used to only perform now I am also choreographing for
‘Mastana Mastana’. Every show I choreograph I earn Rs 30,000 per show. Five years from now I want to choreograph for movies.” Many dancers believe they will get the gain recognition by performing in shows that will give them a chance to break in as choreographers for movies.
The reasons for taking up dance as a profession are many. N.M Raju, troupe member with That’s Entertainment, said “I have always had the passion for dancing since I was five years old. As I grew up I became curious about other cultures and want to learn about them via various dance forms.”
For a few this is serious business but most girls, who perform, are college students who want some pocket money and their parents have no problems with them performing stage shows as long as the organisers are respectable. Neha Rao, a 21-year-old dance performer, said, “I have been learning dance since class 9. I started performing dance shows at the age of 17. My parents have no problem with it as they are familiar with my troupe members and organisers.” Manasi (name changed), a student at Loyola College,said, “I am doing my graduation in B.Com, but I also do dance shows as a part-time job. It’s more of a hobby and nothing more.”
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