The Event: Reynold Kerketta’s Funk Jazz Workshop
Venue: The DanceLife Studios
The Routine: Iggy Azalea Team
Thank God I never have to appear for a dance audition as I’m pretty sure that I will bag the top position from the bottom. Jokes apart, it was at dance Guru Reynold Kerketta’s workshop on funk jazz that I got a chance to explore a part of myself that I had not seen before. Agreed we can all shake a leg to Bollywood songs but hip hop and jazz is something that doesn’t come to me naturally but took it up as a challenge.
Am I glad I did. Amid all the self-doubt, the effort to grasp the steps, to learn where to get the hits, memorise the routine till it is a part of muscle memory…am satisfied with the slow progress knowing fully well that it’s still a long way to go for me.
The things that I learnt actually find an echo in our every day lives too.
Believe in yourself: Don’t let self-doubt power over you. Some things that you are pursuing may take time but that’s okay. Eventually you will get it. If the routine is fast, calm yourself and let it take its time. Let the routine come to you. Don’t rush to get a routine.
Magic of transformation: There is a difference between role and character. You might be playing a student but what kind of student are you – Are you nerdy geeky student or are you a laid back lazy pupil who doesn’t want to study or are you a sporty kind who is full of energy . Think of the character and be that character.
Express yourself: Dance is a form of self-expression. Don’t hold back. We all have some personas in the real world. We grow up and learn inhibitions. Once on the floor, leave your inhibitions behind. You may be a student, a teacher, an entrepreneur or an executive, but on the dance floor, you leave all of that behind. At that moment, you are the character that you are playing and it is that character that is performing.
So be in character as soon as the music starts and remain in character throughout the routine. Even if you forget the steps, remember to stay in character. The audience doesn’t know the steps, they wouldn’t know that you are lost but they will recognise and identify with the character that you are playing. Dance is the time for transformation.
Open yourself to possibilities: Different people have different body types and forms of dance they are comfortable in. Some may be more suited for contemporary while others may be killing it in hip hop. Some may be passionate about lyrical. The key is to be open and expand your repertoire. Don’t restrict yourself and think – “Arrey, this I can’t do” or “ I’m never gonna get this”.
Adding your two-bit: Though the moves are given by the choreographer, always strive to add that individual flavour or interpretation to the steps and make it your own. It is what you bring to the routine from our personal experience that adds that special edge to the dance number and make it stand out.
I have a few weak moments when I think, will I ever get it? But I just tell myself that eventually I will. It has to. Even the smallest progress makes me happy. What I couldn’t get yesterday, I’m able to execute today. I’m sure tomorrow I will be better than what I am today.
By Kaamna Jain
