Six children from Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) State, all aware of Dogra— a traditional dance form of their home State are now latin-American style dancers as well.
Interestingly, they are the sole first time State contingent to represent in the two-day 9th National Dance Sports Championship among the 13 State contingents which concluded in the city at the Balbir Singh Juneja Memorial Indoor Stadium on Sunday.
“A decade back, it was challenging for people of our State to imagine any dance form recognised in other countries also. Fortunately, the mindset is changing. Few years back, our Team Coach Gautam Kumar represented J&K as individual. He encouraged many like us to form a State team, get the affiliation and participate in this National Dance Sport Championship,” said Ekta, Choudhary, J&K Team Manager.
Meanwhile, Kumar highlighted the relevance of learning latin American dances since it helps a dancer bag a medal at the Asian Championship platform.”They all know Dogra steps also,” he said. The list of the six kids includes Prakriti, Tusharika, Jessica, Aniket, Mohammed Anss Qazi and Swapnil Choudhary. The tournament is categorized in Sub-Junior, Junior and Senior. Prakriti is the single participant for Junior Category while remaining ones are for Sub-Junior Category.
Tusharika, aged 11 years, the youngest of all said, “It is a joy to perform a dance form which is acceptable not only in India but across the world. I want to make a career in this field.” Whereas, Swapnil said, “My parents always motivate me to chase the passion of dance sport. It is exciting.”
Apart from the participants and the technical officials, mothers of Swapnil and Anss were also here. “This new career-oriented sport is giving exposure to my child. Despite odds of terror and violence, our State and Chhattisgarh is putting serious efforts to promote such programme,” said Swapnil’s mother Dr Shashi Prabha, a faculty member at geography department of University of Jammu.
For Anss’s mother, Rahat Nazir it is a family dream coming true. Asked about the State’s first time entry, Yogesh Agrawal, president, Dance Sport Association of Chhattisgarh said, “It is appreciable. All India Dance Sport Federation has decided to promote the game by training two coaches of each affiliated State association during a 15-day workshop scheduled in Mumbai in February. These coaches in turn will train their members.”
Notably, Chachacha, Rumba, Samba, Jive and Pasodoble are the five types of latin American dances the young dancers are getting acquainted with.