Well. What an evening. We were welcomed with open arms by the wonderful Baha'i community at Marks Tey Village Hall, to celebrate their New Year on Friday. The event was abundant with food and entertainment including musicians, a tribal belly dance group and a fantastic band.

Our Bollywood performance opened the night's entertainment - with a bang! The girls did me proud. They come to my weekly classes at Gym4U and were interested in performing...so I took no time in roping them in. We have been rehearsing for only 4 weeks (an hour a week!) with a few more rehearsals chucked in over the last week. So what they have achieved is fantastic. And we have more events coming up :D I can't wait.

I taught a Bollywood workshop a little later in the evening, and it was great to see everybody get up and on to the dance floor to join in. Watch this space for a few short video clips! 

So needless to say, dance is really taking a turn for the best (get it?!) and I am looking forward to returning to The Young Persons Theatre Project this weekend for a bit of East-Meets-West performance! It's lovely to be invited back, I'm excited about what we're going to come up with.

If you want a bit of Bollywood in your life then come along to my dance classes!

What a year it's been so far! And I've been dancing my way through it...literally. With plenty of classes/workshops/performances to choreograph for, 2014 has certainly been keeping me on my toes!

Teaching at Gym4U is one of the highlights of my week - such a lovely bunch of people. We've been dancing to a great Bollywood mix including Chhaiya Chhaiya, Titli and Radha...and we're starting a new routine tonight! (I'll keep it a secret for now)...

If you're local to Colchester (or even if you're nearby) then come along and join in with the fun! Every Monday evening, 8-9pm at Gym4U (Peartree Road, Stanway). You'll love it, I promise!

Alongside the weekly classes, I have been lucky enough to be invited to lots of Barnardo's Children's Centre's to teach Bollywood Dance to the little ones. What a great experience! I'm always decked out in bright colours with my jingly bells around my hands and feet - and the kids love it (as well as the parents!) :D It is so rewarding to see young children engage in the activity; they love stretching and wiggling to the music. It is great to be able to give them a taste of Indian culture; visually and through the lively music. Even the really young ones (some just a year old) are entranced by the sights of the movements and sounds of the bells and music. It is a truly rewarding experience...and I'm always exhausted at the end of it :P

One of my favourite workshops this year has to be when I spent the day teaching at Parsons Heath Primary School - my old primary school! It was a fantastic blast from the past going back into the same old (yet quite new) building, bringing back many great memories. I spent the day with the lovely Year 4 group, who were so attentive and eager to learn and take part in the activities. What a pleasure to teach :) I talked to them about Hinduism and Indian culture - they were super at acting out the story of Diwali, having a go at Gujarati script writing and designing their own beautiful Rangoli and Henna patterns. And there was, of course, lots of dancing involved too! The children had a go at Bollywood, Bharatanatyam and traditional Gujarati folk dancing. A fun-packed day with a great bunch of people -  couldn't have asked for any more.

So last week I was contacted by Tim Allsop from The Young Persons Theatre Project who asked if I was able to teach Bollywood Dance to some of the students...what an opportunity! I spent Saturday afternoon at the fab Jerwood House on the waterfront in Ipswich, which is home to Dance East. I taught 3 sessions; 7-10 years, 14-18 years and 10-13 years. Although I had been told that not all of the participants were dancers, I can honestly say I could hardly distinguish between the dancers and non-dancers! They all did took part and did a fantastic job. We danced to lots of routines including Jai Ho, Maahi Ve, Radha and Subh Hone Na De. They are all Bollywood heroes! I was so impressed by their ability to take on board what I was teaching instantly, and make such great improvements in the short time that we spent together. I had a brilliant time and hopefully will be able to teach them again sometime.

And the dancing hasn't stopped! With plenty more workshops, classes and performances (including a wedding!) coming up, I seem to be constantly jigging along to one tune or another, with a great big grin on my face.

It's times like this when I feel so lucky that I am able to do what I do. Onwards and upwards!