Episode Notes

An experienced Human Resources professional and a dedicated Art Enthusiast, I am the Director, Gurukul Studios. I spearhead all the Projects at Gurukul. I bring to the table, strong corporate and business experience of aviation industry with companies like Cathay Pacific and Emirates.

At Gurukul, I have established distinct methodologies and fair business practices with a vision to be a culturally rooted yet progressive dance organisation! It is currently one of the leading Indian classical dance academy in the Middle East with branches in India and Switzerland.

I have made path-breaking forays into the Dubai Academia and taken Gurukul Art Outreach Programs to several academic and art forums. Gurukul Dubai, works closely with GEMS Modern Academy and other leading schools in the region. As a conscious decision of our Corporate Social Responsibility policy, we worked with specially abled students on SNF, Dubai and Al Noor.

Gurukul Dubai was established by Pali Chandra and me, in 2007. We provide quality and classical dance education to more than 350 students in Dubai, and have started operations in Zurich and Bangalore (India). We are true practitioners of Indian Classical Dance syllabus of ISTD, UK , and strongly believe, that internationally it is one of the the most compatible syllabi. We have been holding ISTD exams annually since 2012 and have enabled and supported approximately 74 in 2012, 91 in 2013, 128 in 2014, 127 in 2015,165 in 2016 and 205 in 2017. Whilst the numbers speak of the popularity and acceptance of the syllabus through us, we at Gurukul have ensured quality education and hence the results. We adhere to the syllabus guidelines for all levels from CEP to Grade 6, with a focus on ISTD safe dance practices.

Many workshops by visiting faculty have been organised by Gurukul to help maintain standards. Some of my successful projects include the 3 days Kathak Festival, Sufi Noor in 2009 and 2012, Five Elements, (2010) Navarasa (2013), Naach – 100 Years of Bollywood (2014), Taalmala (2016), Navinayika (2015), Lasya (2018), Parampara - an annual event of Gurukul wherein we take our students from all our centres to India - to learn from the maestros, to name just a few. My past assignments include those with the Emirates Group as Human Resource Specialist, Commercial Division, Dubai and Cathay Pacific Airways, Vancouver/Canada and Hong Kong.A people’s person at heart, a mentor and an executive decision maker, I worked hard to make Gurukul a well recognised centre for ISTD education and a place for dance lovers to connect with. I must confess that this could not have been done without the artistic guidance of Pali Chandra and my pro-active and committed facilitators and admin teams.! India and specially, the City of Bangalore, holds immense potential for dance education based on ISTD syllabus.

With the very first studio that opened last month (December 2017) in one of the most centrally located communities on Wood Street, off Brigade Road, I can clearly visualise reach of our programs with ISTD at its heart ! As a child I had learnt kathak dance for 7 years under the able guidance of Guru Vikram Singhe and am currently being trained under Pali Chandra for Vocational Course of ISTD.

Show Highlights

(0:02:04) The need for systematic dance Education

(0:03:16) Career Options in Dance

(0:07:12) Being good vs being the best

(0:08:39) What made you want to return to dance?

(0:10:17) Roles and Responsibilities in Gurukul

(0:15:09) Interviewing Teachers for Gurukul

(0:22:25) Onboarding process at Gurukul

(0:25:03) What do students need?

(0:27:15) When can you start using dance to express yourself?

(0:29:28) What do your students love about you?

(0:33:36) Building an audience in Dubai

(0:36:02) Persevering during the hard times

(0:38:21) Sponsorships

(0:40:03) Building relationships with sponsors

(0:45:09) Managing sponsorship expectations

(0:49:29) What do artists want?

(0:52:05) Leaving good feedback to artists

(0:56:58) Gurukul India

(1:01:09) Competition in Bangalore

(1:03:45) Culuture of dance in Bangalore

(1:04:12) Future of Gurukul

Title Track Audio Credit: Doug Maxwell | Bansure Raga