CHENNAI: Software engineers, Abilash Panicker and Suresh Kumar, have more than their profession in common. The passion for dance binds them together.They run a dancing school, Shuffle Dance and Fitness Studio, Chamiers Road, while working simultaneously in IT firms. “We shuffle with our work timings, just to pursue our passion for dance,” says Abilash.The two met first at Springboots Academy of Dance where they learned professional dancing. Hailing from Kerala, Abilash, a 26-year-old graduate from Hindustan College, was passionate about dancing from his childhood. When he was in Class 11, he learnt cinema dancing under film choreographer, Ashok Raja, for couple of years.The desire to learn professional dancing brought him to Springboots where he befriended Suresh, who joined the academy with similar motives.For Suresh, a graduate from RMK Engineering College, dance was his passion from the age of five. “I used to dance in my school and college cultural programmes.But as I had no basic training, I joined Springboots.” At the dance academy, the two became good friends. After learning and teaching dance for a long time, the duo decided to start a dance school of their own.Though working in an IT firm, these two choreographers, somehow, find enough time to take class during weekdays. For Abilash, who works from 1.30pm to 10pm, early hours of the morning are a sort of bliss. He teaches aerobics and other dance forms like hip hop, jazz and contemporary from 6am to 1pm.Suresh, who works from 10pm to 7am, takes classes for regular batch from 6pm to 9pm before reporting to work. “We have divided our timings as both of us work in the same field. Suresh teaches in the evening and I take classes in the morning.We also have a friend, Deepak, who teaches dance to kids when both of us are away,” says Abilash.The two choreographers launched Shuffle Dance and Fitness Studio in October 17, 2010. With a small batch of dance lovers, Abilash and Suresh show stunning array of dance variations. They have the power to inspire, motivate, move, or simply make you tap your feet.“Though you will find many dance studios at every locality, Shuffle is different.We have a small group of people who are given individual attention.We explain the history of every dance, teach different styles, and also show them how to perform each move easily,” explains Suresh.Abilash adds that though people go to the popular dance studios for its branding, all of them don’t receive complete individual attention.“With a huge number of batches, it’s sometime difficult to teach individually at these dance studios. But at Shuffle, we segregate the members into small batches and give proper attention,” says Abilash.The studio, which started with seven people, has now 74 students in its rolls.Though the company has not performed at any shows, they have trained ‘club salsa’ to a lot of amateur dancers. So what is ‘club salsa’? “These days, people want to learn few moves just to dance in the clubs.Not many are interested to be professional dancers.Most of our students are either working professionals or college goers. So we take them to clubs during salsa nights and teach them salsa, cha-cha and jive.” Though these youngsters love what they do, the answer to Kollywood entry is a big NO. “Well, dancing in movies is a challenge. But we are not interested in entering the film industry.Our motto is to bring out the potential in every dance enthusiast and make him/ her a professional dancer,” says Abilash.As the duo share nuggets on various dance styles across the world, it was already time for the regular batch to start practicing.Abilash and Suresh get into their dancing shoes and in a quick blink; they are off on a spin.For details, call Shuffle Dance and Fitness Studio at 9884113689.
Comments
0 comment