Saturday 21 November 2015

The Essentials: An Introduction of the Core at Kohl

#KOHLTEAM










Panthera Pardus – The Leopard ~ Gayatri Nerurkar

The Optimist.
23 and already 6 years into Bellydance.

Happy, Cheerful. Helpful, Loyal.
Dances as well as she cooks. Mesmerising features – in face and dance.
Beauty and pleasure seeker.
Lover of isolation in movements, which are soft, yet sharp.
Music and books, brownies and chocolate, fun and comics. Self-gratifying.
Adjustable, adaptable.
Works hard, 
continually, to please herself and to surprise others. 
Learner of Kathak. Seeks to form fusions and has a multi-genred perspective. Romantic at heart, and Determinist in head.
Pleasant, fresh, and powerful.
Cloud and hearth, elegance and mirth.
“Belly dance makes me comfortable in my own skin.”








Acinonyx jubatus – The Cheetah ~ Prachi Shah

The Psychiatrist.
Aware of body and mind. Mental clarity visible through sharp and cutting movements.
Strong isolations and muscle control. Growing tribal fusion bellydancer by heart.
Deep connect with self, analogous to deep insights on dance skills.
Art-lover, knowledge-seeker, creative, intelligent.
Once I started doing it, it just really connected. I felt like it had to be done, like it wasn't my choice anymore.”






Puma concolor – The Puma ~ Richa Raichandani
The tall fashionista. 
Bollywood and food enthusiast.  Fun-loving and captivating.
Dreamer, happy, unworried.
Passionate, hard-working, eager to learn.
Her fortes are accent-marking and layering, Egyptian drum solos and fusions.
Ambitious.
Ever-growing, ever-learning, ever-loving.
“Belly dance has transformed me from a shy introvert into a confident woman.”





Leptailurus serval – The Serval ~ Sanjana Sharma

The bubbly, peppy, feisty one.
Effervescent and lively, forever entertaining.
Lover of the stage.
Small, cute, and sweet, but at the same time, zestful, confident, and ardent.
Don’t mistake her helpful nature and sugared smile – her moves can disassemble you.
“I want to become an inspiring bellydancer and make this artform reach every corner.”








Caracal caracal – The Desert Lynx ~ Akanksha Shah

The Photographer.
Catches the world through her lens and expresses it through her dance.
Creative, independent, fierce.
Empowered, joyful, free. 

Powerful, yet graceful. Tribal fusion enthusiast.
The gypsy.  
“This dance form allows you to express yourself..it's powerful yet graceful. It’s more like story telling through your body.”







Leopardus tigrinus – The Tiger Cat ~ Sneha Arora

The Graphic Designer.
Easily enchanted and enchanting.
Honest, loyal, charming.
Passionate, charismatic, intuitive. 

Heart in Egyptian, Oriental.
Lover of beauty and truth. Finds music in everything.
“Bellydance has helped me be more comfortable with myself, has added a new dimension to my personality.”




Friday 16 October 2015

Love and Light, Heart and Soul.

DIPIKA VIJAY & SANJANA MUTHREJA 




-

DIPIKA VIJAY 


The Sensuist. The Perfectionist. The Nakhrewali.

Dipika Vijay has been practicing belly dance for about 8 years now, and is the co-founder/director of KOHL Belly Dance MOVEMENT, the largest belly dance company in Mumbai.

She is a keen learner, seeker, and observer of life, movement and dance. She has learnt from and has attended various workshops and intensives conducted by Bellydance Superstars and master artists of cosmic repute such as Rachel BriceMoria ChappellZoe Jakes, Mardi Love, Kami LiddleSharon KiharaSamantha Immanuel (VagaBond Princess), April Rose (Director of Rose Movement Studio), Bozenka Arencibia and Ebony Qualls (Bellydance Wild Card & Bellydance Evolution star).
Other legendary artists whom she has had the fortune of learning from are: Carolena Nericcio (Founder of American Tribal Style/ATS & Fat Chance Belly Dance Studio), Mahmoud Reda (father of Oriental Belly Dance & the founder of the ‘Reda Troop’), Farida Fahmy (the founder of the ‘Reda Troop’), Suhaila SalimpourAmy Sigil (Founder of Improvisational Tribal Style/ITS), Donna MejiaTamalyn Dallal and Piny Orchidaceae (Founder of Urban Tribal style of belly dance), Tito Sief, Anasma, Silvia SalmancaAndrea SendekYana (director of Yana Dance), Didem Kinali, Hatim Hamdy, Tigerlilly, Queeny Harish and Tamar Bar Gil.

Additionally, Dipika is trained in Odissi (by Sharon Lowen & Maria Laura Valdez), Hip Hop (by Spider Salah & Break Boy Shiva) and is well versed with Bhangra, Garba and Bollywood styles of dance, which she loves fusing with belly dance. She has learned Shakti Yoga from the prominent Shakti Yoga and Kalaripayattu guru, Pradeesh Raj, and has been training rigorously in Ashtanga Yoga for over 4 years, under the tutelage of the acclaimed Yogini Deepika Mehta. She also follows Hatha Yoga and Bikram Yoga, and practices aerial silks and pole art as alternate fitness classes. These, along with her academic qualification in Commercial Arts & Lifestyle Accessory Design from NID, Ahmedabad, adds to her sense of conceptualization, movement planning and stylization.
Dipika specializes in Tribal Fusion Belly Dance but is always up for new challenges and variations of the form.

She has been travelling internationally since 2011 and has attended belly dance festivals such as Tribal Fest (Sebastopol, USA), Nile Group Fest (Cairo, Egypt) and Belly Dance China (Shanghai, China), and also all over India, in cities like Mumbai and Delhi.
She has assiduously studied some highly accredited international belly dance courses like:
• 8 Elements Phase I & II by Rachel Brice
• American Tribal Style (ATS) under Carolena Nerricio
• Salimpour Format (Suhaila & Jamila both) under Andrea Sendek
• Dance Theraputics under Deb Rubin.

As a teacher, she aims to provide the tools of technique, vocabulary of movement, and creative nourishment to each who comes to learn, seek, and observe.

Some of the International workshops she has conducted are:

§      ---  ‘Joginis: Yoga - Belly Dance. Sensuous yet Strong’ workshop conducted at Belly Dance China
§      ---  Bollywood-Odissi Workshop in PLA, Berkley, USA.

Apart from workshops taught in USA and China She has also conducted workshops all over India in cities like Delhi, Gujarat, and Bangalore. In Mumbai, she has conducted path-breaking workshops like the first ever LGBT Belly Workshop and Aqua-belly apart from workshops at Cricket Club, Mood Indigo IIT Powai, etc.


Some of her noted international Belly Dance Performances are:

§     --- ‘Brahmani’ – A fusion piece performed at Belly Dance China. Shanghai, China. 
-          Trio Performance (Fusion Belly Dance)

§     --- ‘An-Ban’ – at Tribal Fest. Sebastopol, USA. 
-          Duet (Indian Fusion Belly Dance)

§      ---Moria Chappell’s ‘Wild Saffron’ – at Tribal Fest. Sebastopol, USA. 
-          Group Performance (Tribal Fusion Belly Dance) 

She has also performed for all the haflas of Veve Dance and KOHL Movement in Mumbai since 2008, local festivals in the city like, Kala Ghoda, The Arts Conspiracy Festival, Dance With Joy, The Bandra Festival, Arts in Motion (Women's Day Hafla, Colors of Holi); in Delhi, at Halflas of the Banjara School of Dance (Raqs Masala, Jashn-e-Banjara); and in Gujarat, like the Informative-Demonstrative Performance at the Ladies Club of Taj Hotel.

Dipika is a lover of the strange, unexpected, and extraordinary, and her choreographies provide a glimpse of not just her culture and rootedness, but also of how far she is from the default setting.

Some of the dances she has choreographed are:

§     --- An award winning ‘Tribal Fusion Bellydance piece with Indian Elements’ to compete at Belly Dance China 2013 – Troup Category (choreographed in partnership with another instructor from Veve Dance).

§     --- ‘Bollywood - Belly Dance' fusion choreography for a group of students to be performed at Belly Dance China in August 2013.

§     ---A Tribal Fusion choreography for Silk Road Hafla of Veve Dance in Dec 2013, Mumbai. 

§     --- A Dark Fusion Belly Dance choreography for a large group of students for a charity stage show in July 2014, Mumbai.

§     --- Choregraphed a ‘Peppy Drum Solo’ for Vibe Studio’s Annual Dance Show in Surat, Gujarat in 2014.

§     --- A Bhangra & Belly Dance fusion choreography for the Fusions Halfa of Veve Dance in 2014, Mumbai


§     --- 'The Balancing Act' - A two part choreography. One lyrical and one a sword piece for Kohl Movements stage show in March 2015, Mumbai.


§     --- ‘Brahmani’ – A fusion of Yoga, Belly Dance and Odissi Choreography, for a trio, July 2014.
§    
§      ---An-Ban – An Indian Fusion Duet Choreography for Tribal Fest 2015.

- and a number of choreographies (including fusions) for Haflas of Veve Dance and KOHL Movement. 

Some of her small feats include: 

Delhi University (DU) Group Dance Champions of the year 2001-2002.
 -Training Kannada movie star, Parul Yadav, for the record-breaking song 'Pyarge Agabittaite' for the film Govindaya Namaha, 2011.
-A solo and a group performance at the prestigious Kala Ghoda Festival 2013 in Mumbai.
-Winning BDC 2013 Beyond Tradition – Troupe Category at Belly Dance China (BDC) 2013.
-Training Miss Universal Peace & Humanity 2014 winner Ruhi Singh in belly dance in 2014.
-Conducting a completely SOLD OUT workshop ‘Joginis: Yoga - Belly Dance. Sensuous yet Strong’ at Belly Dance China in Shanghai in 2014.
-Was Moria Chappell’s assistant for the 64 Yoginis Workshop at Tribal Fest 2015.
-Was a Wild Saffron dancer/team member in Tribal Fest 2015.


Some of her known students are:

  • Jacqueline Fernandez – Bollywood Movie Star; Miss Shri Lanka
  • Parul Yadav – Kannada Movie Star; Indian TV soap actress
  • Ruhi Singh – Miss Universal Peace & Humanity 2014; Femina Miss India Finalist; Movie Star.
  • Mandy Takhar – Punjabi Movie Star; British Indian Model
  • Maryam Zakaria – Bollywood Actress/Dancer; Model
  • Meghna Malik aka Ammaji – Indian Television Actress
  • Divyalakshmi aka Sajja Bai - Indian Television Actress
  • Mona Wasu - Indian Television Actress
  •  Mamta Dutta  – Indian Television Actress
  • Anjana Sukhani – Indian Television Actress
  • Mia Udeya – Mtv VJ; Model


“Being able to control the way your body moves gives immense power. It makes me happy ... Dance is the design of movement. Dance is happiness! When I practice belly dance I feel like I am praying with my body. It makes me feel powerful and carnal and feminine!” 

                                                            -  

SANJANA MUTHREJA


Born to Belly dance.

Sanjana Muthreja has been influenced by the Middle Eastern culture since the age of four and began belly dancing 8 years ago. Since, she has become the co-founder/director of KOHL Belly Dance MOVEMENT, the largest belly dance company in Mumbai.
She has completed 5 years each of Kathak and Yoga and is also an avid Bollywood-style enthusiast. 

An ingrained sense of the Arabic culture gives her an inherent urge to learn all she can about the form, and also travel around the world to learn from various master gurus. She has learnt from and has attended diverse workshops and intensives conducted by Bellydance Superstars and master artists of cosmic repute such as:
Sadie Marquardt 
Azad Kaan
Didem Kanali
Tito Seif
Moria Chappel
Aziza
Nikolas Kazakos
Lia Verra
Khaled Mahmoud
Luxor
Tamar Bar-gil
Osama Emam
Mohamed Kazafy
Yana
Ebony
Wael Mansour
Ahmed Refaat
Marwa and Tuna
Kaheena
Nour
Hale Sultan
Oscar Flores
Sema Yeldiz
Mahmoud Reda 
Farida Fahmy
Lubna Emam
Camelia
Hatem Hamdi  

She aims to break barriers of the physical, as well as the mind, and is always up for new challenges. She seems to glide as if her body has no bones, and yet can mark beats like no other – she specializes in the Percussion or Drum Solo, and also loves new variations of the Oriental and Egyptian forms.


She has been travelling internationally since 2011 and has attended belly dance festivals such as:
  • Egypt - Nile festival - 2011 and 2012
  • Turkey - Tarazade festival - 2013
  • China - BDC festival - 2014
  • Greece - LdB festival - 2014 n 2015
  • Switzerland -SADIES retreat - 2015 

Sanjana believes herself blessed with the skill and capability of teaching the dance-form of belly dance to thousands of students - touching the hearts of children, young girls, and women alike, by showing them the technique of learning to love oneself. As quick at learning as she is, Sanjana is doubly patient with her students; she aspires to instill peace and self-satisfaction through the graceful art of Bellydance.

She started teaching internationally for various workshops in 2014, and hopes to spread the love of dance and movement all around the world.

Some of the International workshops she has conducted are:


  • China - BDC festival - 2014
  • Greece - LdB festival - 2014, 2015
  • Egypt 2015

Apart from the workshops conducted in China, Greece, and Egypt, Sanjana has also taught various workshops (including all sorts of fusions) within India in cities such as Mumbai and Bangalore.

Some of her noted international Belly Dance Performances include those at:


  • TARAZADE TURKEY 2013
  • BDC CHINA 2014
  • LDB GREECE 2014
  • SWITZERLAND SADIE RETREAT 2015 
  • LDB GREECE 2015

She has also performed for all the haflas of Veve Dance and KOHL Movement in Mumbai since 2009, local festivals in the city like The Arts Conspiracy Festival, Dance With Joy, The Bandra Festival, Arts in Motion (Women's Day Hafla, Colors of Holi); and in Delhi  for festivals like Jashn - e - Banjara, with the Banjara School of Dance.

Her students would say that Sanjana is synonymous with Soft, Smooth, Sexy, Flowing, Fluid, Feline. With imaginative techniques, she determinedly fuses a number of steps to form tantalizing choreographies.
Equipped with the expertise of yoga and other dance forms, Sanjana has choreographed various dances and performed all over India as well as internationally – She has taught fusion choreographies including Yoga-Belly and Bolly-Belly at festivals like BDC (China) and LDB (Greece).
She has also choreographed a number of choreographies (including fusions) for Haflas of Veve Dance and KOHL Movement. 


Some of her small feats include: 

Teaching and Performing at- 
  • LDB (Greece) - 2014
  • BDC (China) - 2014
  • LDB (Greece) - 2015
  • Nile Fest (Egypt) - 2015
She also has a few surprises in store with respect to teaching workshops at international destinations for the year 2016. 

Sanjana has also recently completed a certified intensive course with the renowned Sadie – Queen of Drum Solo, and she considers this a milestone as well as a stepping stone in her career.


Some of her known students are:


  • Sunidhi Chauhan 
  • Nushrat Bharucha
  • Sonnalli Seygall
  • Sneha Ullal
  • Ishita (Pyar Ka Panchnama)
  • Shonalli
  • Kavitta Verma
  • Mandana Karim
  • Pakkhi Hegde
  • Zaara
  • Anita Hassanandani

"I consider the body as a temple, and through it I gain happiness and the gratification of my being. I aim to instill the power of femininity in all those who are interested in opening their soul to the art of bellydance. My greatest accomplishment takes place every day - after every class, each student leaves with a sense of self satisfaction, peace, and a smile on her face ... When I dance, the world crumbles, and there is nothing beyond movement. Bellydance becomes existence."




Friday 6 March 2015

The Movement.

Since the birth of the first star, since the dawn of Time, since the creation of all that is real and unreal, there has been movement. Since the infant note of the Divine Music of Existence, there has been dance. With every revolution of the Sun, movement has evolved, and dance has revolutinalized.
We hear, we see, we know, and we feel this dance; we move, and we recognize the Eternal Rhythm; we love, and thus we have become - The #KohlBellyDanceMovement.

#Bellydance helps those who pursue it perceive the intrinsic life-force hidden in our soul; it helps reawaken and rejuvenate that little drop of fire hidden in our gut - in our belly - and what comes alive is something so special and fulfilling, that only a true admirer of the physical, emotional, and spiritual, will be able to gauge it.
The fluidity and grace of a bellydancer is something so sensual and sensuous that it can electrify and enrapture the most dispassionate of audiences. We dance so we are free, we dance so people can see - the art of living, and the craft to just be.

Kohl Belly Dance Movement is a Mumbai-based dance company, that longs to seep in and seep through the world. We live for the love of belly dancing: that is all we do, that is how we pray, that is who we are, that is how we became.

We learn and teach and teach and learn, because in this art of dancing, there is no stop.
#KohlTeam has learned from the best of global belly dance master artists:

I. 'Belly Dance Superstars' who have taught us..
Rachel Brice, Moria Chappell, Sharon Kihara, Samantha Emanuel, Tamalyn Dallal, Bozenka Arencibia, Jamilla, April Rose, Ebony Qualls and Petite Jamila.

II. 'Egyptian Master Teachers' we have learned from..
Mahmoud Reda, Farida Fahmy, Nour, Tito Sief, Wael Mansour, Khaled Mahmoud, Ahmed Refaat, Marwa & Tuna, Lubna Emam, Zenia Abou Shebika, Ahmed Refat, Hatim Hamdy, Ousama Emam, Fereshteh Hosseini and more..

III. Other belly dance rockstars who have worked on us..
Anasma Vuong-Rajau, Piny Orchidaceae, Kenzi Orchidaceae, Yana, Azad Kahn, Luxor, Alla Kushnir, Didem Kinali, Oscar Flores, Elina Pechersky, Nikolas Kazakos & Lia Verra, Claudia Hildreth, Queeny Harish, Tamar Bar-gil, Kaheena, Latifa and more..

The channels of dance are always intermingling, and what we do best is appreciate and cherish what one form of dance can do for the other. While we absolutely admire the purest genre, we do not stop ourselves from revolutionising belly dance by attempting various fusions.
The different fusions of belly dance which we offer are:

Odissi Belly
Bhangra Belly
Garba Belly
Bolly Belly
Hip Hop Belly
Kathak Belly
Lavni Belly
Aqua Belly
Belly Melt
Belly Sculpt
Belly Yoga

Kohl Belly Dance Movement seeks to encompass all the lovers of the form. Our teachers and students form a compassionate family who recognize and appreciate the strength and spirit of the Feminine. Spreading the glory are our seven plus two highly trained instructors, some with over 7 years of experience in the field. With constant international exposure, and armed with anatomy, nutrition and yoga study, they form the intensely passionate Kohl Team.

The lovely instructors at Kohl consist of the Goddess Dyad of Dipika Vijay and Sanjana Muthreja, the Dynamic Gayatri Nerurkar, and the Junior Instructors Prachi Shah, Richa Raichandani, Sanjana Sharma, Akanksha Shah, and Sneha Arora.