‘I hope there is more dancing in reality shows’ says Shiamak Davar

He has espoused Indian contemporary dance style for life and revived the dance scene in the country. A singer, performer, teacher, director — Shiamak Davar is true multi-tasker. After Hrs catches up with the choreographer to talk about his passion for dance and the future of reality shows...

Starting the trend of dance
A jazz performance proved to be a turning point in his career. Shiamak always wished to create his own style. He wanted to be himself and discover a dance style that would become his identity, which is now aptly called Shiamak dance style. In his pursuit to introduce the country to this dance style, he struggled to teach many — be it ballet, jazz, contemporary or Indian forms of movement. “I am happy I brought contemporary dance style to India, so now people have the opportunity to do it. People have labelled my dance style as Bollywood style, but that’s not true. There are many other dance styles that I have worked on and it was because of Dil To Pagal Hai, my debut film as a choreographer, that the film industry started respecting dance.”
A serious mentor
He cannot stand mediocrity and hence expects his students to have a genuine desire and hunger to learn dance. Many passionate dance lovers across India, Canada, Australia, UK and UAE and New York, have been learning his dance style. When asked about his views on dance reality shows, Shiamak says, “One good thing about such shows is they provide a platform to children, and also great mentors to judge them, which I did not get when I ws young. But most of the participants copy the dance styles of other artistes on web, which I dislike. Plus, these shows focus more on the back stories — on their personal lives and financial status, and other such unnecessary things. I hope they could show more of dancing.” He added that the new lot of choreographers need to do proper research.
Dancers from the tinsel town
When asked who he thinks are talented dancers in the film industry, apart from his students Shahid Kapoor, Sushant Singh and Varun Dhawan, he smiles, “I don’t find any actor in the film industry to be an amazing dancer except for Helen, Madhuri Dixit, Prabhudheva, Govinda and Hrithik Roshan. And from the young lot, I love Deepika Padukone.”