We’re bringing back our featured article! This time we had the privilege to talk to Sagithya Varma, 26, the founder of a local dance studio – Dream Catchers Studio, who is also a gym dance instructor.
Dream Catchers Studio does dance performances for wedding and corporate events. They also provide online and face-to-face dance classes – which will recommence again in 2022.
Continue reading as Sevenpie interviews Sagithya on his dancing journey!
View this post on Instagram
1. How did you get yourself involved in the local dance scene?
When I was a kid, my parents would always let my childhood friend and I go to the dance floor to dance. Even when I was 7, I would go on stage to dance. But, once I got older, I got shy. My childhood friend knew that I love dancing. I didn’t proceed to train myself professionally.
When I was 19-year-old, I was working as a McD rider. My childhood friend approached me and said that there’s a team looking for male dancers. He has a lot of experience in dancing, unlike me. But, we were both interested so we went.
On the first day, they taught us basic dancing steps. Next thing you know, I stayed the longest with the team for more than five years.
View this post on Instagram
2. How did that lead you to where you are today?
In those 5 years, it got me even more interested in dancing. I didn’t have a permanent job at that time, dancing was my rice bowl. I continued to dance because the shows’ payments were my salary.
After 3 years, I’ve decided that I want to teach beginners. Not for the money, I just wanted to share what I know and provide opportunities. No one showed up for the first few weeks. After that, three people showed up. Two of them are still with me now.
At that time, I was working for a gas company for marketing. Sometimes I’ll need to deliver the care also. Despite being tired, I’ll just carry on with the classes because I didn’t want to waste their confidence and passion. Maybe because of that, they are still with me until now. I think I’m here now because of my consistency, I didn’t give up. I just went with my heart.
View this post on Instagram
3. What can people expect if they were to join a session of your class?
Last time I would record a one minute choreography for the dancers to learn. But, now we have all these TikTok and Instagram Reels. So, we’ll just learn a few seconds of the dance from there that’s easy to be taught in a one and a half hour session.
I always like to challenge myself by not preparing anything before class. I’ll just ask the dancers what song they want to dance. Then, I’ll just say yes to them. Sometimes, I’ll lead the steps. Sometimes, I’ll ask the students to give me one or two steps because I want to push their creativity. Then I’ll give my suggestions accordingly.
I actually don’t treat them like a student because I’m also learning with them at the same time. We’re a team. This is how I communicate with them. I don’t get angry at them no matter how many times they ask me to repeat the steps for me. When I was a beginner, the seniors were impatient with me. So, I don’t want to treat my dancers like that because it hurts. If I keep repeating my dance moves to them, it benefits me also because I can easily remember it. I just love to teach!
View this post on Instagram
4. Why do you like to work with non-professionally-trained dancers?
Because they need opportunities to show their talent. The trained dancers are already out there working. So, I want to focus more on working with these new talents. They have the passion, they just don’t have the technicality for it. I don’t want them to say that they don’t get any opportunities or they don’t have any place to show their talent. If you really want to show your talent, just show up.
View this post on Instagram
5. How do you think dancing has changed you?
I used to be very stubborn and straight-forward. I’m more patient now. My friends used to tease me and asked how am I gonna survive with just dancing. Yeah, if I do an ordinary job, I’ll get a fixed salary monthly. Even if I don’t get much money from dancing, at least I’m happy. This is an opportunity given by Gods.
View this post on Instagram
6. Are there any dancers that you look up to?
When I was younger, I really loved dance movies. Raghava Lawrence is an Indian dance choreographer and actor. I really like his style and dance. Even if he’s with 20 other people dancing the same choreography over there, he will stand out from them because of his style. His steps will look nice even if they’re just very easy. In an interview, he said, “why should I teach difficult dance steps when you can do easy dance steps and everyone can learn very fast?” That’s why whatever I choreograph, I’ll start from easy then make it nice.
7. Do you think that’s your dancing style?
I think my style is on-the-spot choreography. I really love it. Whatever comes to my mind, I’ll just deliver it. You need to activate your mind to get into this creativity zone.
For instance, when we want to learn from a video, we’ll just take the first step. We’ll do our own second or third step because WE want to dance, so WE need to put in our own choreography. If it’s too hard or not nice, we can always alter it later.
I don’t like repetition in the same song. If you look at my previous videos, maybe you can find some similar dance steps here and there. But I’ll try to make each choreography unique. Even if I prepare, I might forget them, so I’ll still have to dance on-the-spot.
View this post on Instagram
8. Tell us more about your team and Dream Catchers Studio!
When we’re working for a show, all the dancers from our team will contribute their steps. All the minds will be in the choreography, not just one mind. We are all dancers here, there’s no big leader or a head.
This is because we’re all praying to the same God, Rajashyamala. She’s our king. That’s why we don’t have any chairs in the studio. I only want Her to be at the top. We all cannot be on the same level as her. I just want to show her respect because without God, I wouldn’t be here. You don’t have to pray to the same God as me, you just need to respect.
View this post on Instagram
9. How do you feel that SOPs are finally loosen up and what do you see for the future of your dance studio?
During MCO, we didn’t stop dancing, we kept creating dancing content on Instagram. We also went jogging to train our stamina. Because of the lockdown, now our spirits are higher. This is our opportunity now. If we want to create, we create now. Just don’t give excuses for today to think about tomorrow.
Unfortunately, we have clients asking for lower payment. So I’ll just say one thing: we give quality. Our dancers have sacrificed a lot of their time and effort. So if we say yes to this less payment here, the other ones will also be less. I just don’t like that. I just want the payment to be based on their efforts.
View this post on Instagram
Sagithya Varman provides dance lessons from kids to adults. You may check out his studio on Instagram @dream.catchersstudio
Special mention: Rajashyamala, Sri Manikandan, Dhurgaashini, Ilayaarasan and students.
Header: Source
