Each year on the occasion of International Dance Day, I do a grand show where my students from all over India meet to witness Jesse Randhawa and me dance, and are also part of the show. In 2011, we showcased Born to Fight, a show on life of Samba dance from the 16th century till date; last year we performed Born to Teach where we performed episodes from the Ramayan in Latin ballroom dance forms. We sho-wed stories from the epic that teaches us lessons of life. So, in keeping with the trend, this year we brought on stage Born to Love as a show on love and trust.
I wanted it to look different from my previous shows so I mixed it with live musicians, singing, acting and dancing. I feel blessed and fortunate that whenever I have an idea and have tried to implement it, many a dance and music lovers have come to support me. With God’s grace this year too, it happened. I did not want an auditorium set-up, as I was talking of love and love would mean movies, bars, picnic, parties, along with hearts, roses, diamonds, chocolates and more. So I decided to do the show at a lounge in Mumbai.
Legendary actress Asha Parekh was our ideal chief guest, as we had many of her film songs in the dance act. As soon as she arrived, the show began with 16 dancers, dressed in red and white, walking into the lounge with heart-shaped balloons, chocolates, roses, jewellery, wine and made all feel as if it was Valentine’s Day.
Live musicians took to the stage, dancers sang Michael Buble’s Fever, and then it was time for the drama of love to unfold. Actresses like Kitu Gidwani and Smiley Suri joined me on stage for performances. Then it was time for audience to sing along and we all chose Asha Parekh’s popular number Pyaar Deewana Hota Hai from Kati Patang. When music composer Ismail Darbar took to the microphone, people applauded all the way. Even Ashaji got up and sang with everyone present.
When Ashaji was explaining the importance of relationships, love and diamonds, it was the perfect time for me to gift her a diamond bracelet. I cannot forget the moment and the most awesome feeling when she danced with me on stage and the audience went crazy.
Later, sadness seeped into the story when we moved to discussing love turning suspicious. My partner Jesse played my lover to perfection. Later, I met a few people from the audience who told me that they had come to see us dance all the way from London. They had witnessed our performance at the Plymouth Dance festival last year and since then wanted to see us perform again. I felt humbled to hear such wonderful words.
At the end of the show we cut a traditional Dance Day cake, and I was most thrilled that Ashaji and actress Vidya Sinha joined my team to cut the cake.
If each day happens to be Dance Day, there will be no 26/11, no terror attacks, no rapes and no violence. I feel it is time to make each day special and remember that we humans were not born to hate but were only “born to love”.