Break it down

Since I was a little girl, I've always loved dancing.

I've always been a little shy so I'd never be the first person on the dance floor but I'd get there at some point.

Growing up, I did enjoy my dance class - I think what I learnt could be categorized as Contemporary Jazz.

Later on I even went for a couple of Salsa classes which was fun.

And more recently I tried Zumba. 

Now I don't know whether to call it a dance class or an exercise class though it doesn't matter since what I was doing there was neither one.

But let me tell you, one of the dances I was fascinated by but never really got down to perfecting was Breakdance.

Well, to be honest that's not how the story goes.

My sister just wanted a pair of those fingerless gloves so she could pretend to be Michael Jackson and breakdance.

And me?

I just wanted to do everything she did.

And then this morning while I was browsing I came across a video of monks breakdancing in an annual tribute to Adam 'MCA' Yauch of the Beastie Boys (who was a devout Buddhist and fought for Tibetan independence).

MCA-DAY "Buddhist Monks" from KNARF® New York on Vimeo.

And then I realized what my sister and I were wanting to do wasn't breakdancing.

It was simply called - wanting to wear gloves.

Say hello to Tangerine Arts Studio

There's one more reason to love Bandra.

Tangerine Arts Studio, has opened it's doors and is calling everyone over.

Tangerine is a studio space that holds classes ranging from Yoga, Zumba, Muay Thai, Belly dance, Contemporary and Bollywood dance daily from Monday to Saturday.

But it doesn't end just there. 

Every weekend one can also attend different fun workshops like different forms of dance and even hula hooping.

Founder Tanvi Mehra, is not only my yoga teacher but also a very dear friend.

From the very first time I entered this studio I fell in love with it.

It is a beautiful space with a warm wood floor and big windows on one side that draw all the sunlight in. And all around the studio one can see frames and other decorative elements put together by Rabanne Jamsandekar. Two of the walls are blanketed with floor to ceiling mirrors (perfect for dance rehearsals) and Tanvi was kind enough to give me the third wall to decorate with chalk art.

Creating the chalk art while my patient sister took photos for my stop motion video.

The studio just has such good energy. It draws you in.

Last weekend was the official launch of Tangerine Arts Studio at what was called the Big Juicy Weekend.

It began on Friday with a wonderful party hosted by Tanvi at the studio followed by 2 days of free classes in yoga, belly dance, contemporary, tap, salsa, hula hoop and much much more.

At the launch of Tangerine Arts Studio

The studio conducts classes daily from 7.30 am to 8.30 pm.
For anyone who wants to get fit or learn something new while having a good time, this is the place to go.

Tangerine Arts Studio

2nd Floor, Rukhsana, Near Puja Casa, Nargis Dutt Road, Pali Hill, Bandra, Mumbai

Facebook   |   Twitter   |   Instagram

Oscar morning with Mrs. Obama

Did you just watch the Oscars?

Like every year I did.

I didn't manage to wake up at 6am.

But woke up a little after and fastforwarded through the commercials which was great.

But there's something I just love about watching the Oscars while being curled up in bed.

Maybe it's about being in my PJs while the moviestars are as well put together as their wax twins at Madame Tussaud's.

But this year was a bit disappointing, wasn't it?

I didn't looove the dresses.

Or the performances.

Loved how Adele said Fank you. She was cool.

And so was 'the Boob song'. Especially the Kate Winslet part.

I think that woman has showed enough of boobage for her next ten lives as a movie-star.

But the star of the night for me was Tarantino.

That man talks like he's chatting with his pals at home while watching a football game and drinking some beers. But wait, that's his Oscar speech.

Love how he is just oozing with so much confidence that it almost seems intimidating.

After hours of watching the Red Carpet glamour and the entire award show, it finally came down to Michelle Obama presenting for the Best Movie category.

Now I felt pretty bad about how Jack Nicholson was sidelined.

Because the First Lady totally stole his thunder.

But you've got to love Michelle Obama.

Especially after this.

This lady knows how to have a good time.

And say it's for a cause - the Let's Move Campaign.

Here's to no more fat kids in America.

Hooray!

Thank You #18

Inspired by thxthxthx.

Concept & design by me. 

Ballet shoes

I've taken a couple of dance lessons in my life.

I learnt whatever dance it is that Shaimak Davar teaches when I was about 7 or 8.
I luckily never went throught the Bharatnatyam learning phase like most Indian girls which according to me results in super large staring eyes and wide hips.
I did go on to learn salsa which was great fun. We'd do salsa nights out together with others from the class. I stopped attending this class when I went abroad to study and unfortunately when I was back my instructor had become an actor. I'm sure you've seen him in movies and ads.
Anyway, the last class I took was by Sandeep Soparrkar. I would not recommend this one. He takes dance way too seriously. For someone who just wanted to have a good time, wearing closed-back shoes with heels and not being allowed to wear jeans was really not fun. With that we also had to learn the names of the steps. I would make myself remember the word Cucaracha by telling myself it's something like Cockroach. To make things even worse, we were partnered with India's worst male dancers. This was definitely going nowhere.

Inspite of this, I have always been intrigued by dance - all kinds of dance. Even ballet.
Ok, maybe it's just a ballet shoe obsession. I thought that I had bought my first pair in 2003 but then I found this.

me (left) pulling off ballet shoes and a fountain hairstyle while posing with fruit.

For me

Female ballet dancers - beautiful, graceful, just lovely.

Male ballet dancers - umm...

What can I say? Men in tights are just plain weird. When my sister was younger she thought that the reason male ballet dancers had a protruding bump in their tights was so that the female ballet dancers could use it as a stepping stool to do their airlifts.

That seemed to be their only purpose.

I secretly always wished to be a dancer. I dreamt about it once and woke up with pain in the muscles in my legs. Yes, I take my dreams very seriously. Don't you?

I finally watched Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan.
I watched it a few days ago in the afternoon just incase it would disturb a perfect night's sleep.

This psychological thriller is modeled around Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake ballet.

What a movie! And what a performance! Natalie Portman killed it. Yes, I did get freaked out a little. I was warned. But, I didn't listen and it was worth it. Unfortunately noone warned me about the sex content. So, watching it with your mother is probably not a good idea. Luckily my grandmother went to sleep 10 minutes into the movie.

My experience can be summarised as:
Wow.
Oh no!
Beautiful.
She needs help.
Blank expression + mute (while watching sexual content).
Hiding my embarassment under a blanket of nonchalance.
Explaining to my mom that the sexual stuff was just her imagination-like that makes it better (after realising that I've been quiet for way too long).
Not breathing. Pinching myself till the scene gets over.
Thank God its over.
Beautiful movie.

I began to wonder - Will I ever dance like that? Probably not. Especially with one foot bigger than the other. Is that normal?

I realised I would need to have a whole lot of strength in my legs to do a couple of those effortless-looking pirouettes.

And my knees aren't the strongest.

When people would say they went weak in the knees, I thought it was just an expression.

But, to be honest there have been 3 times in my life when I have actually experienced it - the actual feeling of not being able to walk.

- When I was late for my final art exam. Nervousness.

- When I met my ex boyfriend with his new girlfriend. Mixed feelings.

- And right before my sister's wedding. I don't even know why.

I'm a silly girl. What can I do?

A bouquet at the end of a performance would be lovely but, for now I'll just put the idea of becoming a prima ballerina on hold. I'll leave the dancing to the professionals and stick to just wearing the shoes.

And if you heart Tchaikovsky like me have a listen. It's the hip-hop remix of one of my favourite classical tunes - The Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy.


And here's Le Vent, a beautiful ballet video in slow motion shot at 1000 frames per second.

And it was all Yellow

Yellow seems to be my favourite colour right now & I seem to be loving everything yellow.

When I think yellow, I think Mango. It seems to be my breakfast, lunch, tea-time snack, dinner and dessert at the moment. It also makes great drinks. It's pretty surprising then how I'm not looking jaundiced yet.

They Draw & Cook

I sometimes wake up and just sniff it and feel like I get a high. Yes, I need to go to Mango rehab.

afternoon photography by me

But, our one month mango season is just wrong. So I'm eating enough to keep me going for the next 11 months.


Once it starts raining which marks the end of the mango season, I'll switch back to cheese.

Cheese is my comfort food. It wins the race to my stomach very often though chocolate seems to be a tough competitor. Maybe I will holiday in Switzerland some day and visit the shrines. And no, I am not a Yash Chopra fan. It's my dream to visit a cheese factory some day and go nuts.

Google image

Cheese makes the impossible possible. When I find something inedible, I just camouflage it with cheese and voilà, its edible.

I could go on. But, I too hungry to start my paragraph on custard.

I'll leave you with a drawing I did 2 years ago.

on coldplay.com

So in life, when in doubt, Go with the Yellow.

For those with 2 left feet

Learn to Tango

And if you can't get the steps right,

what you can try is getting the look right.

All you need a lot of hairgel and a (de-thorned) rose.

And if it still doesn't work, you'll atleast get some bonus points for effort and can have a few laughs.