AUGUST 2018 F INDIA TODAY PUNJABI 3HE FIRST MOVE Soon after she
graduated in mass communications
(2009) from Panjab University,
Shan was convinced that
teaching people dance, and not
writing articles was her real calling.
This was back in 2011 when dance
academies were unheard of in this
region. With over 15 trained
dancers on her rolls, Jas K Shan’s
Dance Dacha academy teaches
Latin American folk (salsa chacha
rumba samba), Egyptian belly,
ecstatic and sufi dance, folk dances,
raggaeton, Cumbria and Moresalsa.
DANCE SHOWS She believes that
youngsters need to understand
dance is about passion and not
winning competitions. This
Reebok Metabolic trainer who has
students aged between three and
70 says, “How can people with no
idea of dance judge classical, retro
and Latin American?”
THE CHALLENGES For someone who
has been fascinated with dance ever
since she choreographed a
sequence in class VIII, being a
dance trainer might seem like a
breeze. However, she insists that
facilitating dance training to several
batches in a day is the easy part,
while running a studio is a constant
challenge, Shan, who runs the only
dance studio in the region,
adds, “Abnormally high rentals,
keeping oneself clued on latest
fads and ensuring that instructors
do not run away can be frustrating
sometimes."
CONTACT The British School
Building Sector 44B, Chandigarh
WEBSITE jaskshan.com
RELAXING LONG DRIVES
I AM READING THE RED LION BY MARIA SZEPES
ALL TIME FAVOURITE DANCER MADHURI DIXIT
JAS K. SHAN 29,
DANCE INSTRUCTOR,
ChandigarhT SHAKING AWAY STEREOTYPES
Photograph by MEHR SINGH