2016 with Kohl

2016 has been a year full of achievements for #KohlTeam. Their performances, workshops and haflas have left belly shaped stamps all over the globe.

Kohl Belly Dance Movement through 2016 :~

January

• Moria in Mumbai - hosted by Kohl Movement 

• Dipika trains actress Jacqueline Fernandez once again 

• Dipika does a photoshoot with Moria Chappell in Gujarat

February

• Mint Mill Project Workshops begin

March

• Dipika learns and performs at Tribal Massive in Las Vegas

April

• The Mint Mill Project 2016 Annual Show

May

• Dipika starts Mumbai's first Tribal Fusion Belly Dance batch 

• Dipika teaches at Belly Crawl & Bombay Fest, Arabella, Mumbai 

• Sanjana Sharma features in the city's 4 top newspapers for performing in Dubai Festival in Mumbai 

   

• Sanjana Sharma & Prachi teach at Arabella

June

• Kohl performs at Bombay Fest, & Electra 

• Sanjana participates in Sadie's Raqs Flow format in Switzerland

• Dipika takes a workshop in Surat

July 

• Sanjana Sharma attends Sadie's workshop in Bangalore and performs with Kohl students at the hafla

• Dipika is featured in Surat Times newspaper 

• Dipika teaches in Dance Mania Workshop in Surat 

• Sanjana Sharma teaches in PoWow at Pearl Academy

August

• Sanjana teaches and performs in Mediterranean Delight, Greece

• Sanjana gets featured in LifeSaga Org. 

• Dipika teaches at Oorja Ladies Club in Raipur

September

• Dipika completes First Love at Orchidaceae Dance Intensive in Lisbon 

• Shimmy Challenge for students

• Turkish Choreography Workshop for Kohl students by Sanjana

October

• Sword Workshop for Kohl students by Dipika 

• Belly Bazaar

• Sanjana teaches and preforms at LDB, Greece 

• New branch opens at Powai

November

•Sanjana teaches and choreographs Salman Yusuf for TV dance show Jhalak Dikhla Jaa

• Sanjana teaches and performs at Nile Fest in Egypt

December 

• Mint Mill Project & travel plans for 2017

Moria Chappell in Mumbai!

In the early days of the new year of 2016, the belly dance community of Mumbai was noted to experience a strange phenomenon. An opportunity to commune with a star had presented itself, and the company of Kohl Belly Dance Movement seized it.
The fiercely feminine belly dance superstar Moria Chappell walked the pseudo-winter terrains of Mumbai in January 2016, and #MoriainMumbai started trending all over social media. 

As is globally known, Moria is the Artistic Director of  The Bellydance Superstars as well as the tribal fusion group Wild Saffron, and is deservedly nicknamed the Queen of Tribal Nouveau. She travels worldwide performing and teaching the beautiful art of tribal fusion bellydance.

Kohl director Dipika Vijay hosted Moria throughout her 20 d
ay stay in the city. The larger than life belly superstar shocked Kohl Team with her open and grounded nature - low-hass, humble, and Mumbaikar-chill, Moria fitted in instantly.
The students of Kohl will never forget the two-day workshop of Tribal Fusion Immersion. The weekend of 9th-10th January exposed Kohl Movement to an array of magnificence.
Moria posted the following on Facebook: 

Arrived safely in Mumbai to a sold out workshop and waiting list grin emoticon I'm so thrilled that Tribal Fusion and Tribal Nouveau style has taken off in India over the past few years, thank you SO much Dipika Vijay and your entire team for making such a successful event...and for taking me sari shopping my first day here wink emoticon ....tomorrow begins with 5 hours of Muscular Isolation Drills, Fluid Transitions, Traveling Isolations, Spin Technique, Creative Poses and Unusual Arms Aesthetics....see you all bright and early!

The 10 hour intensive workshop left students and instructors alike floored and awed. Unique tribal fusion techniques and steps were taught and drilled, where Moria made sure she gave attention to each student. She encouraged questions and repeated patterns and movements when students were in doubt. The workshop was filled with laughter and grace, with a photo and certificate distribution ceremony in the end. 

Along with her dancer persona, the instructors of Kohl were also honoured to witness Moria's personal side. Put up in Dipika's own house, Kohl Team was able to exchange valued discussions and experiences with Moria, over cups of steaming masala chai. On the last day of the workshop, Kohl Team had a girls'-night-out with Moria that each of them will cherish for eternity. After dinner and drinks, the gang headed back to Dipika's house for a slumber-party: Moria instructed each member of the team to ask her one question on anything, and of course every one jumped at the opportunity. Moria sat royally in her headress pulling hookah, while our team came before her to ask their chosen questions. 
Moria is heralded as an innovator in costume design, stage make-up, and choreography. Her style, both feminine and fierce, commands an intensity and precision that epitomizes tribal fusion isolation and individualism. Prachi, Sanjana Sharma, and Akanksha wanted to know Moria's hair and make-up routine, and about her costuming and jewellery. Moria even demonstrated a tribal-look on our junior instructor Prachi. Sanjana, Richa, and Sneha enquired about body fitness and tightness in muscles, to which Moria responded knowledgeably - Moria is learned in the art of extreme muscle control and isolation which is fundamental to her current style. 

Moria gave the students and teachers at Kohl plenty to remember her by. Her love of fruits, chai, and khicchidi, her ordering a second thali at the Indian-cuisine restaurant Maharaja Bhog, her lying down in the back of the car endlessly telling stories, are all small details that Kohl Team will never forget.
Moria even spent quality time with Sanjana and Dipika for a personal photo-shoot, discussed art and architecture, gave make-up recommendations, and gave them insight on her creative process. 
Open to new experiences and hugely respective of the Indian tradition and culture, Moria Chappell - the colourful beauty draped in black - is a hurricane Kohl Movement will never recover from. 

#MoriaInMumbai

A year with Kohl <3

Kohl Movement has sown the seeds for new beginnings as the year comes to an end. From regeneration and rebirth to growth and development, Kohl's movement has strongly and powerfully been initiated in 2015.

Here are some of the laudable accomplishments of the company, achieved in the year 2015:

• February 22 ~ Birth of Kohl Belly Dance Movement

• March ~ The Annual Show labelled the 'Mint Mill Project' with performances including those of the #KohlTeam senior instructors, junior instructors, and students

• May - June ~ Dipika Vijay travels to the USA where she learns, performs, and teaches

• June ~ Sanjana Muthreja travels to Switzerland where she learns and performs

• July ~ Kohl Movement expands and enlists new trainees to join #KohlTeam 

• August ~ Start of 'Braided Smoke', a three ply approach to bellydance including technique, dance, and fitness 
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• September ~ Sanjana travels to Greece where she learns, performs, and teaches

• October ~ Dipika conducts the first ever LGBT workshop in Mumbai city ~ Sanjana conducts the first ever boy-girl batch ~ Prachi Shah travels to the USA to learn

• November ~ Sanjana, Richa Raichandani, and Sanjana Sharma travel to Egypt to perform
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• December ~ Dipika gets selected for yet another international platform 

Kohl Movement is ready to plunge into 2016, with ideas and plans already well conceptualized. 

Some exciting programmes coming up include:

• Moria Chapell's workshop in January
• Mint Mill Project - II in February
• International travel plans, that are well under way in March!