The Sensuist. The
Perfectionist. The Nakhrewali.
Dipika
Vijay has been practicing belly dance for about 8 years now, and is the co-founder/director of KOHL Belly
Dance MOVEMENT, the largest belly dance company in Mumbai.
She is
a keen learner, seeker, and observer of life, movement and dance. She has
learnt from and has attended various workshops and intensives conducted by
Bellydance Superstars and master artists of cosmic repute such as Rachel Brice, Moria Chappell, Zoe Jakes, Mardi Love, Kami
Liddle, Sharon Kihara, Samantha Immanuel (VagaBond Princess), April Rose (Director of Rose Movement Studio), Bozenka Arencibia and Ebony Qualls (Bellydance Wild Card & Bellydance Evolution
star).
Other legendary
artists whom she has had the fortune of learning from are: Carolena Nericcio (Founder of American Tribal Style/ATS & Fat Chance Belly Dance
Studio), Mahmoud Reda (father of Oriental Belly Dance & the
founder of the ‘Reda Troop’), Farida
Fahmy (the founder of
the ‘Reda Troop’), Suhaila
Salimpour, Amy Sigil (Founder of Improvisational Tribal
Style/ITS), Donna Mejia, Tamalyn Dallal and Piny
Orchidaceae (Founder of Urban Tribal style of belly dance), Tito Sief, Anasma, Silvia
Salmanca, Andrea Sendek, Yana (director of
Yana Dance), Didem Kinali, Hatim Hamdy, Tigerlilly, Queeny Harish and Tamar
Bar Gil.
Additionally, Dipika is trained in Odissi (by
Sharon Lowen & Maria Laura Valdez), Hip Hop (by Spider Salah & Break
Boy Shiva) and is well versed with Bhangra, Garba and Bollywood styles of
dance, which she loves fusing with belly dance. She has learned
Shakti Yoga from the prominent Shakti Yoga and Kalaripayattu guru, Pradeesh
Raj, and has been training rigorously in Ashtanga Yoga for over 4 years, under
the tutelage of the acclaimed Yogini Deepika Mehta. She also follows Hatha Yoga
and Bikram Yoga, and practices aerial silks and pole
art as alternate fitness classes. These, along with her academic
qualification in Commercial Arts & Lifestyle Accessory Design from NID,
Ahmedabad, adds to her sense of conceptualization, movement planning and
stylization.
Dipika
specializes in Tribal Fusion Belly Dance but is always up for new challenges
and variations of the form.
She has
been travelling internationally since 2011 and has attended belly dance
festivals such as Tribal Fest (Sebastopol, USA), Nile Group Fest (Cairo, Egypt)
and Belly Dance China (Shanghai, China), and also all over India, in cities
like Mumbai and Delhi.
She has assiduously studied some highly
accredited international belly dance courses like:
• 8 Elements Phase I & II by Rachel Brice
• American Tribal Style (ATS) under Carolena
Nerricio
• Salimpour Format (Suhaila & Jamila both)
under Andrea Sendek
• Dance Theraputics under Deb Rubin.
As a teacher, she aims to provide the tools of technique,
vocabulary of movement, and creative nourishment to each who comes to learn,
seek, and observe.
Some of the International workshops she has conducted are:
§ --- ‘Joginis: Yoga - Belly Dance. Sensuous yet
Strong’ workshop conducted at Belly Dance China
§ --- Bollywood-Odissi Workshop in PLA, Berkley, USA.
Apart from workshops taught in USA and China She
has also conducted workshops all over India in cities like Delhi, Gujarat, and
Bangalore. In Mumbai, she has conducted path-breaking workshops like the first
ever LGBT Belly Workshop and Aqua-belly apart from workshops at Cricket Club, Mood
Indigo IIT Powai, etc.
Some of her noted international Belly Dance Performances are:
§ --- ‘Brahmani’ – A fusion piece performed
at Belly Dance China. Shanghai, China.
- Trio
Performance (Fusion Belly Dance)
§ --- ‘An-Ban’ – at Tribal Fest. Sebastopol,
USA.
- Duet (Indian
Fusion Belly Dance)
§ ---Moria Chappell’s ‘Wild
Saffron’ – at Tribal Fest. Sebastopol, USA.
- Group
Performance (Tribal Fusion Belly Dance)
She has also performed for all the haflas of Veve Dance and KOHL
Movement in Mumbai since 2008, local festivals in the city like, Kala Ghoda, The Arts
Conspiracy Festival, Dance With Joy, The Bandra Festival, Arts in Motion
(Women's Day Hafla, Colors of Holi); in Delhi, at Halflas of the Banjara School
of Dance (Raqs Masala, Jashn-e-Banjara); and in Gujarat, like the
Informative-Demonstrative Performance at the Ladies Club of Taj Hotel.
Dipika is a lover of the strange, unexpected, and
extraordinary, and her choreographies provide a glimpse of not just her culture
and rootedness, but also of how far she is from the default setting.
Some of the dances she has choreographed are:
§ --- An award winning ‘Tribal Fusion Bellydance
piece with Indian Elements’ to compete at Belly Dance China
2013 – Troup Category (choreographed in partnership with another
instructor from Veve Dance).
§ --- ‘Bollywood - Belly Dance' fusion choreography for a group of students to be performed at Belly Dance China in
August 2013.
§ ---A Tribal Fusion choreography for Silk Road Hafla of Veve Dance in Dec 2013, Mumbai.
§ --- A Dark Fusion Belly Dance choreography for a large
group of students for a charity stage show in July 2014, Mumbai.
§ --- Choregraphed a ‘Peppy Drum Solo’ for
Vibe Studio’s Annual Dance Show in Surat, Gujarat in 2014.
§ --- A Bhangra & Belly Dance fusion choreography for the Fusions Halfa of Veve Dance in 2014, Mumbai
§ --- 'The Balancing Act' - A two part choreography. One lyrical and one a sword piece for Kohl Movements stage show in March 2015, Mumbai.
§ --- ‘Brahmani’ – A fusion of Yoga, Belly
Dance and Odissi Choreography, for a trio, July 2014.
§
§ ---An-Ban – An Indian Fusion Duet
Choreography for Tribal Fest 2015.
- and a number of choreographies (including fusions) for Haflas of
Veve Dance and KOHL Movement.
Some of her small feats include:
- Delhi
University (DU) Group Dance Champions of the year 2001-2002.
-Training
Kannada movie star, Parul Yadav, for the record-breaking song 'Pyarge
Agabittaite' for the film Govindaya Namaha, 2011.
-A solo and a group performance
at the prestigious Kala Ghoda Festival 2013 in Mumbai.
-Winning
BDC 2013 Beyond Tradition – Troupe Category at Belly Dance China (BDC) 2013.
-Training
Miss Universal Peace & Humanity 2014 winner Ruhi Singh in belly dance in
2014.
-Conducting a completely SOLD OUT
workshop ‘Joginis: Yoga - Belly Dance. Sensuous yet Strong’ at Belly
Dance China in Shanghai in 2014.
-Was Moria Chappell’s assistant for the 64 Yoginis
Workshop at Tribal Fest 2015.
-Was a Wild Saffron dancer/team member in Tribal Fest 2015.
Some of her known students are:
- Jacqueline Fernandez – Bollywood Movie
Star; Miss Shri Lanka
- Parul Yadav – Kannada Movie Star;
Indian TV soap actress
- Ruhi Singh – Miss Universal Peace &
Humanity 2014; Femina Miss India Finalist; Movie Star.
- Mandy Takhar – Punjabi Movie Star;
British Indian Model
- Maryam Zakaria – Bollywood Actress/Dancer;
Model
- Meghna Malik aka Ammaji – Indian
Television Actress
- Divyalakshmi aka Sajja Bai - Indian Television
Actress
- Mona Wasu - Indian Television Actress
- Mamta
Dutta – Indian Television Actress
- Anjana Sukhani – Indian Television
Actress
- Mia Udeya – Mtv VJ; Model
“Being able to control the way your body
moves gives immense power. It makes me happy ... Dance is the design of movement. Dance is happiness! When I practice
belly dance I feel like I am praying with my body. It makes me feel powerful
and carnal and feminine!”
-
SANJANA MUTHREJA
Sanjana Muthreja has been influenced by the Middle Eastern culture
since the age of four and began belly dancing 8 years ago. Since, she has
become the co-founder/director of KOHL Belly
Dance MOVEMENT, the largest belly dance company in Mumbai.
She has completed 5 years each of Kathak and Yoga and is also an
avid Bollywood-style enthusiast.
An ingrained sense of the Arabic
culture gives her an inherent urge to learn all she can about the form, and
also travel around the world to learn from various master gurus. She has learnt from and has attended diverse workshops
and intensives conducted by Bellydance Superstars and master artists of cosmic
repute such as:
Sadie Marquardt
Azad Kaan
Didem Kanali
Tito Seif
Moria Chappel
Aziza
Nikolas Kazakos
Lia Verra
Khaled Mahmoud
Luxor
Tamar Bar-gil
Osama Emam
Mohamed Kazafy
Yana
Ebony
Wael Mansour
Ahmed Refaat
Marwa and Tuna
Kaheena
Nour
Hale Sultan
Oscar Flores
Sema Yeldiz
Mahmoud Reda
Farida Fahmy
Lubna Emam
Camelia
Hatem Hamdi
She aims to break
barriers of the physical, as well as the mind, and is always up for new
challenges. She seems to glide as if her body has no bones, and yet can mark
beats like no other – she specializes in the Percussion or Drum Solo, and also
loves new variations of the Oriental and Egyptian forms.
She has
been travelling internationally since 2011 and has attended belly dance
festivals such as:
- Egypt - Nile festival - 2011 and 2012
- Turkey - Tarazade
festival - 2013
- China - BDC
festival - 2014
- Greece - LdB
festival - 2014 n 2015
- Switzerland -SADIES
retreat - 2015
Sanjana believes herself blessed with
the skill and capability of teaching the dance-form of belly dance to
thousands of students - touching the hearts of children, young girls, and women
alike, by showing them the technique of learning to love oneself. As quick at
learning as she is, Sanjana is doubly patient with her students; she aspires to
instill peace and self-satisfaction through the graceful art of Bellydance.
She started teaching internationally
for various workshops in 2014, and hopes to spread the love of dance and movement
all around the world.
Some of the International workshops she has conducted are:
- China - BDC
festival - 2014
- Greece - LdB
festival - 2014, 2015
- Egypt 2015
Apart from the
workshops conducted in China, Greece, and Egypt, Sanjana has also taught various
workshops (including all sorts of fusions) within India in cities such as
Mumbai and Bangalore.
Some of her noted international Belly
Dance Performances include those at:
- TARAZADE TURKEY
2013
- BDC CHINA 2014
- LDB GREECE 2014
- SWITZERLAND SADIE
RETREAT 2015
- LDB GREECE 2015
She has also performed for all the haflas of Veve Dance and KOHL
Movement in Mumbai since 2009, local festivals in the city like The Arts Conspiracy Festival, Dance With Joy, The Bandra Festival, Arts in
Motion (Women's Day Hafla, Colors of Holi); and in Delhi for festivals like Jashn - e - Banjara, with
the Banjara School of Dance.
Her students would say that Sanjana is synonymous with Soft,
Smooth, Sexy, Flowing, Fluid, Feline. With imaginative techniques, she
determinedly fuses a number of steps to form tantalizing choreographies.
Equipped with the expertise of yoga and other dance forms, Sanjana has
choreographed various dances and performed all over India as well as
internationally – She has taught fusion choreographies including Yoga-Belly and
Bolly-Belly at festivals like BDC (China) and LDB (Greece).
She has also choreographed a number
of choreographies (including fusions) for Haflas of Veve Dance and KOHL
Movement.
Some of her small feats include:
Teaching and Performing at-
- LDB (Greece) - 2014
- BDC (China) - 2014
- LDB (Greece) - 2015
- Nile Fest (Egypt) - 2015
She also has a few surprises in store with respect to teaching workshops at international destinations for the year 2016.
Sanjana has also recently completed a certified intensive
course with the renowned Sadie – Queen of Drum Solo, and she considers this a milestone
as well as a stepping stone in her career.
Some of her known students are:
- Sunidhi Chauhan
- Nushrat Bharucha
- Sonnalli Seygall
- Sneha Ullal
- Ishita (Pyar Ka Panchnama)
- Shonalli
- Kavitta Verma
- Mandana Karim
- Pakkhi Hegde
- Zaara
- Anita Hassanandani
"I consider the body as a temple, and through it I gain happiness and the gratification of my being. I aim to instill the power of femininity in all those who are interested in opening their soul to the art of bellydance. My greatest accomplishment takes place every day - after every class, each student leaves with a sense of self satisfaction, peace, and a smile on her face ... When I dance, the world crumbles, and there is nothing beyond movement. Bellydance becomes existence."
