CHENNAI: Although born and raised in the US, Kavya G is self-admittedly a true-blue Chennaiite. The city-based dancer and founder of Black Swan dance company, who will be conducting a workshop in the city, talks to CE about her passion for teaching dance, ‘Swanography’ and much more.
A graduate in biochemistry, Kavya received formal training in Bharatanatyam till she was 18. “I learnt other styles of dance like jazz, modern, ballet and even salsa on the go, but my base became stronger with lessons in Bharatanatyam. Dancing has always been my passion and I want to explore more of it,” she says. While studying in the University of Arizona, she formed a dance group called Om Shanti, and had performed and won at many events. “We did a lot of fusion dancing and wanted to establish the concept of ‘East meets West’ in our performances.”
Her passion for dancing and enthusiasm to teach led her to Chennai, where she launched her own dance studio, Black Swan Dance in May 2016. “I played the black swan (with reference to the movie of the same name) in a performance for a clothing brand in Chennai. That’s where the name came from. I want to tell people that dancing involves certain things that are beyond their expectations,” she avers.
What is 'b(swanography)'? It is a style of dance that doesn’t fall under any particular genre or have a fixed style either; it revolves around the song we pick. We do anything from hip hop to classical and even Tamil kuthu dance,” she laughs.
Kavya says that the idea behind the workshop is to push people to embrace the 'black swan' within them, so that they are able to integrate several dance forms effortlessly. She, along with her dance company, has been choreographing and performing for various events like weddings, pageants (Pretty Princess Pageant), fashion shows and so on. They also did a tour between November-December 2016, in which they conducted swanography workshops in two continents. “It was Switzerland, France and America, to be precise,” she grins. “I have also done a few music videos and choreographed a small piece for a Malayalam film, Godha (2017).”
Kavya will be conducting two types of dance sessions regularly at Slate in Nungambakkam — BollyX (fitness) and b(swanography). She is also all set to conduct the b(swanography) workshop at The Brew Room, Savera Hotel on June 14 from 7 pm onwards.
For details, visit blackswandanceofficial on Facebook or mail kavya@blackswandance.com