BENGALURU: The lockdown has been a busy period for popular salsa dancer Lourd Vijay. While it started off with online classes, Vijay has also been involved with distribution of groceries to the needy. Now, he has come together with the dance community from across the country to put together an online dance festival called All Heart, which will support the less fortunate. The 48-hour festival is spread over two weekends – May 23-24 and May 30-31. The idea stemmed from a video that dancers from across India did for World Dance Day on April 29. “We did a video remotely for the occasion and recorded it. At that point, I felt that if we could do something like that, then we could also do an online workshop,” says Vijay.
In addition, Vijay has also been part of an initiative wherein the group is supplying 40 tonnes of groceries to the needy every day. “Even so, we find that the demand is high, and that a lot of people will depend on it even after the lockdown is lifted,” he says. Combining the two together, Vijay went on to tell his dancer friends the idea, which many of them came forward to support. Over 40 instructors will teach various forms of dance, including Latin, ballroom, and contemporary for the initiative. Some of the participating dancers are Sneha Kapoor, Minoti Ramachandra and Ruel Dausan Varindani.
Vijay himself won’t be taking any classes since he will oversee the entire exercise. “All of it is being done ourselves without any outsourcing. We just want to be prepared in case of any tech glitches,” he says. With partner work being a challenge in an online setting, they are focussing on solo footwork. “The sessions will be streamed live and also recorded and uploaded on YouTube so that if there’s any technical lag, it will still be accessible,” he says.
The pass is priced at `990 and so far they’ve already received over 1,000 registrations. “While friends were donating money, we thought an initiative like this will help us gather resources from the public. We are hoping to raise `10 lakh through the initiative. All proceeds will go towards Spreading Hope Foundation which has been working on providing groceries and supplies to displaced daily wage workers,” he says.