The MONK who can DANCE...

‘Being BOHO in BALI’ was the theme of our recent travel/explore the world diaries of my girls and I. Bali is all about the serene beaches, the hot(wink) volcano mountain trek, beautiful temples, the crazy night life, and how can I forget the ever rejuvenating SPAS. We sure did accomplish our annual SPA treatment goals (wink, wink).

Explore new places, a trait that I picked up from Financial Guru (Dad) over the years, is elementary in defining my life goals, visions and perspective. The artist in me is always in search of a BOHEMIAN true to his/ her passion. And right before my trip I actually met one. Call him a GYPSY, call him crazy or simply call him ‘CROCROAXZ’…

The MONK

Raghav Juyal famously known as CROCROAXZ is renowned for the unique ‘SLOW MOTION’ dance style. His innate ability to combine Lyrical Hip Hop, Digiting and free style dance moves in slow motion has actually created a new dance form ‘SLOW-MO’ or the ‘CROCROAXZ’ style. I share the emotion with GEETA KAPOOR (judge/mentor on DID), on his debut in DID-3 (Dance India Dance) auditions - his classic SLO-MO walk on ‘SILSILA YEH CHAHAT KA’(Devdas-movie), when she said, “I want to take you HOME.”

Celebrated as the KING of SLOW MOTION and his ability to effortlessly tickle the Funny bone, Raghav till date leads the life of a NOMAD. In my special rendezvous with Raghav I got to explore a side of him that not many are aware of.

Everyone is a huge fan of the slow mo walk, it’s your trademark per se what was the motivation behind your signature style?

As a child I was always slow at everything be it studies or sports. I would actually tease my friends to hit me and I would fall on the ground in slow motion. So I decided to make my weakness my strength. Also we live in a fast paced world, everyone is running to achieve something, in this RACE I stood out for being SLOW (laughs).

How did CROCROAXZ come into existence?

I was a part of a dance crew ‘D- MANIACS’. Back in school my friends used to tease me with the name CROCROAZ. They would say my dance style is as powerful as a crocodile and as creepy as a cockroach, since then its stuck around with me forever.

Dance+ is one show wherein every element at the core is a dancer from the super judge to the mentors/ judges and also the host. How did anchoring happen?

Apart from dance life has been more of a serendipity for me. I got an audition call for the movie Sonali Cable from Ramesh Sippy Entertainment and was selected for the role of Sada. Later on Ranjit Sir from Star Tv called me and asked me to be a part of Dance+. I was sceptical as I had never hosted a show ever in my life and also I am not so good at reciting scripted lines. So he just asked me to be at my impromptu best and the show was made. I am thankful to the people for having accepted my jibber jabber on the show.

A wild memory from Dehradun and your struggling days?

Wow! There are so many…I love trekking, camping, etc so whenever I am in my hometown my friends and I go for treks. There have been 2-3 instances wherein I have actually encountered a tiger. And the only thing that human instincts tell you to do in such a situation is RUN for your life....

I belong to a small town, coming to Mumbai was actually like me travelling to a foreign land. I had my Bollywood hero moment when I got down at VT station and entered the ‘Sapno ki Nagri’. But I soon got my reality check by living in sheds and befriending rats (I named two of them as Tommy & Hilfiger) (LOLSSS). Until DID season 3 it was a bittersweet struggle.

Will Shakti ever accept your proposal on the show?

(The deadly silence)…NO (laughs) {heartbreak}. She’s the only girl I can joke around with and not feel sorry.

YEH BANDHAN TOH.... PYAR KA BANDHAN HAI.......JANMO KA SANGAM HAI (wink)

QUICK 5 with the SLOW KING(wink)

Favourite Actor: Kangana Ranaut & Nawazuddin Siddiqe.

Favourite Dance Style (apart from your style): Indian Classical (I was a bit surprised at his choice). I love to watch any dance form which I can’t do myself.

A Dancer/Dance Crew that has inspired you: JabberWocky (group).

Choices….

Famous Dancer/ Actor/ Host (anchor): Remove famous and I want to do everything.

Love/ Money/ Dance: ‘Love Always’ all the way. I don’t believe in channelizing Love to a thing or a person. Spread Love with nature, people and every living being.

A FINAL MESSAGE…

FAME is the DEVIL; ART is the ANGEL. Fame will come and go but Art will stay with you forever. And a request to all the people let us all work towards reducing pollution and make this world a better place to live in.

His humility and modesty impressed me to confer the ‘MONK’ title on him (pass for being politically incorrect-wink). With the Dance+ season 2 coming to an end I am going to miss The MONK (Raghav) on TV.

Special mention, photo credits Ashish and the soul of Mansissism: Happy Baheti....

My Master, My Guru, My DRONACHARYA...

It was a tale of sheer grit, determination and willpower by our ‘Bharat ki Beti’; Sakshi Malik (Bronze Medal- Wrestling), P V Sindhu (Silver Medal- Badminton) and Dipa Karmakar (4^th position- Gymnastics) at the recently concluded Rio Olympics 2016. Their journey would be incomplete without the special mention of their Coach; Kuldeep Malik , P Gopichand and Bishweshwar Nandi.

So it got me into thinking, would Arjuna (Mahabharat) be the world’s greatest archer if not for his master Dronacharya? or would Sachin Tendulkar be the celebrated batsman without the training and guidance from his master Coach Ramakant Achrekar? Even Benjamin Graham (author of ‘The Intelligent Investor and a professor at Columbia Business School) has a major role play in defining Warren Buffet’s style of value investing.

My life is majorly influenced by three entities, Financial Guru (Dad), and my Dance Guru’s Shri Kalyan Raman Pillai (Bharatnatyam) and Sandip Soparkar (Ballroom Dance Art)…

SAMBA

Ballroom is a conglomerate of various dance styles (Rumba, Cha Cha, Jive, Paso Doble, Salsa, Foxtrot, Waltz and the list is long). It’s very difficult to choose between these many styles but my personal favourite forms are Samba and Waltz. Think of a Brazilian Carnival fest and we know it’s got to be Samba, a dance of celebration and jubilancy, redefines the classic ‘Hips Don’t Lie’ (wink). On the contrary everything about Waltz is royal, from the grandiose to the appeal to the costumes, every movement is enticing. Just watching two people dance in a wave like movement (1-2-3; Down-up-down) will make you fall in Love again.

How do I know all this? The answer is one man Sandip Soparkar. The Global face for Ballroom India … (Cannes Film Festival, recent World Film Festival) needs no introduction. Ask him when do we see him progressing into film direction or acting (for the good looksJ), pat comes the reply ‘I love to Dance and I love to teach Dance. So the fear of not being able to dance will always prevent me from doing anything else (laughs).’

With the ‘Teachers’ Day’ approaching soon I thought to write about the journey of my master Sandip Soparkar.

Your father was in the Indian Military service what inspired you to take up dance as a full time profession?

In the army culture at parties we would have live bands n people dancing the foxtrot, waltz and other ballroom dances. So I was introduced to these dance forms very early in life. I pursued professional training (Ballroom) abroad along with my MBA studies. 15 years back I came to India on a holiday and some family commitments. KITU (Gidwani) took me out dancing to Velocity one night, some days later I got a call from Shyam Benegal’s office. I went to his Tardeo office, he said ‘I believe you dance very well’ and offered me to work with him on his film. That’s how Zubeida happened. The film became a hit, critically acclaimed, and fetched me my first award.......

You know the trend in Bollywood once it starts it just starts. So here I am 15 years and counting(smiles).

Tell us more about the India Dance Week….

India Dance week, I began this when I won the first award from the government ‘National Achievement Award’ in 2014. The government gave me a certain number of funds to do something for the dance community, so I thought why not create a platform where dance styles of different genres come together and celebrate the spirit of Dance Art. We started out as a 5 day festival but logistical hazards motivated us to pursue 2 days wherein 1 day is for showcasing and the other is for competition. It’s been 3 years since inception and the response has been overwhelming.

The place where it all began St Andrews college (Class Time):wink wink:-)

Which is your favourite Dance forms among the Latin and Standard Ballroom formats?

I love the Rumba and Paso Doble from Latin Ballroom style and Waltz is an all-time favourite amongst Standard Ballroom.

Who is your favourite dancer from the current crop of actors?

I like Hritik Roshan he is very talented, I just wish if he could devote more time to dancing and create something out of it. Among the girls I love Priyanka Chopra, she is fantastic you give her anything and she just picks it up. I have worked with both of them on various projects and a memorable one is Darling (Saat Khoon Maaf) with Priyanka.

Any final message…………

In my years of experience, I have seen people change when they start dancing and are struck by the Fame bug. Stay grounded with your talent and you will go places.

A rendezvous with Sandip Sir is always a beautiful memory etched in my aura. In the spirit of Teachers Day I would like to tweak the years old saying………

BEHIND EVERY SUCCESSFUL MAN/WOMAN IS AN INSPIRATIONAL GURU.

My Guru!!

Special thanks to Amit Dolawat my fav Dance Partner and my lovely team Happy Baheti and Ashish.