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| The SONI Brothers |
Saturday night shenanigans with my danstastic FamJam (we are
a bunch of dance enthusiasts’) introduced me to the dancer duo ‘SONI Brothers’.
Interestingly I have danced with their group in my annual Falguni (garba)
nights but never really enquired about their identities. Garba being one of the
most celebrated Gujarati dance forms, Rajmata(mom) at her nostalgic best tagged
alongside to relive her dancing days. She was a fine garba dancer in her prime.
The perks of being a dancer and a gujju are that you are a
natural for this dance art. Along with music and the dance steps (hands and
feet) it is the well-coordinated voracious hand claps that beautify the
ethnicity of this form.
Garba is a gregarious and exuberant dance form, hence I chose to
redefine it as the GUJJU ZUMBA. And for my Zumba session I chose the company of
the very energetic ‘Soni Brothers’.
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| The Gujju ZUMBA |
Jigar Soni and Suhrad Soni famously known as the Soni
Brothers are the ‘Heart & Soul’ of SSGD (Soni's School of Garba).
Interestingly, the two are working professionals, Jigar is an esteemed professional
at Deccan Charters (he literally sells helicopters for a living (woah) how cool
is that???) while the younger lad is the Tech
Man working at a multinational IT firm. So when I met them the first
question I asked was “how do you manage your dance school along with work” and
the modest response was “It’s our PASSION.”
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| The signature DOUBLE JUMP |
From winning the National level
awards for FOLK Dance to representing India at the international stage
(workshops and shows in UK, UAE, Switzerland, USA and a strong future lineup)
the Ram-Lakhan Jodi has come a long way. Their recent works include
choregraphing a Gujarati dance song ‘Mari Madi No Garbo’ for the movie ‘Mad For
each Other’. They are also the first duo to provide a lecture on Garba at the 49th
World Congress on Dance Research held in Mumbai.
When I entered their class the vibe (Vatavaran-lol) was
enticing. The handsome duo dressed in Kurta Payjama was a fresh aberration from
the usual tracks and t-shirt look at other dance centres. My Garba/Zumba
session was worth every minute and I would recommend all of you’ll to try one
soon.
Its time for some ‘BRO Code’(wink) fun….
Spoiler Alert (Jigar is the Jolly good man and Suhrad has his Swagger)
Favourite Garba Song:
JS: It is too difficult to pick one, as I think
that the Dhol plays such a important role in all Garba songs that it makes you
tempted whenever you hear it.
SS:
Choose one between RAAS/GARBA:
JS: I simply love both. No
Googlies please (wink)
SS: Love both Raas and Garba but if
asked to choose one then would say that I Love performing Raas a bit more than
Garba (SWAG).
One peculiar habit that you hate about each other:
JS: Well well, He at times tends
to get a bit serious in handling certain issues where I try to laugh it out on
all hurdles coming my way.
SS: I can be bad at times to ensure Good Governance and discipline is maintained in the school whereas he tends to be a bit lineant (that's his nature :))that sometimes gets me frustrated.
If given a choice which Bollywood Celebrity would you like to teach
Garba to:
JS: It would be Shahid Kapoor, I think he is a complete dancer who can do
justice to all forms and maybe Priyanka Chopra. Both the names I have given I
believe are really good dancers but have still not got their true worth as a
dancer.
Mansi:
(#Padmatvati could have a Rajasthani/Gujju flavoured dance number)
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| Taal pe Tanz |
SS:
I wish to teach Garba to Govinda Ji and Madhuri Dixit as I feel they both
can do maximum Justice to this Beautiful Folk dance
19 years back their journey began with 5
students and today they boast of 1500 students (Mumbai) training under their
tutelage. They have made Authentic Garba, a minority dance form, their style
statement.
The Minority Men are indeed on a mission to take Garba Global.
PS: the dance video will be up soon.......
