by Sherif Awad
She was born in Pune a small city in India. Her middle class parents gave lot of importance to education. Her father was an electronics engineer and her brothers and sister became all engineers. “However, I was born to dance since I was 6 years old”, laughs Trupti. “I used to memorize all the dance steps on TV while adding my own style, I had rhythm but it was all self-learnt. My parents were very supporting but few relatives were pressuring me to study and to become an engineer or a doctor. Yet I decided to stand my ground and started teaching and earning my pocket money through dance classes. Gradually, I started doing small events in school, social events and I realized that I can teach dance easily. I started doing dance workshops from the age of 13 and was also studying in school side by side. Since education was still an important thing in our house, I went on to complete my Masters in Commerce Degree while balancing all my work”.
After learning ballroom and salsa for six months in the US, Trupti returned to settle down in Mumbai where she got married. “
I also have a kid now…” adds Trupti. “I think coming to Mumbai was the best thing to have happened to me. It is a big city where Bollywood Industry is centered. After coming here, I have helmed many dance workshops while becoming a judge in event shows and a planner of many weddings”.
According to Trupti, dancing is a big thing in Indian weddings so gradually she started catering to all clients who were getting married and needed some kind of entertainment program for their guests. “Wedding choreography is basically a musical dance program setup by the bride/groom family and friends where all of them dance on Bollywood’s numbers to make the bride/grooms day special. Each member puts in hours of practices as they dance on Bollywood’s numbers with signature steps from each song”, explains Trupti who founded her company Exotic Wedding Planner in 2010. “So far, I have done over 500 weddings/Bollywood dance workshops across the world”, she says. “This also includes full-fledged wedding dance event which was held in Las Vegas where I was flown to teach dancing to 60 people including 20 Americans who learnt Bollywood’s dancing style to perform Indian wedding program for very first time.
Dancing is a skill but not everyone can dance or choreograph because a choreographer is the one who has a overall, broader vision and perspective”. About her studying times, Trupti says that most artists are gifted with inborn talent. “However studying is very important. It teaches you lot of finer things, exposes you to other humanities, subjects which will help you to evaluate and come to conclusions in future course of life. An artist has to keep learning and upgrading himself and keep pace with what is going on in the world else he will become obsolete. The ability to keep going with a positive mind despite all odds is a key in all aspects of life. Always keep learning new things, I am a student for life, even after 15 years in this profession every day I learn something new”, she explained.
About success versus stardom, Trupti has her own point: “Looking back from where I was and where I have reached I am very satisfied with what I have achieved in my professional journey”, she says. “I have already been featured in National Geographic Magazine, Kabel 1 Channel in Germany so I have had my share of fame. I am ambitious and I wish to do dance workshops in many more countries but staying grounded and being satisfied with what you have is very important to enjoy your life”.
About the Indian Art/Entertainment/Fashion industry, Trupti sees a sunrise in this sector for the economy. “It is making high growth strides”, she says. “Indian economy is on the cusp of a strong phase of growth, backed by rising incomes and rising consumer demands. Lot of collaborations are happening, people are coming from abroad to be part of Bollywood and lot of actors from here are going to Hollywood to act in films/shows there”.
But what’s next for Trupti Shah?
“I just finished a dance workshop in Malaysia”, she says I have couple of big destination weddings coming up in India, Thailand and Dubai where I will have to teach large number of people dance and set up the whole show. Lot of guests will be coming from different countries just two days prior to the wedding. My job would be to still train them with Bollywood dance so that they can setup a memorable performance for bride/groom on the stage.
I am also in talks with a UK School to deliver a motivational speech to their students and some dance lessons.
I am also open for associating with Dance schools around the world and doing Bollywood workshop in their respective countries”.
