Dancers bring Spring Funk to life

The Bollywood craze has been growing exponentially in suburbs across Melbourne, with many schools offering training in this genre of dancing. When it comes to music and dance nothing excites dancers as much as this latest Indian import. Leading the bandwagon with their own unique fusion of Indian contemporary dance and jazz techniques is the Shiamak Indo Jazz Dance Movement (SIJDM). Since launching their first sessions in 2007, the Shiamak family is growing literally by leaps and bounds.

“It does not matter whether you have two left feet, or are trained in dancing, ‘fun’ is where the Shiamak Indo Jazz Dance reigns. The whole group is itself like a big family with a common interest and has a combination of very interesting people from all parts of Melbourne. All ages join in to have some fun and in the process, learn dancing as a bonus,” claims Vihang Nikaljee, one of the main instructors with SIJDM. “At SIJDM we are very serious about our art, but there is no reason why we cannot enjoy the whole experience, learn and have fun at the same time,” he adds.

For those who think Bollywood means easy and you can just boogie into a class and dance like Hritik Roshan, think again. The seemingly effortless moves that you see on stage take years of hard work and training. The SIJDM instructors have trained in this dance form for several years, and are now instilling the same disciplines in all their students. When they put up a show you can be sure it will be a good one.

The audience at the Shiamak Spring Funk, held recently at the Palais Theatre in St. Kilda, witnessed another superlative performance by students, show kids and Shiamak’s special potential team.

At the Shiamak Spring Funk, vintage numbers were choreographed to appeal to new sensibilities, innovative dance moves were created on latest Bollywood hits and every student was offered an opportunity to shake a leg or two on stage. Proud parents sat in the audience armed with cameras, waiting to capture their offspring in action. Relatives and friends scanned the rows of dancers dressed in glittery costumes to find their loved ones amidst the glitz. Potential students checked out the possibility of joining the increasingly popular Shiamak team. I sat there and wondered