“Every Dancer Is Unique in Their Own Way” - Shah - Zain Alam Khan

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1.Tell us more about your background and journey.

 My real name is SHAH-ZAIN ALAM KHAN but I don’t like that name so I tell everyone SHEHZAAN, Shahzain sounds kinda Royal and doesn’t suit every time (being honest)

About my myself , I am someone very strong headed but I was not this way few year ago , I stay with my mother and my elder brother.

I’ve been raised in BOMBAY and I LOVE THIS CITY, every bit of this city, every street , every corners of this city is very close to me , I have done BMM but due to a lot of issues I had to take a drop in the last year ( I still don’t know if it was a right decision but if I ever get a chance, I will complete it , that’s what matters for me) 

About my journey - It’s been so EXHILARATING, NERVE-WRECKING,THRILLING,GRIPPING that’s sometimes I feel how did I even survived and made it till here. Few years ago something very unfortunate happened which shook our small family.

Due to which I had to take a responsibility at a very early age. And I had to take care of my family and mine expenses all by myself and it would be so frustrating sometimes and I would just feel why am I even facing something like this but sometimes it would be adrenaline-charged and I would talk to myself only that I am glad this happened it’s just making me someone which I could never be.

 

When I was 15/16 I was working with people who were 35/40 years old they I would listen to them. Try to understand them. Try to match their maturity bit. Because I feel intelligent is the most sexiest thing in a human. 

So I have this flip side of mine where I can even be a kid and someone whose wise and practical as well. But gonna celebrate my 24th birthday in the next two months. Quarantine birthday.

2. When did you first decide you wanted to pursue dancing and how did you start?

When there’s no specific incident that made me decide I will pursue dancing. I was appreciated a lot in school and then college everyone loved me for that. My cultural teachers. My team. My friends. Participated in a lot of fest in college and even won first place most of them places.

And I would just jam with people. Get out and try to gather information because it was pretty exciting to know or learn something new!

How did I start -  As I was saying it was pretty cool in school and college but then my friend told me why don’t you train and channelize your dancing in a positive way at the end it’s going to help you only. So I landed at THE DANCEWORX and 1st class day 1 I was so intimidated by everyone around. 

They were warming up. And kicks. And pirouettes. Stretching and I had no idea what was happening because what I did before never needed this kinda a warm up , always felt they are showing off but now I understand why they did what they did. 

And I had no clue after that class my life was gonna change and I would reach this far. As they always say the first step is the toughest but when you really decide and go for it then you start creating your own roads to reach your goals. 

3. Who is your favourite dancer and why?

Favorite Dancer - hahahahaha I don’t want to offend anyone ( joking) but this question I don’t think I can ever answer because every Artist or Every Dancer is unique in their own way. What one can do I can’t and what I can may be they can’t and that’s what differs everyone and makes them favorite of someone.

And I am happy for that because there are so many dancers. SO MANY DANCERS that I look upto. My teachers. My mentors. My friends. Dancers overseas. But I am a fan of everyone. And everyday someone inspires me to do more. So it changes everyday. 

Look I can’t judge a dancer because of their choreography because choreography is just steps that’s all it comes and goes. It changes every day. But what makes them is their training. Their skills and how much love they have for their art. Craft is very subjective it varies from human to human. So I am always looking forward to to get inspired by someone everyday.

Why- I would just say. I am trying to be MY FAVORITE !

4. Can you throw some light on opportunities one gets as a dancer?

Honestly in today times it’s all on us how we create and put it across how much of an information do we give to the community for the betterment of other to learn from it. It was may be very difficult back in the days to make it in life by only dancing. But times changed today you can make it only because of dancing but again you can’t take it for granted your work has to speak. 

You have to be focused and have to evolve with time. There are so many opportunities we have in today’s time. We have few teams from INDIA who had even gone to WORLD OF DANCE & AMERICAS GOT TALENT and even WON and made us proud and showed everyone that times changing and we can do this. 

It’s a STATEMENT which we needed. But again you can’t compare yourself to them , you really have to be focused. Strong headed and firm about what you want. Your goals and then there’s no looking back. 

5. Is format training required or can one train themselves purely on the basis of talent?

See I would say TRAINING is required to up your game. Of course dormant training is required because it has so much of vocabulary to learn from and you can see your body is changing with that training. 

But training yourself purely on the basis of talent is also acceptable but then once you run out of the ideas or you get stuck then what ? Then hard work will take over the talent! And I feel this is something everyone should remember that hardwork is the biggest component in any field to reach somewhere. 

You’ll always have competition, you’ll always have people around you trying to put you down but that shouldn’t stop you from doing what you want to do or where you wanna reach. Nobody can satisfy you but your only work can where you can sleep peacefully knowing you’ve done something. Learned. Shared. Experienced. Everything. And in our journey we go through this everyday.

6. What piece of advice would you like to give to future and aspiring artists?

Okay look my advice will not even matter because maybe you don’t even know me. And you’d be like why should I even listen to that person. But someone who doesn’t know will always tell you the truth and will never sugarcoat things for you. I will not lie to make you feel better about anything. 

Moreover I’ve said multiple times what you need. It’s you ,your focus,your hardwork, it’s your hunger that should be always be on top , hunger of learning. Hunger of evolving. Hunger of being a better person than yesterday and to everyone just because you look up to someone you don’t have to be good only to them because you like them. 

May be someone who just started this might need your help too Be wise. Be kind and grow with them. A smallest of gesture can change things for someone in so many ways you can’t even imagine. 

Personally telling you I’ve been through that and it has changed for me. I am still trying to make it up there. I am not in a competition with anyone. I look up to people but I don’t like to compare because everyone’s journey is different from yours. PYAAR BAATO 

7. Which is your favourite book and why?

Hahahahaha, wow I would never imagine I will write this. When I was training in THE DANCEWORX reading a book was a must for every person training there. And I would always run away from reading a book , and I’ve done that for the longest period of time.

But when I suddenly ran to Andaman for good 6-8 months alone to heal is when I started reading and it changed me again as a person. Currently I am reading IKIGAI 

Why - The secret of long and happy life. And at the end of the day that’s what I want in my life. Because I don’t where will I be in the next 10 years so wherever I am , I want to be happy and content. 

Instagram ka algorithm Nahi 

Life ka algorithm samjho.

 

‘’DESPERATE NAHI’’

‘’SATISFIED RAHO’’

- Shah Zain Alam Khan

Interview By - Anshika Sharma