Eshani - Anyone With a Desire to Work Hard and Who Has a Passion for Dance Can Learn How to Dance (Dancer, India)

Instagram - @eshhpat

1.Tell us more about your background and journey.

I grew up in South Florida and started dancing around the age of 6-7 years old. As a child, I mainly trained in Bharatnatyam, an Indian classical dance style. I occasionally learned other Indian dance styles, such as bhangra, Garba, and Bollywood for community dance functions and events. 

In college, I joined a Bollywood fusion competitive dance team for all four years and then when I graduated, I joined Aluminati, the All-Star Alumni Bollywood Fusion dance team in America. I only stayed a part of Aluminati for one year then because I became too busy to continue dancing consistently in dental school.

After graduating dental school last year, in May 2020, I moved to Los Angeles and started to become more consistent with dancing and learning how to combine my Indian dance background with western dance styles such as shuffling and hip hop.


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

I honestly am still trying to figure out what role dance will play in my professional life. Dance has always been a hobby for me and I only started to realize that it could be more than that this past year after I started to post dance content more consistently on social media and after moving to Los Angeles. 

I really do enjoy sharing my love and knowledge about dance with others and I am hoping to be able to continue to do so.

3. Who is your favourite dancer and why?

This question is so tough for me! I do not have just one favourite dancer because I feel like there are so many incredible dancers out there that have impacted me each in a different way. Watching Hrithik Roshan and Madhuri Dixit definitely inspired me as a child to fall in love with Bollywood music, dance, and expressions. 

However, for hip hop and shuffling, I have found that watching dancers such as Deelaney Glazer, Kaycee Rice, Vansecco, and Torinsho have been my biggest inspirations on social media platforms. They each have their own very unique styles and that has inspired me to find my own style that defines me as well.


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

With social media, it’s incredible how quickly content can spread worldwide. With that, many artists, dancers, musicians, and producers, can learn about you and reach out with collaboration or work opportunities. Some opportunities include choreographing or dancing in music videos, dance tv show offers, and teaching.


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

I think anyone with a desire to work hard and who has a passion for dance can learn how to dance. Formal training definitely gives you a strong foundation, but now with numerous online teaching platforms and workshops, one can definitely learn on their own if they take advantage of these online resources! 

I learned Bharatnatyam in a formal setting but I learned shuffling solely through online resources in the beginning.


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

If you have the passion and work ethic, you can make your dreams a reality. Although social media makes it seem like these things happen overnight for many famous artists, it is not true. It takes times and consistency. 

Usually, only the most perfect versions of an artist’s work are posted online. All the failures and attempts behind the scenes are often not shown and/or talking about.


7. Which is your favourite book and why?

My favourite book is Educated by Tera Westover. It is a memoir about Tera growing up in a survivalist family that didn’t trust the government. Her family didn’t send her to school to learn or to the hospital when injured because of this distrust. 

I loved this book because it showed how Tera’s perseverance and desire to learn helped her fight through and survive both physical and psychological abuse to ultimately earn a Master’s degree at Harvard University and create a name for herself.

- Interviewed by - Soumya Bhayana