For Aarti Gandhi, dance is a reflection of who she is and where she comes from. Born in the United Kingdom, but raised in Harare, Zimbabwe, Aarti's passion for dance was originally discovered when she started the classical Indian dance form of Bharatnatyam at the early age of 7. Her classical dance teachers quickly picked up on this passion and encouraged it. Aarti was awarded solos within her dan
ce group and local performances. Aarti made her mark as the most progressive student of the Dancing Nikita Company – a classical Indian dance company based in London, United Kingdom. She joined the company as a student in 2007 and left in 2009 with a high level of knowledge in semi-classical dance (the company’s unique dance form of classical Kathak and modern Bollywood dance) as well as a teacher and assistant manager of the company. During these two years, Aarti was a finalist of Sony TV’s Boogie Woogie dance competition and a principle dancer for the Dancing Nikita Company’s tour “Reflections of India”. Aarti also had the good fortune to be selected as a pupil in summer workshops taught by Pandit Birju Maharaj and disciples of Kumudini Lakhia. She took the experience of Bollywood and Kathak which she gained from the Dancing Nikita Company, and brought it back to Zimbabwe where she quickly found a young group of girls who she taught on a weekly basis. In April 2010, Aarti took to stage at a very renowned arts and cultural festival, HIFA (Harare International Festival of Arts) where she co-ordinated and choreographed a group of dancers who were awarded three daily slots to showcase their talents. Their showpiece consisted of a variety of dances, extracting music from both the classical and modern music genres. Following this, in October 2010, Aarti fused both her roots of Africa and her passion of Indian classical dancing, to perform a Bharatnatyam dance piece to the official song for the FIFA 2010 World Cup, Waka Waka (This Time For Africa) by Shakira. In January 2011, Aarti moved to Vancouver, Canada where she is now continuing her Kathak training under the guidance of Amika Kushwaha. Having already performed in countless community events in the Lower Mainland and Victoria, Aarti is quickly becoming a unique choice for local South Asian events. When asked what dancing means to her, Aarti says “I get up, I walk, I fall down. Meanwhile I keep on dancing.”
Bollywood dance classes in Vancouver commencing January 2012 – details to be announced soon.
