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Course · Dance
Our dance training is rooted in Kathak, the North Indian classical form built on storytelling, spins and footwork that converses with the tabla. Students learn to carry rhythm in their feet, expression in their hands and face, and posture that stays with them for life.
Every class is live and one-to-one. The guru watches the whole body — the angle of a wrist, the weight on a heel — and corrects it there and then, at a pace set by your child, not by a batch.
The journey
Every student moves through the same four stages — at their own pace, with their own guru. Here is what each one actually means.
Dance begins standing still: posture, balance, and the basic hand positions. Then the feet start speaking — the first tatkar, stepped slowly to a counted cycle, and the namaskar that opens and closes every practice.
Footwork gains speed and the first compositions arrive. Students dance tatkar in three speeds, learn short tukdas, take their first careful chakkars, and perform the amad — the dancer's entrance.
Now the form opens up: longer todas and parans, chains of chakkars, and the beginning of abhinaya — using the face and hands to tell a story. By the end of this stage a student holds a full teentaal repertoire.
Advanced students refine artistry: gat bhaav storytelling, tarana choreography, complex layakari against the tabla, and composing their own sequences. Training turns toward performance — solo stage work, costume to curtain.
Inside a class
Every class follows the same quiet structure — the same one a student would get sitting across from the guru in person.
Joints, ankles and posture first — dancers' bodies are their instrument, and we tune it before we play it.
A new step, tukda or expression, demonstrated, recited in bols, then danced slowly together.
The student dances, the guru corrects — feet, frame, face — until the movement looks effortless.
Stretches, then this week's riyaaz written out: what to drill, how many times, and what to watch for.
Getting set up
Less than you'd think. Nothing on this list is needed for the free trial.
The ankle bells, from about the second month — we guide parents on string count and sizing for growing feet. Not needed for the trial.
A non-slippery patch of bare floor, roughly 2m × 2m. Carpet works for the first months; wood or tile is better later.
Phone or laptop placed so the guru sees the full body, head to feet. A cheap tripod solves this; we'll show you the setup.
“A chakkar is not taught in one class. It is taught in forty small corrections across ten classes — and online, one-to-one, I see every one of those corrections clearly. That is why this works.”
The trial is a real 40-minute class with a guru — free, on your clock, no instrument needed.