Talking point with Sandip Soparrkar

The dancer-choreographer on the joys of watching children dance

SOURCE: Talking Point with Sandeep Spoarrkar
What is the most exciting thing about being a judge on Dance India Dance Li'l Masters?
I love children and I feel that they're so much more flexible than adults. You can mould them to do exactly the steps that you want, unlike adults. And they're a lot more fun anyway.

What is the most inspirational thing you've seen in the auditions so far?
I was stunned by one dancer from Delhi, called Sunny. He has only one arm, but the way he moves, you can hardly make that out. It's a lesson to us dancers who think because we've got a minor pain, we can take a whole month off. This boy dances without an arm and so gracefully.

Another dancer who left an impression on me is Ananya, a five-year-old girl from Mumbai. She had her arangetram, the first public Bharatnatyam performance, at the age of two years and nine months—it's an astounding achievement. And when I watched her dance, I thought it wasn't a little girl, but a lady who's dancing in front of me.

Does your son Arjun also dance?
Unfortunately, no. He prefers his skating and karate. Even when I'm dancing, he refuses to join in and waits till I'm done so that we can go play. In fact, when we were giving out 'super wings' to the best dancers during the auditions, he said he wanted a pair. So I told him he'd have to dance for it, and that really disappointed him.

Do you think there are enough dance shows for children on television?
Not really. There was Boogie Woogie which was an excellent programme and I used to watch it quite regularly. Now there's Li'l Masters. I hope more such shows come up because they provide an excellent platform for these young dancers to showcase their talent. But there's one thing we need to be wary of and that is children trying to dance like adults. They copy the expressions and body language and it's just not pleasant. When these young ones dance, their innocence should shine through.

Now that there are so many talent shows on television, do more people approach you for lessons?
Definitely, they do. Even films have done their share to encourage people. The most popular style is still Bollywood, but more and more people want to learn international styles.

So are we a nation of dancers or are we a nation of singers?
I would say dancers. We're bathroom singers, but we all dance in public, whether it's at festivals or weddings. We just need an excuse to dance.

OK, So Sandeep has a son already and I was under and impression that Sandeep and Jesse recently got married

Aww I loved his answer to the last question. That we're a nation of dancers. It's SO true! Indians are always dancing, at weddings, functions, religious occasions, even just for random reasons!! :)

And we really have such a diversity in dance in terms of classical and folk.

Dance is in our culture. I LOVE his last quote, "We just need an excuse to dance"

Too true.

I love what he said about children and their innocence as well. 👍🏼

My favourite bit from this article:

"But there's one thing we need to be wary of and that is children trying to dance like adults. They copy the expressions and body language and it's just not pleasant. When these young ones dance, their innocence should shine through."

I think I respect the guy a lot because of this single comment. It's good to see that some still wish to see the innocence of kids and don't wish to transform them in to doing all this stuff that doesn't suit them. 👎🏼

Boogie Woogie was definitely a good platform to help the kids. I hope DID lil masters succeeds in providing a similar platform for kids. 😊

Thanks SAS for Sharing!! 😊

arjun is his adopted son...i think

Originally posted by: carolinecj

arjun is his adopted son...i think