My first Magazine May 2017 issue | Page 31

Y&S DANCE ACADEMY About Smita… Smita, a Chartered Accountant by qualication, is among the few who choose to explore their hearts true passion. Born in a small town in Maharashtra and brought up in Mumbai, dance has always been her passion since childhood. Even without any formal training she loved to perform whenever the opportunity arose. She got introduced to Jazz and Ballroom style of dance after she nished her graduation and had got done with her C.A. Final exams. But somewhere within she knew it was not the 9 to 5 job that she was meant for. But since dance was not looked upon as a mainstream career back then, she tried her hand at event management and f re e l a n c e d a s a n e v e n t coordinator for few years. Dance took a backseat then with the stress at work and also problems in her family. Just when she again got back to dancing, she lost her father to Cancer. At the age of 27,when all her friends were settled with a well paid job , she had to make her choice. And that’s when her tryst with belly dance began and there was no looking back. She got trained to be an instructor and was motivated by her teacher Veronica Simas D’souza. She also got trained in Kathak and Lavani. It was not an easy journey since she had to work a lot on her physical training and overcome her own inhibitions. She then started her own classes with her partner Yagna, but little did they know that the journey there onward was full of MAY 2017 challenges. After having started their own set up from the scratch, there was a turn in events with the sudden demise of her partner Yagna’s husband, responsibility of classes was on her. During this period she was going through her health problems with a pain in the leg constantly bothering her. This later on was diagnosed as a Back problem which was Grade II Dysplastic Listhesis( Bone slippage as well as slip disc). She was advised by the doctor to undergo a surgery. With her belief in God, she worked on herself and made a comeback to teaching dance in a year’s time. Connecting with your true self is what she believes in and bellydance is a holistic approach to accepting yourself and discovering the true goddess in each one. Y & S Dance Academy “Why walk when you can dance” 27