My first Magazine The Dream Box_E-Magazine_January 2018 | Page 13

INTERVIEW
The Fitooraqs is a guild of individual brilliances
blended together to metamorphose into creative
splendor that is an absolute treat to watch for one
and all. The Fitooraqs is a portmanteau of two
words “Fitoor” and “Raqs” which literally hold good
for “obsession” and “dance”. The unique thing about
its members is that each of them were involved with
different corporate giants in different professional
capacities but they were determined to follow their
dreams and made the call to give up their 9-5 lives
to live their dreams.
Tell us how your journey as The Fitooraqs begin?
All of us knew each other prior to the formation
of Fitoora qs. We used to meet up at various dance
competitions and events. That’s when we realized
that all of us share a common goal, taste and have
the same passion towards dancing and a craving to
achieve something big as dancers. We knew were
we are capable of pulling off something great, if
we come together. One fine day five of us met at
the California Burrito in Koramangala and decided
to go ahead with the idea of forming the Fitooraqs.
Honestly speaking, we never thought that that
random decision of ours would come this far.
Do you recall your very first performance as a team?
So, just a day after the Fitooraqs was formed,
we got a call from one of the event organizers that
there’s a dance competition taking place tomorrow
and Priya Mani would preside the judge’s chair. We
just had a night’s time to prepare and come up with
a dance sequence for the competition. We told
ourselves that if we can overcome this challenge, it
would define our character as a team going forward
and guess what our efforts paid off. We were
adjudged the winners of the competition.. That’s
where we realized our potential and we haven’t
looked back ever since.
What are the challenges you face or have faced in
your journey coming this far?
As a team, we face myriad challenges on
a day-to-day basis whether it be logistically or
financially. As core members of Fitooraqs, we
make sure a significant chunk of our earning goes
into replenishing the resources needed to keep our
professional ride smooth. Of course that would
change with time but a lot of time we would be
snubbed by the organizers when we tell them our
THE DREAM BOX
quotations. They fail to realize the efforts and
investments that go into preparing for a single
performance. Also, at times our families as well fail
to realize that dance actually can be a way of living
in this country. Hopefully things would change and
change for good.
Which is your most memorable performance till
date?
The most memorable one would be the one
when we had our first outstation performance
at NITK Surathkal, Mangalore. We were a semi-
professional dance group by then and the rest of the
participating teams were college goers. So, we also
had an added responsibility to perform better than
the other teams as a professional dancing unit. It
was a performance where we gelled as a team. We
eventually ended up winning it. So, it was one of the
most memorable performances for us.
Tell us your tryst with the IPL.
To be frank, IPL was a bit unexpected. It was
a dream come true for us. Fitooraqs was just one-
and-a-half months old and out of the blue we got
a contract to perform in the opening ceremony
of IPL. The best part about it was that the Bosco
Caesar dance group was choreographing the entire
performance. It was like a star studded team. It is
a privilege accessible only to the players and the
top brass of the Cricketing world. We learnt a lot
in those five days. We shared the stage with Beni
Dayal and Kriti Shanon. We could see ourselves on
the national television. So, it was a great experience.
What are your future plans?
We actually have been able to achieve our
one year plan within the first six months of our
formation. But we’ll continue work hard and try to
live up to the expectations. Our next plan is to start
our own production company where we can bring in
different dance groups under the same roof. It is our
dream as a team to perform at the Broadway Dance
Center, New York.
Any message for The Dream Box?
You guys have been doing a wonderful job
bringing such inspirational contents to the readers
and viewers. We’re pretty sure that somewhere
someone would watch this and get inspired. So all
the very best to The Dream Box.
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