After sold-out pro-
ductions,suchas Dance Through Bollywood, Rhythm India, Rivers of Emotion, Live Love Bollywood, and Bollywood Enchanted, Taare now present Beats of Bollywood, during the annual festival featuring dance genres from around the world. Spearheaded by Ahneesh Valodia, Taare’s artistic director, Beats of Bollywood celebrates dance, passion and collaboration through the medium of Bollywood song.
In addition to the variety and colour of Indian dance styles performed by Taare dancers, the production brings together over 80 dancers from across Cape Town, including the Cape Celtic Dance Academy, Dance Descendants (belly dance), Dance For All (contemporary and African dance), Jacqui Pells School of Ballet, Latin Fever, S.P Dance Studio (hip-hop), and Tierra Flamenca (flamenco).
Taare was founded in 2012 and the troupe’s dancers range from school-goers to university students to young working professionals all with a passion for Indian dance.
“Taare was founded with a vision of bringing diverse people together through dance, and it is this foundation that has given rise to our latest artistic endeavour,” Ahneesh says.
There will be 52 productions at the seven-day festival taking place at the Artscape and Cape Town City Hall. Ahneesh started dancing at the age of 8 but his hopes of becoming a professional dancer were dashed after he was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy, a degenerative muscular disorder.
But at 21, he founded Taare
as way to pursue dance through cho-
reography.
Self-taught inBollywood dance and trained in Kathak (Indian classical dance), with exposure to several other dance styles, Ahneesh aims to blend the style to reflect the diversity and vibrancy of Bollywood dance.
Tickets, from R80 to R120, can be booked through Computicket.
