The Stage

Dance body recognises Bollywood as an artform

Published Monday 30 January 2006 at 17:50 by Alistair Smith

Bollywood is to be recognised as a professional dance form, with its own syllabus and accredited examinations.

Honey Kalaria, director of Honey’s Dance Academy, has launched the world’s first Bollywood dance syllabus through industry training organisation the International Association of Modern Indian Arts. The syllabus has been four years in the making and Kalaria has been convincing professional dance bodies to recognise Bollywood as an art form since 1998.

She explained: “I had to literally start from scratch because there has been no other Bollywood dance syllabus written before. The syllabus had to fit in with the standard structured formats of existing dance exams, and because Bollywood is made up of many dance forms it was like incorporating 10 dance syllabuses into one. It was hard work but my passion lies in the area of dance and this is one of my ways of contributing to the world of dance.”

The United Kingdom Alliance of Professional Teachers of Dancing and Kindred Arts will accredit the syllabus and examinations. It is part of the World’s Dance Council and has was also the first body to introduce Scottish country freestyle dancing, rock’n’roll, western line dance and salsa dance exams. The qualifications will be obtainable initially at Kalaria’s schools but will also be available to other centres both in the UK and internationally.

Ansall Chezan, UKA examiner, said: “I cannot think of a better person than Honey to have written the Bollywood syllabus. Her work will allow students from all over the world to take Bollywood exams and help introduce Bollywood to the international market.”