‘We all learn, grow together at Shiamak’s’

‘We all learn, grow together at Shiamak’s’

Marzi Pestonji’s stint with dancing is accidental. The CEO of Shiamak’s company says as a teenager, he had joined Shiamak’s dance class just because he wanted to be around pretty girls. The dancer was in Pune last week for Shiamak’s Winter Funk that had children, budding dancers, and those passionate about dancing as also people with special needs participating in it.

The dance reality show judge says that the institute admits at least two children with special needs in every batch at Shiamak’s dance school. “Shiamak introduced this concept 25 years ago when he started his dance classes. A lot of kids with special needs came to him. Parents were initially not too comfortable with the idea of all the children learning together and sharing the same class, but Shiamak changed that entire thought process. ‘Your child is as normal as any other kid and it is all a matter of how you treat them’ is what he would say. These kids probably would take some time to get their steps right but eventually they learn it,” Marzi explains.That, he says, was the reason Victory Arts Foundation was launched under which children from all walks of life including underprivileged, visually-challenged, kids with special needs, differently-abled were encouraged to join without any fees. “At a recent dance programme, we had two boys on wheel-chair performing Mallakhamb. They did a fabulous job,” he adds.

‘DANCE CHANGED MY LIFE’
Having joined Shiamak Davar’s dance group in 1993 as a student, Marzi gradually went on to assist him and is the CEO 26 years later. “I did not know who Shiamak was. One fine day, I just watched him dance and asked my dad who he was. Many of classmates from college had also joined his school so I decided to do so too. I joined because I wanted to party with pretty girls. Dancing was never in my DNA and I had never thought of becoming a dancer. I wanted to do my MBA, get a 9-5 job and lead a simple life. I took it up as a hobby and today it’s everything for me,” says Marzi, who now eats, sleeps and thinks dance. “I have become more responsible as a teacher and even through assisting Shiamak,” he adds. 

He doesn’t know when his job turned into a profession. “Shiamak asked me if I wanted to work on Dil Toh Pagal Hai and I agreed because I was getting to work on a film. My dad had no issues either as long as I was studying as well. That’s how my connection with dance began. Also, Shiamak looks after us as a family. I have only seen him, the school and all of us grow in all these years. He started with seven and today we have thousands of students. We have grown because of his hard work, dedication and vision to make dance a respectable professional in society,” he adds.

For Marzi, dance literally became family when he married fellow dancer Kashmira. “I hope my children become dancers too. Dance is everything for me,” he adds.

AN EVOLVING ART
Marzi believes that dance has evolved immensely in the last couple of decades. “The more you grow, the more knowledge you get and you can impart it to others. There are certain steps that I cannot master which the younger generation can but we all learn together. Maybe, I cannot do back flips because of my physical limit. When we started these styles, they were called gymnastics but for us, dance was dance. Gymnastics is an integral part of dancing now,” says Marzi.

Once a dancer, imbibing styles is not too tough, he insists. “Today hip-hop is trending, but we had contemporary dance before that and something else will come up soon. You just have to know the form,” says  the master of salsa, hip-hop, Bollywood, ballad, and more.

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