Interview with Dance Guru Dharmesh Sir

Ritu Maheshwari
India Post News Service

Well known Dance expert, guru and judge of popular dance shows Dharmesh Yelande or ‘Dharmesh Sir’ as he is better known was in the Bay Area last week for a dance event. Ritu Maheshwari from India Post met him and talked about his journey, passion and next projects.

With a sizable Indian community in the Bay Area, our collaboration with leaders, experts and gurus back home has never been better in many fields. With a globally integrated world, things that excite and bind folks in India permeates thru the community here as well. Dancing is one such activity.

There are umpteen dance schools, dance competitions and dance programs here to inculcate the culture and energize our community here. The beacon for such programs perhaps is the ‘Dance India Dance’ television show.

The program and its subsequent series have enthralled the audiences like no other show. While there are many famous personalities that came from the show, one name that is synonymous with the show is none other than ‘Dharmesh Sir’.

Yes, Dharmesh Yelande, who is best known to his students, movies lovers and fans as ‘Dharmesh Sir’. He is a top notch dance guru and debuted as an actor by playing a lead role in the 3D dance-based HindiABCD: Any Body Can Dance co-starring Salman Khan and Prabhu Deva.  He also has a Dance Academy ‘D’Virus Dance Company’ in Vadodara.

Ritu: How did you learn to dance? Who was your inspiration?

Dharmesh Sir: I started dancing when I was in sixth grade. Looking at my interest, my father decided to put me in dance classes. I started with Bharat Natyam classes, but had to discontinue due to financial difficulties. Then I started to learn Western Dance with Sir Krishna Rao. I did it for 18 years. While learning with him, I started teaching dance to others and started my own classes with help of my sir.

I performed in Boogie Woogie in 2008 and won the contest. Then I got on the Dance India Dance and that launched a new journey for my career. Everyone started recognizing me and I started fulfilling my dreams.

After Dance India Dance, I got an opportunity to become Mentor. This led to Remo D’Souza sir offering me lead role in his upcoming movie ABCD (Anybody can dance). This led to a string of movies that established my movie career and started my acting journey.

Today I am a judge on various famous dance shows that I used to contest in on Zee, Sony and other leading TV channels. I was a judge for Dance Deewane along with Madhuri Dixit and Tushar. This is all due to my hard work, love of audience and passion.

I want to follow in the footsteps of my mentor Remo D’Souza and become expert director, choreographer and dancer.

I am very impressed with dance culture here in San Francisco and am looking forward to stay connected with groups here and continue the engagement.

Ritu: How was your experience performing in such competitive programs?

Dharmesh Sir: My experience has been amazing. Whenever you go to a show, you think that you have done the best preparation. However, when you go there, you see so much of a variety and choreography. This motivates you to keep working and excelling. This has improved my dedication, passion and desire to better myself.

Ritu: What are your key initiatives?

Dharmesh Sir: There are many projects I am working on, but am not able to share much. There are a few movies, web series and even writing that I am planning.  Will share once my plans firm up.

Ritu: What difference do you find between dance students in India and here?

Dharmesh Sir: While it is difficult to compare the two audiences, India has pronounced inclination towards Bollywood and scene here is more towards Western dance. Both have their strengths. When I came here last time, I was very impressed with Bollywood performances performed by western dance groups.

Ritu: What tips would you like to give to those who are passionate about dance as a career?

Dharmesh Sir: While there is no specific tips, I think passion, hard work and commitment towards dancing is more important than just wanting to become famous and be on TV. You need to be dedicated and committed to the field you choose. Don’t expect the results. Results will come as you put in the efforts and work on it.

Dharmesh Sir was here for an event ‘Disco Dandiya with Dharmesh Sir’ hosted by KindCart.

KindKart is a tech non-profit startup that supports grassroot organizations in India with their daily essential needs. Think of it like Instacart for charities. Donors choose a cause they would like to help and the money they donate is used to pay for daily essentials on the charities shopping list. Donors get the transparency on where their money is spent. KindKart is disrupting Transparency in Social Giving, giving donors the trust in knowing how their generous help is put to use. KindKart is founded by former tech executive from PayPal, Sri Gopalakrishnan, along with other tech, volunteers. In the last year alone KindKart has helped serve over 200k meals, over 50k cups of milk to children, and provide daily essential help like groceries, home essentials to over 2000 people in India.