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Right foot forward

He is good-natured single guy, is a sought-after soft-spoken dancer, but Prithviraj Ramaswamy is not yet ready to mingle. So, for the time being he is content being an indulgent master to his four-year-old adopted pet, Bose. “I have two pets, one stays with me at home and Bose is with me at my studio,” says Prithvi, as he cajoles Bose to pose with him for photographs in the studio with a huge calcium bone.

Bose has been Prithvi’s buddy and with Bose around, Prithvi feels the void in his life is filled. “Finding an unconditional person to spend your life is not hard, but I don’t think I am ready for an unconditional commitment right now,” says Prithvi who made Hyderabad his home since 2003.

Prithvi is a dreamer but a focussed one. He works towards realising his dream. So, before he makes a commitment he wants to ensure that he has enough to keep his life partner smiling all the time. Prithvi says, right now he is romancing his work and wants to make his students and their parents happy. “I don’t like postponing or cancelling my classes. Parents time their chores with the activity classes of their kids, if I cancel the class, chances are that their schedule will be upset, which is not nice,” he says.

As one walks up the steps to reach his studio, photographs of smiling kids in various dancing postures greet you. On the curve of the stairway Prithvi looks at you in various acrobatic postures and at the glass partition of his of office room are the pictures of Prithvi in his favourite holiday destination—New York.

“New York is the place for dancers. I am not tuned to the concept of America but, I love New York. There, dance is a way of life, expression of thought. And I had to literally fight a battle to be in New York to graduate in western classical dance,” recollects Prithvi.

Battle? Well for Prithvi it was one. “My family is completely devoted to Indian classical music. My grand-mother was a classical singer, mother was a teacher of classical dance in Chennai, so, when I expressed my intention of going to New York my family was in for a rude shock,” says Prithvi as he prepares to show a few dance moves and straps on his hip-hop shoes.

Those, also happen to be one of the favourite dancing shoes from the 24 pairs he owns. “Shoes are my weakness. Besides, I love buying tapes on dance, movies and music,” says Prithvi as he arranges the music console. The console which is usually used by DJs he explains, allows him to control the beat to match the pace of his students.

“As a kid my mother threw me out of dance classes for being mischievous. She was a dance teacher and went through a lot of hardship to bring me up and I wanted to help her. After completing standard XII I started working as a marketing professional. That was my source of sustenance. It allowed me to attend dance workshops, learn western classical dance and ballet at the Russian Cultural Centre and save enough money to go to New York and do what I wanted to do — learn western classical,” recollects Prithvi.

He surprised his mother who he invited for his first show. She thought Prithvi was still continuing with the marketing job and was away to New York to have fun. “I am proud of you, I felt what you wanted to learn was something filmy, but this is classical too,” were her words.

Prithvi’s is also not the one to believe in overnight fame. Movies, he feels, will bring him to limelight, but he feels the apt reward to his mother would be when he would be recognised for his work. Like a true devotee of classical dance, Prithvi says he doesn’t want to do anything with the movie industry. “I watch cinema for entertainment, but I disapprove of what is shown in the name of dance. Every dance form is twisted to suit the mood of the scene and women are made to look like props. I teach dance to some of the actors in the Telugu film industry but I strictly request them to keep me off films. I strongly believe in living by my ideology,” says this Che Guevara fan.

Dress thy feet!

Prithvi’s 25 pair of shoes consists of shoes for salsa, jazz, hip hop, free style and tap dancing. According to him it is necessary to be comfortable while learning to dance.

The right shoe can do wonders for one’s posture, performance and moves. Wrong shoes, according to him, will not only lead to a poor performance but also spoil the posture in the long run.

He explains, “for hip-hop and broadway movements I needs shoes that can give me a firm grip, without which there is chance of injury, especially when lot of jumping and balancing on your toes are required. I haven’t mastered tap-dancing but tried doing some steps in New York. When I am there I am only looking for shoes. Colours of the shoes also play a very important part of the performance. I avoid contrast shoes for a performance. I make sure no one wears red shoes with an all black or an all white dress on stage.

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