15 years and counting…That is the number of years we took to explore, wander, experiment, fail and win to finally launch our very own creation – Tribe of Taal.
Is there a romantic, fantasy like history to this? One with how I always wanted to be a dancer OR I always knew I would have a dance venture of my own….There isn’t. The fantasy would fall short, that’s why.
I started dancing from the age of six years, pretty much from when I started forming vague memories of my childhood. At every single-family get together, I performed a step-to-step rendition of Hawa Hawaiii (including the slow motion piece in it!) and loved every bit of the adulation. Started learning Bharatnatyam at the age of 7years and since then there was no looking back. Annual days led to college festivals, which led to professional stage shows. I worked with some of the best choreographers then. Learnt all the styles there were– Indian Folk, Bollywood, Hip hop, Salsa, Contemporary. I knew then, dance was stamped into my life. Forever.
The wanderer in me, however, wanted to explore more. So in the form of a career, I became part of the entertainment industry. Event management taught me planning, detailing, back stage management and most importantly, patience. Television production made me realize how every idea can be given a larger than life depiction. Dance witnessed this all.
Then came a point where knowing what I really wanted to do became the need of the hour. Only dance made me feel alive. In came some personal doubts – How good am I as a dancer? Why don’t I enjoy this choreographer’s rehearsals? What form do I enjoy the most?
And also came in some dreams and aspirations – How wonderful it would be to choreograph my own piece? I would love to have an academy of mine someday. I want to share what I know with others.
And thus, like it was meant to be – one serious conversation with a friend, dancer and now partner, it was time to dive in. With the enthusiasm of teenagers, we started working on the name, details of our first workshop, ideas to advertise. With stars in our eyes and ghunghroos on our feet, we finally welcomed Tribe of Taal in our lives.
Tribe of Taal is very simply, our attempt to create an expression of our reality. Our style is Indian contemporary – a form that draws its influences from various classical dances of India and merges it with the modern expression. Is it the same as fusion? Partly. But more than fusion, it’s organic and vibrant. It neither has the rigidity of the purist forms, nor the irreverence of some of the new age forms. It’s a tender culmination of our traditional ideologies and the search for where we want to go. It’s very simply, natural.
Get in touch with your natural self. Feel alive like we do. We are there with you at every step – Literally.
Megha D’souza
Partner – Tribe of Taal
), dance was a common passion. After our dance shows, we always got compliments of how we complement each other. Fuelled by our years of deep friendship and our mutual dissatisfaction with the quality of dance training (apart from classical forms), Tribe of Taal was born after one such conversation.
