Dance class teaches students multicultural moves

Abandoning the bustling New York streets for the 16th floor of Ripley-Grier Studios is like entering another distinct metropolis of dancers.

Listed on a giant television screen in Ripley-Grier lobby—reminiscent of an airport marquee—are all the dance classes occurring that day, when they a begin, and where in the building to find them. Ripley-Grier offers classes in a wide range of styles, including Bollywood Funk in room 16Q.

As described by Vicki Aubin, an instructor for the Bollywood Funk NYC Dance School, Bollywood Funk is a westernized fusion of dances based in the jazz style that incorporates aspects of street funk and contemporary urban dance set to modern Bollywood songs. According to the school’s website, students who take the class “learn cutting-edge moves and grooves as seen in today’s hottest Bollywood films, with a focus on rhythm, stage presence, technique and the ‘art’ of performing.”

Part hip-hop, part street funk, and full of the zest of Bollywood, what Bollywood Funk offers is a style for all ages, levels, and backgrounds. The Basic Beginner Level is recommended for those with little to no dance experience, while the Advanced Beginner level is recommended for those with any kind of previous dance experience. The Intermediate Level, because it is more technically challenging, requires either instructor’s permission or entry by audition.

Before the class begins, other students can be found talking and laughing amongst themselves, sharing jokes and stories from their weekends. Ripley-Grier attracts a friendly crowd to its comfortable environment, which boasts a spectacular view of the city at night. 

This specific Advanced Beginner class began with a standard hip-hop warm-up, focusing on body isolations. After a bit more stretching the class was ready to learn the day’s choreography. 

Ayesha Khanna, artistic director of Bollywood Funk NYC Dance School, is also the artistic director and choreographer of the school’s dance company. In class, Khanna reviewed the choreography of a routine started the week before. A large section of the class had already learned parts of the dance, but a few were completely new to the steps. Khanna went through the previously learned choreography slowly to ensure that everyone was up to speed, making it easy for newcomers to catch up to the other students. 

The choreography was set expertly to the pounding rhythm of a Bollywood beat—each count of the dance reflected both the differing rhythms in the song and the lyrics. Fast-paced and repetitive motions were a staple of the routine—a common theme in Bollywood dancing. Khanna made sure that each dancer hit the moves at the right moment and with as much energy as possible. The upbeat and energetic nature of these songs requires the dancer to execute each different motion as fully and precisely as possible while at an extraordinarily fast beat. 

Khanna has had extensive experience in many styles of dance, beginning her training in New Delhi, India. “She received formal training in a classical Indian dance called Kathak,” Aubin said. “Then she started training in other styles like jazz and ballet.”

According to the school’s website, Ayesha has appeared “as a leading dancer in Bollywood mega-hit films ‘Dhoom Machale’…and the Dharmendra Productions movie ‘Socha Na Tha.’” In 2006, Khanna moved to the United States and shortly after founded the Bollywood Funk NYC Dance School in 2007. 

For students taking the class, Khanna emphasized not only the importance of learning the prescribed choreography, but also encouraged the students to develop their individual style. During a few counts of choreography in which students could improvise their own moves, Khanna stressed that not only is this good practice in the dance studio, but it is also a useful confidence-builder beyond the colorful world of Bollywood Fun­k—especially when dancing with friends and in clubs around the city.

Bollywood Funk NYC Dance School offers classes at two different locations. Weeknight classes are located on the 16th floor of Ripley-Grier Studios at 520 Eighth Avenue (between 36th and 37th streets). Weekend classes are held on the 9th floor of Stepping Out Studios at 37 W. 26th Street, between Sixth Avenue and Broadway. Class Packages begin at five classes for $75.