Gurugram to LA: Choreographer-dancer Manya Aggarwal's inspiring journey

MUMBAI: Choreographer and dancer Manya Aggarwal is currently teaching kids Bollywood and Hip Hop dances and also doing gigs in the US.Passionate about dance since she was quite young, it was her mother who spotted the talent in her and she enrolled her in The Danceworx Perfoming Arts Academy, Gurgaon (Gurugram) when she was all of 5. "Thanks to her, my passion blossomed further," she says.Not many know that legendary ghazal maestro and bhajan samrat Anup Jalota has also sung an English song for an album and Manya featured in this album. "Basically, Anup Jalota Ji had a vision for his debut song in English to feature a dancer. He was kind enough to choose me to fulfill his vision. He wanted someone with a good understanding of the emotion of the song who could portray the essence effectively and he saw me fit to do so," she says.Manya wanted to take dance seriously and professionally. So, she applied to colleges in the US and, with determination and perseverance, she got into California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), Los Angeles (USA). After completing her education, she went straight into the professional dance world.She even performed at Disneyland, LA in a show called “The Light Within” by Joya Kazi Entertainment Company presented in collaboration with Disney at California Adventure Park. It was a dream come true, as she loved visiting Disneyland in Hong Kong, LA, and Orlando as a child. She was part of a 2 month long US tour for a well-renowned show called “Rhythm India: Bollywood and Beyond” presented by AMP and a Joya Kazi Unlimited Production. "It was very interesting to see how all the dancers were able to look good together even with so much of disparity in dance training. Few dancers from the cast were also classically trained in Indian forms such as Kathak and Bharatnatyam. For me, I have understanding of Bollywood as I grew up with it but never trained classically. This was a challenge for me but it also made me more versatile than I was and now I’m more in touch with my roots," she says.She says she always wanted to take class in LA. She recalls:"I loved watching dance videos of dancers in LA on YouTube and I always imagined myself taking class there and being in LA making it." About her inspirations, Manya says: "My inspirations have been Nat Bat and Delaney Glazer. My family, I would say has been my backbone through it all. They have motivated me to pursue this career and supported all my choices."