BALLERINA OF THE MONTH January 2019

2018 was a memorable, momentous year for LDAB. Our students performed at a TEDx event at St. Mira’s in Pune. We had the glorious opportunity to represent India at the “Dances of the World” event held in Kuala Lumpur. LDAB was extensively covered in the media with numerous articles showering praises on our work in the field of dance. Our Artistic Director, Neha Suhjani, was featured on 2 city radio stations: Radio Mirchi and RadioOne, where she talked about her passion for ballet and teaching. LDAB added another international feather in its cap with its affiliation to UNESCO’s Council of International Dance (CID). We hosted 2 international examiners from Singapore and Australia to conduct the first-ever international ballet exams in Pune. 

Keeping the momentum going in 2019, we’ve already launched the 2019 Ballerina Calendar featuring our talented students on its pages. We also hosted an award show to laud the stellar performance of our students in the CTSD examinations. Our resolution for this year is to take LDAB to newer heights and spread joy amongst our budding ballerinas.

Keeping alive our glorious tradition of crowning an industrious and gifted student every month, we’re extremely elated to announce that Anwesha Ahuja has been bestowed with the regal title of “Ballerina of the Month for January 2019”.

Anwesha, a calm and quiet 10-year-old, is a 5th grader at Delhi Public School. She’s the younger child of Preeti Ahuja, a Home-Décor exhibitions consultant and home-maker, and Anuj Ahuja, an IT professional working at Cognizant.

Ballet isn’t Anwesha’s first brush with dance. She trained as a Bharatanatyam student for over 6 months, before coming to the realisation that learning ballet was her true calling. The good kind of peer pressure must have played an important part in this switch. About 6 of her friends already were students at LDAB, which sealed the deal.

On quizzing her about her other interests, Anwesha tells us about the plethora of extra-curricular activities she participates in at school. She’s fond of art and craft, she enjoys basketball and is also part of the calligraphy club.

She’s also a budding celebrity chef of sorts. It’s a father-daughter culinary team at the Ahuja home every weekend. They have a Youtube Channel: “Artistic Anwesha”, where they put out meticulously designed and produced videos of Anwesha preparing lip-smacking desserts. If you want to quickly learn how to make mango popsicles, chocolate shots, Oreo ice-cream or a chocolate smoothie, do check out Anwesha’s channel.

Giving her take on new-age parenting, Preeti tells us,

“I have an older son Adhyan, who’s a 12th grader and a really studious sort of student. But my daughter is a diametrically opposite personality type. She’s good at studying, but we understand intuitively that extra-curriculars is what she naturally gravitates towards. As a parent, it is my responsibility to let my child enjoy the freedom of exploring and carving out her own personality, rather than imposing a pre-formed template on her.”

Echoing his wife’s sentiments, Anuj agrees by succinctly giving his own take, “As long as she’s having a good time, I’m supportive of all of Anwesha’s endeavours.”

It’s been about 7 months since Anwesha started learning ballet at LDAB and she is completely obsessed about it. She eagerly looks forward to her bi-weekly session at the academy. Something she happily confesses is how utterly enamoured she is by her teacher, Neha. We happily concur. Neha’s warmth and graciousness do always seem to make her students love her more!

Giving her insights on Anwesha’s journey as a ballerina at LDAB, Neha tells us,

“Anwesha has been studying ballet for less than a year, but her passion for the art form isn’t any less than that of her friends, who have been at it for longer. She’s always trying to be her best, which is quite evident when she asks her senior Grade-2 friends to judge her moves. The most endearing quality she possesses is her smile. Even during difficult, physically draining sessions, I always find that her bright smile lights up the spirit of the whole class”