Helsinki: Bollywood film dance has a definite fan following in Finland with its government deciding to introduce Bollywood dance classes in its schools, all courtesy an Indian. Daniel Praveel Paul alias Danny, a 26-year-old Chennai resident went to Finland in 2008 for pursuing his masters in Bioengineering at Tampere University and ended up pursuing his passion for dance and established a Bollywood dance academy in Finland, the only one funded by the Government of Finland. Danny who says he began dancing at the age 13, used to perform with Jon Brito's troop and had already shared stage with stars including Yana Gupta, Dhanush, Madhavan amongst others before he moved to Finland. He was also the star performer at the south Indian version of reality show 'Dancing with the Stars- Jodi No 1'.
"I was happy to have secured admission here but I was disheartened too because coming here meant that I had to leave my passion. Few weeks after coming to Finland I felt homesick, Skype was a soul's saviour for me until I saw an advertisement on university pop-portal about a Tango dance course organised by 'Keri-the cultural association of Finland', " Danny said. Soon, Danny transformed into teacher at Keri and initially taught Latin and couple dance styles initially. "In 2009, I spoke to the organisers for teaching Bollywood at Keri and the sudden 'Bollywood boom' in my life began the foundation of Dannyy's Bollywood dance crew, (DBDC)" he said. "When I started here, I realised that people have a very vague definition of Bollywood dance in their minds. Nobody exactly knew what Indian style was all about, it revolved around few haphazard forms put together, which did contribute to an appealing performance at times but it wasn't truly 'Bollywood' style," Danny added.
The DBDC has performed over 75 shows in past two years, before the Finland govt realised their potential and offered to fund their studio operations. A call to introduce the Bollywood dance classes in Finnish schools came as an icing on the cake. The crew was the finalist for the biggest reality show on Finland television, Talent Suomi 2012. "DBDC did not win Talent Suomi, but they definitely set a path for longevity of Bollywood in Finland," he said.
