Indian Dance Competitions

All about our participations in Indian Dance Competitions……
Pictures wherever applicable.

Competitions Counted On Our Lists :

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The Competitions & Performances that we go have Judges with following qualifications with full transparency required for students to be eligible such as submitting videos, pictures, program specs, and all the other details :

  1. Degrees in Performing Arts (Indian for Indian Dances),
  2. Straight Background With Full Proof & Traceability,
  3. Versatile Dancers In Their Genre  – Non Stop Stage Dancers.
  4. Full Hands-Onn w/Knowledge From Right Sources ( traceable background or universities-not the universities such as gandharv.)

Competitions We Do :

As such we have won several competitions but we have only accounted in our bags that we have done it independently ourselves and have judges who are qualified in field of Indian Performing Arts-who know what to look for in dance forms or styles, if mentioned likewise.

  • Non-Voting, Strict by Genre, Category, Dance Forms, Rules of Dance Form, Rubrics, Guidelines, Marks and Feedbacks by Judges with straight background, Local or International Depending on all of above.
  • Competitions in partnership with other dance schools/teachers are NOT INCLUDED in our list.
  • We do not sponsor the awards or competitions that we take part in. Please contact hetal at mail2hets@gmail.com for sponsorships.
  • We do not do reality competitions YET. These are not institutionalized or educational competitions.
  • Competitions where voting criteria is 10/100 or more at any levels are not included in our list. You are welcome to take freelance lessons from us to participate but we will not participate in voting. We will not take those on our list.
  • Judges who do not have any knowledge of dance or cannot outline the difference between simple things such as bollywood vs folk, fusion vs bollywood, and so on! If you do not know the rules of dance form then there is no point in judging. And so, we do not take part in those competitions.
  • Participant Awards are NOT listed or considered for us-obviously and that includes students who get participant awards during competitions just for participating and not winning competitions for any runner ups awards either. Culture awards are not competition awards 🙂
  • Wins at the Competitions that misrepresented categories/competitions/malrepresentation by the organizers are NOT listed.
    • Eg-Represented as Indian FOLK Competition but it was actually a Bollywood Competition and so they are NOT LISTED HERE. We have won such competitions as well.
    • Only legitimate competitions are listed.
    • We DO NOT teach Tap/Jazz/Ballet. Students who took part in fusion dances that included tap/jazz or ballet were trained from Ballet Academy of Texas(Coppell) and Prestige Dance Company(Lewisville-former Coppell Dance Center)for 2months+ or were already avid trained dancers or good gymnasts.
      • We taught them only Indian Classical Dance(Bharatnatyam)or Indian Folk Dance and the Fusion work to go together based on what they knew.
    • Some competitions are listed together as only 1 award was given for consecutive years win or in same year as prizes had material gifts/or gift cards for participants or same work received awards in 2 different places by different participants or same participants. There was only 1 ceremony for awards that happened.
    • Competitions that are not worth our attention –>
      • Students are neglected, mis-treated, insulted by organizers are NOT worth of our time. We will pass their info-you are welcome to compete but keep us out of it.
      • Organizers are in favor of other dance schools and allowed several re-takes to them but not to us-for no good reason are NOT worth our time. We DO NOT want children to go through that traumatic experiences.
      • Students are questioned about their well-being priorities only because organizer couldn’t see the child winning in-spite of stopping the vote entries are NOT worth of your child’s time.
      • Organizers that offer inappropriate stage areas, dressing room areas or unsafe dance conditions are eliminated from our list for any future participations due to SAFETY GUIDELINES concerning child’s safety. We don’t come there to dance in 5-8 steps of stage area.
      • A stage or organizer who cannot respect a child’s presence while talking just about anything that they have in mind insulting kids and their parents whatsoever, esp. talking in extremely loud voice and misbehaving in front of children because you couldn’t handle pressures (while others were allowed to do same-all drama in front of child)-is not worth our attention.

Please learn your manners FIRST when you treat a child.

Stop treating them like trash — this tells us about your parenting! Not our parents’.

      • An organizer who is bias to us in all the privileges given to other participants will not need our attention at any given point of time. If you have made up your mind in not allowing us to avail the privileges then why should we make kids suffer through your misconduct and inappropriate behavior just for a trophy ?

Constructive feedbacks are very welcomed. We have come this far only because of constructive feedbacks. Please tell us your background before you judge!

All of above are NOT sarcastic humor incidents and are ruled out by experiences in recent competitions and we do not want any child to face such a traumatic experience just for a competition! Our kids/students are very precious to us. 

Other Blog Posts where such a traumatic incident happened : Read Here.

Stop blaming parents and kids for your own issues. Open Stats @Cqunce Inc.

This post was updated in May 15, 2019 | May 22, 2021.

Exclusive Copyrights by Reach Media for Hetal Joshi | Grace & Grooves | Grace Creations | Grace And Grooves 2012-2021.  This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.  

Grace And Grooves LLC, Names, Logo(s):

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Everybody in this world has their inspiration from somewhere or something. So do we and all our names. Just out of sky it did not come in our mind to get these names on our paper to register them as our own. With so many theories out there about names, we had to clear our own lists of all the DBA(s), Logo(s)….

logo

Our Logo in 2012. It had variations such as Grace And Grooves, Grace n Grooves, Grace Grooves, Grace & Grooves, etc.

Grace And Grooves LLC (2012) : This is sort of like additional information on how we got our name. As shared in link above on Grace And Grooves LLC(2012), we got our name from audiences. Topic 2 From Here.

 

 

 

Here’s little more to nail-biting situation we were put through for name!

PayPalLogo

One of other variation that was used…2012 onwards.

 

 

 

We encountered unforeseen challenges during our participation in this walk-in competition. When asked to provide the name of our dance company, we realized we had not yet established one and were unsure how to respond. It was surprising, as the event organizer had not disclosed the requirement for a company name prior to the competition and had accepted our entry without such information.

Despite this uncertainty, the grace, poise, and originality of our choreography spoke for itself. Our performance was even compared to a widely viewed YouTube routine with over a million views. Though this initially caused us some concern, our efforts were ultimately validated when we were honored with the first-place award.

We were informed that, should we win, we would need to provide a name by the end of the event for the purpose of announcing the results. We were the only participants without an official group or company name at the time, which made our entry stand out. It became apparent that the organizers were not in favor of unregistered participants, and this requirement seemed to reflect that preference.

cropped-logo-to-update-on-blog-cover.jpg

Our New Logo in 2015 September that we got made for Indian Folk Dances, Bharatnatyam and Fusion Dances. Bollywood was not really program back then. We started Bollywood off-late after September and logo was already done by then!!

During one of our early performances, a kind American attendee—married to an Indian—approached our team with a heartfelt compliment. Though she did not understand the language or the meaning of the song, she expressed that the choreography was so moving, it touched her deeply. Upon being asked, she specifically mentioned the final dance sequence as the moment that brought tears to her eyes.

The piece in question depicted the spiritual bond between Meera, a devoted follower of Lord Krishna, and the Lord Himself. Before the performance, the narrative was shared with the audience to provide context. The particular sequence that resonated with her portrayed Meera’s complete surrender to Lord Krishna through the Hare Krishna dhun (devotional chants), symbolizing her transcendence from the material world.

This touching duet was performed by Nirja Setty and her school friend (name withheld upon request), both adorned in custom-designed Kerala-style Tissue Pattu Pavadai. The fabric was specially ordered from India and the costumes were meticulously stitched and re-designed locally in Irving-Coppell, Texas, USA.

The emotional impact of the dance, especially as seen through the eyes of someone unfamiliar with the language but moved by its expression, marked a defining moment for us. It was in that very moment—when we were called on stage to receive the first-place award—that we spontaneously named ourselves Grace and Grooves. The name was spoken instinctively, and we immediately embraced it. It felt right. It felt like us.

The judges offered glowing feedback: “Beautiful choreography, dramatic appearances, well-executed, and stunning costumes and props.” One judge even asked, “How did you manage to choreograph something so beautiful to this song?”—a question we’ve since heard many times, and each time it brings us joy.

The choreography was created by Hetal Nagaraj, drawing from her rich training and inspirations. At the time, both performers were studying Bharatanatyam and Indian Folk Dance (pure forms) under our guidance. The intention was to prepare them as a duet team for an upcoming competition, pending audition results. While awaiting those results, we discovered this walk-in competition and decided to participate spontaneously.

This choreography has since won numerous awards—often back-to-back—and continues to captivate audiences. It’s a piece no one seems to tire of, and we continue to be humbled by the recurring question: “How did you do it?”

CALL NOW 972 979 2559 or Email : info@graceandgrooves.com

colors dance

Grace Creations Logo that was created much later. Before that,  several works were done in fusion dances.

Grace Creations(2013) :

Our name was directly inspired by an Indian artistic dance company based on the East Coast of the United States. From the moment we were introduced to their work—through a friend who shared their YouTube videos—we were captivated. This introduction occurred after our friend had seen Mrs. Nagaraj’s semi-classical performance and felt compelled to show us similar, inspiring content.

Another key source of inspiration was an Indian dance school in Georgia, USA, known for their beautifully executed and uniquely crafted fusion choreography. Both of these esteemed institutions are rooted in Bharatanatyam and have made a significant impact on the Indian classical and fusion dance communities in the U.S.

While we admired and began following their work, we were also committed to developing our own artistic identity. We infused a wide range of styles and dance forms into our choreography—sometimes staying within the boundaries of a particular tradition, and at other times pushing creative limits entirely. Nonetheless, all of our students received foundational training in the original classical forms to ensure the integrity and authenticity of each style was respected.

Much of our fusion choreography is performed under the banner Grace Creations—a creative extension of our artistic vision. Grace Creations would later evolve to perform independently in the years to come and is currently on hiatus.

CALL NOW 972 979 2559 or Email : info@graceandgrooves.com

Nruthyakala Dance Academy(2017) : The word comes from words Nruthya (or Nritya meaning dance) and Kala meaning Art. We had in mind several other names but we needed a name that goes for both the dance forms – Bharatanatyam and Indian Folk Dances(India). Main idea was to have Nruthya(Nritya meaning Dance) that is combination of Nritta and Natya – both;thus separating these two beautiful forms from all the other programs that we offer. Eventually, it may happen that Bharatnatyam and Indian Folk Dances may operate separately but until then this is it-we loved this as it best-fits our need!

CALL NOW 972 979 2559 or Email : info@graceandgrooves.com

Mirchi Dance Academy(2017): This word was decided last year! Very well, it came from Red Chillies Entertainment (An Entertainment Company in Mumbai, India). Mirchi(meaning hot pepper/chillies) is always a must have in plate if you have roots from Kathyavaad. Coming from hybrid-gujarati family, we were born eating tasty peppers/chillies with our all-time favorite theplas, stuffed paranthas or bajri-rotlas with all the other goodies. Some habits don’t go, they say! From our food plate to our DBA name. And you thought we don’t love Bollywood :)…Yes, bring it onn. It is tasty!

Kalasri and (often used kalashri by most media) Classical was as is acquisition, the name is not changed. Company was too teritorial for irving, keller, southlake and south irving to have logo rather on verge of shutdown until Ms. Hetal took it over.

Timeline of company, mergers and acquisitions.

Logo 2018 – Grace And Grooves was group until 2025. Here’s the logo until 2025 June 2.

In 2024, Hetal received the registered trademark for the company.

Here’s other company’s logo –

grace effects logo
g2 dance factory and g2 dance building sign
mirchi dance academy
texas all star
dhamaal events

Date: August 15, 2017 | June 2, 2025.

Website : www.graceandgrooves.com

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/GraceAndGrooves

Twitter : https://twitter.com/GraceAndGrooves

Youtube Channel :https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSbZYIr0EPzrfPNzH_0FcVw

Exclusively written by Hetal Nagaraj. Copyright Reach Media for Grace And Grooves | Grace Creations | Nruthyakala Dance Academy | Mirchi Dance Academy | 2011-current. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Past Staff (Volunteer & Paid)

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Past Staff (Volunteer & Paid)

One of our elite & trained gymnasts.-We did not train for gymnastics 🙂

Mrs. Swathi Burra, Irving-Texas :

She was volunteering with us for about 2 full years in lieu of her daughter’s dance fees from 2011-2013 and some months post 2013. Rest, we would gift her. A fabulous lady who knows how to treat people, understands queries and at times their concerns regarding costumes, jewelry, to just about anything. She has travelled around world and knew pretty much everything that anybody had queries regarding. 

Those 2-3 years when we started off doing regular lessons and filed for company name, we had people from outside US such as newly moved to US due to Green-Card Lottery, some moved to US on business visa or H1 visa from other countries while some like us who were pretty much settled where we were(Irving-Coppell). Times, we needed hand in backstage for costumes, makeup, ticketing, coordinating with organizers, collecting fees, checking the venues-this girl would get it all done. Some of these people had never spoken english or barely knew hindi and were an exclusive Telugu influenced. Swati was our big time help for all our south asian/indian programs for coordinating.

Till date, it is 2019 when we are editing this blog entry and we have received calls from organizers asking if its Swati they are talking to and they would start their talk in Telugu.

Journey with us :

We had just registered our company and formation was still going on with lot of other paper-work during that time and our Indian Folk Dances Program was pretty well established with private groups in Irving, Coppell, Valley Ranch Areas of Dallas and Denton County with over 30 students on an average. Some recreational while some only competitions in Indian Folk Dances and a few work-out groups for moms.

Recreational Folk Dances were only names as such because they would not bother to perform in US or anywhere at all or would perform only in Indian audiences in India which made us even more proud when we received compliments and in some cases, some certificates or awards as they would participate in India for various competitions during their visits to their homeland. 

Srinija Burra

Indian Folk Dancers, Bollywood And Amongst Very First Grace Creations Dancer.

Even after we were registered fully and almost all paper work was done, we were NOT committed to doing any regular community performances as Indian Folk Dances at competition level or even basic performance took us about fairly 10-12 classes for a good choreography to establish for an age group of 6 to 10 years. 

It was Ms. Swati’s decision however to prompt us to start Bollywood / Tollywood (Telugu Cinema Dances)/Indian Movie Dances.

And our very first Bollywood Group had its very first official performance in IANT  2013 under the name of Grace Creations-our non-competitive performing fusion company. And we started taking Bollywood students in groups targeting specific performances for community events.

Grace Creation, however, was formed with an inspiration from Indian dance companies in east-coast which Mrs. Nagaraj had been following in various social-media channels or as her idols or via her network of dancers in Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Rajasthan and Delhi. Our Students were already trained in Non-Indian Dances from Ballet Academy of Texas, and Coppell Dance Center(Now Prestige Dance Center) and we already had required Indian Dance knowledge of Indian Folk and Bharatnatyam that we needed to create fusion category of dances. 

But that was it, the group then dissolved as nobody was interested in regular community performances on monthly basis for Bollywood but instead wanted to move to Bharatnatyam when they saw Ms. Hetal Nagaraj teaching some classical work to college students who had come for competition related classes. 

Some students moved outside city itself while for others who stayed with us, shaped with us with our newly established structured program for Bollywood Dances. These students were also taking Indian Folk Dance Lessons from us as seperate programs and Bharatanatyam. In total, they would dance 1 hour per week for each program i.e. 3 hours total.

Looking back, if it wasn’t for the push of Ms. Burra, we would NOT have initiated the Bollywood-Tollywood or Indian Movie Dances Program and Grace Creations wouldn’t have existed so early. Initial plan was to launch Grace Creations in 2016, otherwise. Grace Creations is still our non-competing group for Bollywood students where now, most of our Musical Theatre Dances and acts happen in their respective categories and programs based on type/timeline of performance date. However, off-late in 2016 onwards, some of our fusion dances won 1st place non-stop in various competition from local, regional to state and national level.

Ms. Swati’s daughter, Srinija Burra was a fabulous recreational Indian Folk Dancer who was accepted in several competitions as Solo dance artist(Age 6) and was important part of our team. She has also won group Indian Folk Dance Competitions (Pure Folk and with respected judges/organizers with double degrees in fine arts-very proud of this young lady!) with our other 10 Indian Folk Dance Students. Srinija Burra has also been the student of the year and received discounts on our elite line of costumes rentals and several other perks that we offered from our sponsorships of our dances that time. 

Srinija & Nirja were often mistaken and switched in their solo performances by the organizers due to similarity in names and back then they would look very same! Best part was, both these girls would steal the show anywhere they would go, be it solo, duet or in group. All photographers, videographers and other parents who did not know us or these girls would take only their pictures and dance-videos with close-ups in-spite of being 10-15 dancers on stage without our informing them.

They were/are known to be the face and honor of Grace And Grooves LLC and often mistaken as Mrs. Hetal’s daughters or Mrs. Swati’s daughters as well. Nobody knew. Fun!

Today as well, till date in 2019, they are asked by various organizers who see our promo videos and pictures going out or in google search for modeling to dance assignments. A childhood friendship that shares some of the most beautiful memories that both the girls will cherish throughout their life! We are very blessed to have these young ladies as part of our family. 

Srinija was also the reason why we have student of the year today and was amongst our very first Student Of The Year :).

Thank you Swati for being our best one. We Miss You 🙂 This Blog post is exclusively for you! 

Blog Entries: Late 2017, April 3, 2019 with Srinija’s credits.

Copyright Reach Media for Hetal Nagaraj | Grace And Grooves | Grace Creations | 2012-2019. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Early Training-Raised with Standards

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Cultural diversity becomes lifestyle when you are brought up in Gujarat where business, commerce, equal rights/safety to women, and acceptable knowledge of regional language attracted educated people from all walks of life, other states of India and across the borders too! It automatically becomes a blessing when you are born and raised in such environment and obviously, dance cannot be ignored for somebody who is a lifelong student of performing arts. With all this migration of quality people, t’was a norm to hear news of some cultural association (at times not even registered) celebrating their festival every month and dance being part of it. Gandhinagar(capital of Gujarat)is place where people migrated for government jobs (strictly via entrance exams or transfers) so obviously more than 90% of population is educated to some decent level of education or had thorough knowledge of performing arts as Govt. of Gujarat had opened its doors to several non-profit organizations and associations to promote art & culture of India along with just nurturing Gujarati culture. Some migrated to Ahmedabad (main business city) for business or professional careers (esp. educated women and young girls) due to equal opportunity and safe environment for working women/college girls.

Theme Based Performances

Recent Release Picture/article (2015-2016) of Annual Show by St.Xaviers School, Gandhinagar. For over 40 years, school has been celebrating focusing to various themes. Trainings are provided by local dance teachers or professional instructors whose students study @ the school.

From small pocket size dance schools, passionate dancers w/dance academies (such as Darpana) to educational schools (such as St.Xaviers & Mt.Carmel Convent Schools), had their own events planned through out the school year such as annual day, sports day, teachers day, their inter-school competitions/Odyssey, Eid, Diwali, or Christmas. At least twice a year, schools supported major city events such as Independence Day, Republic Day or any other extraordinary events happening in city! Whole city along with renowned artists from performing arts and govt. delegates were invited so training had to be given to students. Events would either happen at city hall or helipad so the costume requirement, dance props usage was compulsory pertaining to dance. The entire show was about glimpse of India where in at least 5-8 minutes of stage time was exclusively given for each performance with a detailed description of state/region or culture (at-least one type of) identification and choreographer/trainers name if they permitted to be announced. Participation levels were close to 99% as they were absolute FUN! Schools encouraged students to participate by giving extra marks as in cultural activities. The instructors were invited to offer these classes most of times at very nominal price for schools or was free if your group/classroom chose to do it strictly under school name. The program would then end with some stunts by Indian Air-Force pilots, parades and salute to Indian heroes.

All of that doesn’t happen in day or just 10-12 classes! Folk Dances of India are not like Bollywood dances where you can have somebody dance on song and you got it! None of the techniques of Folk Dances of India has any basic movement that matches in anyway if you were to focus on learning folk dance, even it is for fun! It is not possible. As we(Ms. Joshi) remembers after-school practices 2-3 times a week for at-least an hour or two in corridors of school. That is 6-8 hours per week of commitment, at times non-stop through out the year. It wasn’t about perfection; it was about fundamentals because you were to show that in front of knowledgeable audiences and LIVE telecast by various TV channels. Those were our school years!

The dances during those times for these events were never Bollywood dances as Gujarat had a very well established line-up of events by various organizations/association and government departments that would conduct folk dance competitions and had attractive prizes as in cash prizes plus hotel discounts, household appliances and memberships to family clubs such as YMCA, Rajpath, and Rotary Clubs. We are talking of lakhs of INR rupees and not just a couple thousand rupees or a trophy with a picture! Judges were from various tourism departments to PHD holders or Masters degree holders in performing arts or were dance professors/teachers in college/universities. These events were frequently organized so any group that called for avid dancers was a grab & go opportunity for pretty much any student in college who loved to dance. At times, we planned our choreographies right after we got the win if it was 2nd or 3rd place to not miss on our bigger share of pocket money-as we called it! Creativity was an absolute requirement in choreography, techniques, and costumes along with other factors in such a tight competition without forsaking fundamental basics of dance form.

Obviously Bollywood did not stand a chance in this! Back then; Bollywood was referred as hindi movies with beautiful songs/lyrics and not really about dance due to dominance of above competitions in the field of performing arts. Nobody wanted their daughters to dance like Helen or Bobby as in Dimple Kapadia, or boys to dance like Mithun Chakravarti, Jitendra (no-way) but rather Hemamalini, Sridevi had set examples of Bollywood style of classical dances where Bharatnatyam had gained popularity and for budding artists, singing classes would go in full-thanks to our Kishor Da & Gulzar! Obviously, as we further embraced western cultures, Madhuri Dixit Nene, Sridevi, Meenakshi Sheshadri and such other dancers made their way to introducing modern dance moves successfully in-spite of being trained classical dancers and we can only imagine how much work they must have put in to achieve all of that in lime-light!

None from ALL of the above is a day of work or few classes’ work! It was more than that. You’ll know when you have gone through it just as we know it and so our students learn it, just as well. This is applicable to all recreational programs or private groups as well depending on program you join at Grace And Grooves.

While competition programs such as Grace And Grooves Elite Teams are for those who want to learn how to handle it with pressures and would like to make it as their way of life, like it is ours.

Our elite dancers are trained in least 2 dance forms (Not Bollywood) for at-least a year as a routine, or at professional & competitive level to bring them at our Elite level & ignite their creativity.

After all, dance is all about having fun and we like to keep it that way!

Copyright Reach Media for Grace And Grooves | Grace Creations | 2012-2017. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Our Story – How, when…. Grace And Grooves Started. And Why us ?

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Our Story – How, when…. Grace And Grooves Started. And Why us ?

The Beginning of Grace And Grooves: A Journey Toward Authentic Dance Education

Indian dance forms — whether Bharatanatyam, Folk Dances of India, or Bollywood-inspired choreography — were traditionally not considered mainstream career pathways in India, nor were they part of Ms. Hetal Joshi Nagaraj’s family’s professional background.

In 1999, when Hetal Joshi Nagaraj began offering freelance private group choreography focused on Indian Folk Dance competitions, a new journey began. These projects required far more than performance preparation. Competition-level choreography demanded creativity, storytelling, dramatic presentation, technical understanding, and respect for the foundational requirements of each dance form.

Behind every performance was extensive preparation — hours of training, movement development, cultural understanding, and technique-building before choreography could even begin. At that stage, these projects remained limited, seasonal opportunities, typically focused around competitions once or twice a year while balancing other academic and professional commitments.

When Passion Became a Purpose

Grace And Grooves was not created simply because of competition choreography.

The true turning point came when Ms. Hetal’s 3.5-year-old daughter began naturally expressing herself through dance while listening to Krishna Bhajans at the Hare Krishna Temple of Dallas, Texas (ISKCON Dallas).

Her movements captured the attention of those around her, and people began asking about her training and background. Interestingly, many of those early movements came from observing and absorbing folk dance training that Ms. Hetal was providing to competition students.

As a trained artist and mother, Ms. Hetal began teaching her daughter with structured guidance and proper technique. However, she soon realized that there was a need for a more organized, curriculum-based approach to Indian Folk Dance education — a pathway where students could develop skills that could lead to performances, achievements, and broader opportunities in the performing arts.

Identifying the Need for Authentic Curriculum-Based Training

After exploring available dance programs in the Dallas–Fort Worth area through both group and private instruction, Ms. Hetal recognized a significant gap: there were limited opportunities for students seeking structured, authentic, and technique-focused Indian Folk Dance education.

She observed that many programs blended community celebrations, Bollywood-inspired movements, and general cultural performances without necessarily following the foundational elements, regional characteristics, and technical requirements of traditional folk forms.

This highlighted an important need:

Students and families deserved access to authentic, structured, and educationally grounded Indian dance training — not just performance routines.

Building a Foundation for Future Generations

Grace And Grooves was created to help bridge this gap by developing pathways that combine:

  • Authentic dance foundations
  • Structured curriculum
  • Technical training
  • Cultural understanding
  • Creative expression
  • Performance opportunities
  • Student development
  • Leadership and mentorship experiences

What began with one child’s love for movement evolved into a larger mission: creating opportunities where Indian dance forms could be learned, respected, preserved, and presented with authenticity for future generations.

Through decades of teaching, documentation, and mentorship, Grace And Grooves continues to build pathways where students can grow not only as dancers, but also as confident, disciplined, and culturally connected individuals.

The journey began with one student’s love for dance and grew into a larger mission: creating opportunities where Indian dance forms could be learned, respected, preserved, and presented with authenticity for future generations.

Content 6 History

And it is 2023 – here’s the list of our dance productions + activities that we do in this group.

It is 2023, Graduates are listed as well.

By 2023, Programs accepted in universities of 5 countries. International. Exposure in 25 countries.

By 2023 – Number of Graduates – more than 150 in DFW Texas.

By 2023 –Hetal Nagaraj herself taught more than 3500 students.

By 2023 – Social Media Stats without a single reel.

By 2023 –Hetal Joshi M / Hetal Nagaraj has become a magnet for investors, capitalist, producers, directors, actors, celebrities from all over the world exclusively because of all the transparency, growth, traceability and all the beautiful results.

Leadership & Program Oversight

Ms. Hetal Joshi Nagaraj remains directly involved in the artistic and educational direction of Grace And Grooves. She maintains active oversight across programs, including supervising advanced graduates, mentorship pathways, and Texas All-Star Program interns.

In addition to organizational leadership, Ms. Hetal continues to teach independent training batches under her own artistic direction. These programs include multiple annual productions, typically involving 35–70+ students per production, reflecting her continued commitment to direct student development, choreography, and performance excellence.

Grace And Grooves operates as an organization built around Ms. Hetal’s artistic vision, curriculum, methodologies, and long-term pathways. The company structure supports and expands her work through seasonal choreographers, instructors, interns, and administrative support. Collaborating artists contribute during seasons or projects aligned with their availability and expertise.

The organization’s programs, curriculum frameworks, and artistic pathways have been developed under the direction of Hetal Joshi Nagaraj / Hetal Nagaraj, with operational support systems established to manage scheduling, planning, administration, and program coordination.

Do you know how much Hetal’s Elites are worth ?

Just http://www.thesettys.com-the setty siblings are worth 12million$ each. Value of real knowledge despite everything.

Hetal’s Networth is more than 50 Million$.

Still want to argue, chase cents, do labor work and wonder if anything that we are doing works or not ? See, it just worked (without anybody).

That is why Hetal’s name is everywhere.

Related Posts –

  1. Timeline of Grace And Grooves Corp.
  2. Line of Elites – Status.
  3. Elite Lines – Names.
  4. About Grace And Grooves Corp
  5. Elites’ Participations And Recognition

Date update – Dec 7, 2023 with links. AI-inclusions- update – July 23, 2026.

Copyright Reach Media for Grace And Grooves | Grace Creations | 2012-current. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

1999…. Entering Freelance Private Group Choreography. How we got into it…

Asidegraceandgrooves group by hetal joshi 3 Comments

1999 marked the year when our founding member Ms. Hetal Nagaraj first stepped into professional competition choreography as freelancer. It was the very first time when she taught students similar to her age, or they did not belong to her affiliated groups/school or college or let’s just say, were complete strangers. For a 20 year old, it was tough call when she was not a performer but a choreographer (Sigh). Through a friend’s friend, this all got started and today we are thankful to both of them.

Biggest challenge was that these students were avid dancers (who could move the way you want them to) but they had no idea of what they were doing. This is in-spite of being natives or participating in various community or school events as they claimed to. But, ready to work hard & first whole week just passed by getting their moves FIXED to folk requirements, which we did daily for 4 hours totaling to up-to 28 hours of training!

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After spending all that sponsored funds for the costumes and travel, you cannot afford to do mistakes. The whole week, with pure folk training & listening to audio/video of 30+ folk artist, finally we ended up in a song that was approved by competition board to use and was best fitting our decided folk & theme!

Then the real drill work of choreography had begun!

Folk Dance Competitions in India were/are technique focused (The ones we participated in) considering the important and major elements of folk dances to promote the authenticity and importance of Folk Dances. Other folk dances participated as well due to diverse cultural demographics in Gujarat. Judges either had dual degrees in performing arts, followed by PHDs or double masters in their areas. Ms. Joshi (we were) was worried as it was her very first freelance private group choreography with just some amateur free-move dancers who took training for short period of time! Getting them to NOT do mistake was biggest challenge.

If that was not enough, innovation & creativity was an essential element and to further make it look dramatic, we added the props that required balance.

Pressures…pressures & crazy pressures of around 16 dancers (14+2 setting) and it was all worth taking the pain! Cash prize of 1 Lakh Rupees & gift certificates to various malls & resorts. We did bag 20K INR (from award money as our % other than choreography fees), free tickets to cultural concerts, and gift cards to restaurants and hotels. It was a big amount back then in 1999 for a 20 year old to earn that money for just 3.5 months of work!

The satisfaction, Ms. Joshi (we) got was PRICELESS. Ms. Joshi also received additional perks from group as a thank you note for arranging costumes, jewelry & Props in last moment when board did not approve costumes and jewelry (due to folk costume guidelines) that group had initially decided. This was a kick-starter for us…Our best of all until now!

Copyright Reach Media for Grace And Grooves | Grace Creations | 2012-2019. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Elite : Expensive Or Quality ?

Asidegraceandgrooves group by hetal joshi Leave a comment

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2014 Winners. Copyright Images Exclusive to Grace And Grooves | Grace Creations, 25$ Costume on the left of this picture & 100$ Costume(handmade-on the right).          Choreographer : Hetal Joshi Nagaraj. Picture Courtesy : The Grace Effects.

ELITE: Expensive or Quality?

 What makes a DANCE company enjoy “An Elite” status?

Looking at pictures of Grace And Grooves, one might assume the OMG factor is of an expensive costume or is it, that rich families being part of event that company gets impression with the word – Elite?

W…R…O… N…G…! It wasn’t that. Don’t get deceived by the pictures or words!

In 2014, students of Grace And Grooves (Ages 7 & 9years old) won awards against pure Indian Classical Dance by some of the finest teachers in Dallas-Fortworth areas (Indian Dance Competition). The awards were won with pure folk dances of India and participating dance teams were from all over Texas. It wasn’t the first win that Grace And Grooves got it with pure folk in the same competition. 2013 competition wins were still fresh to all who participated again in 2014. They admired pure folk dances of india done by Grace And Grooves amongst the others–one more time because it was something that reminded them of their home. Just the way it is supposed to be! Choreographers addressed the performers of Grace And Grooves as an Elite with respect to choreography. That day, it was an honor for Ms. Joshi when those choreographers gave pat on her back for her 9 year old (with $100-custom handmade costume) stealing the award with a simple pure folk dance of India-Rajasthan-Ghoomar(or Ghummar/Ghumar) & a Lavani (or Laavani)- folk dance of India-Maharashtra by her 7 year old (with a $25 costume) against pure Bharatnatyam & Kuchipudi & other folk dances of india in non-classical dance category. Can’t get that wrong with all that years of knowledge/sweat & yes, constant mentoring. There it was, the company changed their tag line from a Premier Award Winning Folk Dance Company to an Elite Award Winning Folk Dance Company. In 2015, company started offering Bollywood Dance and Fusion Dance in name of Grace Creations for non-classical category of dances and to welcome Indian Movie Dances loved and admired for its peppy beats.

For most Bollywood/Tollywood Dances, Grace Creations costumes range is anywhere from a simple Jeans/legging with a t-shirt of $5-$10 and goes up-to $100 while the Folk Dances of India has costumes with price tag that starts from $25 to $120. Bharatnatyam costumes starts from $30 with shipping & goes up-to $110.

It all depends on how far you want to go with your pocket when it comes to dance. We welcome students to get their own costumes as well.

After all, dance is all about teaching your child look & feel beautiful which often goes with other performing arts factors & BIG yes–plus the COSTUME; if it comes with an affordable price tag.

And that’s how it is supposed to be – Simply Elite or Call it graceful. It’s the same thing. To be straight, no one wants to look beautiful with a hole in pocket or buy a $60 costume that makes your precious child look like a junk!

Pictures posted above are either past or present students of Grace and Grooves & their pictures are shared based on their exclusive photo sharing rights and approved by parents when shared/transferred to Grace And Grooves for the purpose of Grace and Grooves ONLY.  

Copyright Reach Media for Grace And Grooves | Grace Creations | 2012-2017. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.