Indian Dance School in Dallas Fort-worth

Indian Dance School in Dallas Fort-worth Areas.

Past Interns,Visiting Faculties :

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Here’s the list of past interns who did some classes and performances for us as Grace And Grooves. We thought it would be a great idea giving them credits here as their little contribution towards Grace And Grooves had opened doors to other possibilities. No effort can go to waste!

We have surprised ourselves just as the word The Impossible as I M Possible even by following the rules of Indian Dances and yet we took a step ahead than the norm and yet managed to stay in the category! That’s fun. Serving to knowledge and knowledge only helps to achieve! The magic of training can take you to the heights of enjoying the form or style with unlimited creativity without harming anybody, it is so true! Gaining knowledge through training has helped deal with pressures and proper understanding of body mechanics.

When we say intern-choreographer, it means:

  1. They were working for us either voluntarily or were the part-timers or had occasional official commitments with us as per our mutual understanding and contract.
  2. They had given us full rights for publishing their pictures, videos and all that they had submitted to us to advertise their specialty or workshops either as the independent choreographer or as our own contracted choreographer.

If the names aren’t mentioned here then it only means that

  1. they have not met our expectations to teach our students after their showcase performance (Their performance did not represent Grace And Grooves).
  2. OR they have not worked for us in past at any given point of time.
  3. OR It did not materialize to the level where they officially committed to us, by signing the contract with Grace And Grooves
  4. OR officially they did not submit their videos or pictures to us for either advertising their workshops or their specialty.

Grace And Grooves is a registered business with the State of Texas as an LLC.

Thank you to each one of you for being part of our rich history that’s always in making! shruti

  1. Ms. Shruti Sheladia: 

She was amongst very first intern-choreographer who joined us amongst our very first batches/classes as an intern. She offered some Beginners’ Bharatnatyam Classes and did a few performances for us. Her experience had brought on board some lyrical dance skits in Bharatnatyam.  Here’s her rich experience:

  1. Shruti Sheladia brings her specialization in Classical Bharatnatyam from Abhinaya School Of Bharatnatyam from New Jersey to Grace and Grooves.
  2. She has been a very successful performer ever since the age of 6 and has performed in several awards winning shows in New Jersey such as Rutgers University NATYA- Indian Classical Dance Team and Rutgers RAGA – Raas and Garba Team. She has also danced for AATMA Performing Arts(New Jersey).
  3. She brings an amazing experience of 5 college level titles in classical, modern folk and fusion categories to Grace Creations and these titles are not counted towards the company achievements until now.
  4. She specializes in Bharatnatyam, Bollywood, Contemporary, Modern Folk-Fusions, Modern Folks, and Lyrical. She likes to spend time with family and friends and has a degree in Computer Science.
  5. Solo Performances to represent Grace And Grooves – Chhailaji, Lyrical: Abhinay.  Bharatnatyam.
  6. Contributions as choreographer or teacher : None.
  7. Total Number Of Classes Shruti Took : 1 hour. (Paid).
  8. Shruti’s Personalized Page : None, as we did not have that idea during her time.

2. Deepthi Chandrasekaran :

Deepthi's Pic for FB & Profile

Deepthi Chandrasekaran

  1. Classical Background : Received training in Bharatanatyam from Kalpakkam Dance School, under the tutelage of Guru. Smt. S. Divyasena in Kalakshetra Style.(1995-2002). Guru. Smt. S. Divyasena now runs Divanjali in Chennai.
  2. Performances (India): Deepthi has been an avid performer with public appearances in audiences of 5000 & more. Her best art-works were showcased in Malayala Samskarika Vedi, Onam Cultural Feast, Supreme Foundation-Kalpakkam-India. Other accountable performances include performances at Navratri Festival-Mahabalipuram, Kendriya Vidyalaya , NESCO Cultural Festival, and Kalpakkam Dance School Cultural Festival, India.
  3. Performances To Represent Grace And Grooves LLC (Dallas-Texas, USA/DFW): Classical-Shabdam in charity event organized by CRY America Inc. in CRY-Walk 2015 Irving-Texas, light Semi-Classical Bollywood Performances in Dallas/Fortworth Diwali Mela 2015 organized by DFWICS-Dallas,Texas as well as event by DFW Hindu Temple, Irving-Texas. She was our elite performing team for Bollywood Folk, Bharatnatyam & Semi-classical Bollywood, Classical fusion categories.
  4. Specialization : Bharatnatyam, Semi-Classical Fusions, Modern Folk-Fusions, Bollywood Semi-Classical Styles, Lyrical, & Bollywood Folk, Traditional Bollywood.
  5. Personalized Page on http://www.graceandgrooves.com : Click here. 
  6. Contributions as teacher/choreographer and dancer. Click Here.
  7. Deepthi’s Last Day of Work : Jan 19, 2018.
  8. Reason for leaving : Personal Constraints. (Feb 11, 2018).
  9. She continues to dance as part of performing team : Click Here.

3. Mansi Chauhan : 2014 April To August 2018 : 

  1. Joined as intern-part time student choreographer and made it her way to independent choreographer under the leadership of Hetal Nagaraj.
  2. Total Number of classes, contributions as intern, independent and for competition elite teams as well : Click Here.
  3. Reason for leaving : Frequent Intern Full Time Job & travels for college assignments.
  4. 2018 to current : Available occassionally for short time work for Elites Only.

4. Buvaneshwari Murugan : 2016 August To 2018 :

  1. Asst. Bharatanatyam Teacher and Lead Instructor for our online students and makeup class students.
  2. Shloka and Bharatanatyam Recitation : August 2018 to March 2019.
  3. Total Number of classes : 2016 to 2018 : Recreational Bharatanatyam Online Only
  4. Contribution as teacher/choreographer or representing Grace and Grooves LLC :
    • Jatiswaram : Students. Asst. Hetal Nagaraj.
    • Ganesha Kauthuvam: Students.
  5. 2018 August onwards she moved to teaching Shlokas for Grace And Grooves LLC instead of Bharatanatyam.
  6. Reason for leaving : Frequent travels to India & possibility to move to India for good due to visa.

5. Rinku Bhattacharji Das : Kathak, Manipuri : Oct 25, 2018 to Oct 20, 2019.

Rinku Bhattarcharya Das
Rinku Bhattarcharya Das

Time at Grace And Grooves : Oct 25, 2018 to Oct 20, 2019.

Contribution : Classical Kathak and Manipuri Solo performance @ Anantha Dance Production 2019.

Reason for leaving : Unable to spend time for consistent lesson time due to projects and No enrollments.

Phone : 972 979 2559.
Email : info@graceandgrooves.com
This Blog Post Was Updated : Feb 1, 2018, Oct 24, 2019.

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

Musical Dance Drama-2017….

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Inspiration was an Indian-Movie. You read it right!

Dil To Pagal Hai(1997) Starring Shah Rukh Khan, Madhuri-Dixit Nene, and Karishma Kapoor under the direction of Yash Chopra. Though not much into movies, Mrs. Hetal Nagaraj was very selective back then about feeding her eyes when it comes to the magic of Indian Cinema(Bollywood). To sit that long for a movie was a non-sense deal to her back then. But a musical drama as part of the movie itself had her all excited and she watched it finally in 2001 and it never left her mind. She thought maybe she could do likewise in Indian Folk Dances, Bharatnatyam..some day if she would get to do it!

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Testing Waters of Musical Drama in Recital 2017 with Role Play of Guest Artist with Bollywood Beginners. May 2017. Picture Courtesy: Phani Pydimaari, Picture Captions and Edits : The Grace Effects.

The whole idea of musicals in Indian Folk Dances and Bharatnatyam(or any classical dances of India) existed back then too. These had very matured audiences and trained performers back then. There were several musical ballets happening in the city(Ahmedabad, India) with the elements of Nritya and intricate elements of Natya combined very beautifully! Mrs.Hetal Nagaraj had watched several notable works from some of the most well-known theater productions to recorded-live musicals by amateur artists/college students for fund-raising activities on women-upbringing, child-marriages, religion riots in Ahmedabad city areas and so on!

But all these years, as if it took its own time to get into the plan of action. 2017, she came back home with a big YAHOO after a chaotic day of a culture community event organized by Indian Association of North Texas, Dallas-Texas(USA). She finally did it in a public community event(India-Day 2017) in Dallas-Texas(U.S.A) under 5 minutes with props!

IMG_1467 (1).PNG

                                                                                                                                        Indian Folk Dance Category and Fusion Category – 2017 Public Performance. Picture Courtesy-The Grace Effects(Added here-Feb 5, 2017)

Not 1, but 2 of those musicals in Indian Folk Dances and Bollywood-Fusion Dances Categories. She took up this challenge when the songs that were ready to go on stage had her scratch the head! And she asked, why not? We had done a mini-version of it in Recital 2016 to test the waters. And so January 21, 2017 was a big day! It was challenging to get all the props all the way to the stage. Thanks to our choreographers Mansi Chauhan and Deepthi Chandrasekaran who made themselves available last moment and it worked out just well. The only challenge was that it was a public event and it was not in their control unlike Recital 2016! However, Choreography and set-up was already planned as most of the students knew their part well enough as it was work of our Recital 2016 : Dance of Gods featuring Adi-Shakti in their own categories. But the Yahoo part was that they managed to cover all the Navarasa (The 9 Moods) as per Natya-Shastra in both the category dances without breaking the rules of any category and yet keeping it creative enough for community fun-performances. Not about perfection but basic requirements were met.

We were able to keep intact the dance categories that our students were trained in(their joined programs). As per our research, it has never happened in Dallas-Fortworth Areas(until 2017 January) and that makes us very first people to do it(Yes!). We have seen dance lessons been taught in the name of Folk, Bharatnatyam and yet ended up showcasing just plain Bollywood Stuff.

Just how she had to believe one more time in all the training that she did in past and all that she had taught to her students. It went well and smoother than she had expected for what was in her control. Fundamentals never run out of fashion and formulas don’t change! It will teach you not only common sense but there is a reason why rules exist in pretty much in any performing arts. If you follow fundamental elements of Indian performing arts(Natya Shashtra in this case) then you will cover pretty much everything with little efforts. Creativity is just an added element to it. 

Dil To Pagal Hai-True, we mean it. Now, you call that a Phrase, Bollywood Movie Name, Indian Folk Dance or Classical Bharatnatyam-none of our business. Don’t come after us for this!

Exclusive Copyrights by Reach Media for Hetal Joshi | Grace & Grooves | Grace Creations | Grace And Grooves 2012-2017.  This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. 

http://www.graceandgrooves.com        Phone : 972 979 2559                  info@graceandgrooves.com

Dance Projects By Grace And Grooves (Exclusively To Schools Only).

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Just as our artistic director Ms. Hetal Nagaraj had the opportunity to learn from her own schools and colleges during her entire academic life, she just follows same here. A little give back to her kids’ schools other than her active PTO involvements such as Vice President PTO, Cultural Committee Coordinator, and Staff-Event Coordinator.

Focusing on just one country(India) is an easy job in India where the diversity/culture in forms of Indian Folk or Cultural Dances makes sense as in regions or states of India when celebrating India’s Independence Day or Republic Day or school annual day. This is not really a possibility in Dallas-Texas charter schools(USA) where every other student studying in school is from the different country with absolutely no common culture grounds! With this global diversities, imposing an Indian Performing Arts or even using Indian music wasn’t a good fit.

But, efforts were paid off when the parents opened their doors to do some creative works as long as it was limited to school environment and shows. Most dancers who joined this program had never danced before or had never even moved themselves to the tunes of music. From selecting the music, costumes, moves and the makeup standards were as per school guidelines. The performance was to appeal not only most/all demographics depending on the school, and the environment but also must fit the guidelines of the school. Dance lessons happened throughout the academic year following the school guidelines and calendar.

Finally, we could get a decent 4-5 min of presentable creative works by the end of the year. Kids loved it and parents admired it.  Grace And Grooves had undertaken these fun creative projects with the following schools:

Below are the pictures of performances from both the schools. These pictures are released based on parent’s consent forms signed exclusively for Grace And Grooves releases Only.

Grace And Grooves Harmony Project
Grace And Grooves Harmony Project for Rehearsals
Grace And Grooves Universal Academy Project Rehearsals

Exclusive Copyrights by Reach Media for Hetal Joshi | Grace & Grooves | Grace Creations | Grace And Grooves 2012-2017.  All Pictures posted here are with an exclusive consent of participating students, parents or school staffs. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. 

Performances in 2015 and Before

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Indian Folk Dances, Bollywood and Bharatnatyam

Our Founding Member Hetal Nagaraj performs regularly for Bharatnatyam, Folk Dances of India And Bollywood

Past Performances of Grace And Grooves. List of paid and unpaid public events – 2015 and before in no specific order of occurrences and numbered per event/not by number of performances):

  1. Grace And Grooves performs at Plano Library, at a Diwali Event (Organized by Independent Groups). Ms. Mansi Chauhan offered Bollywood Workshop-Age Group 4 to 8 Years.
  2. Grace And Grooves performs at an invited event organized by DFW-Hindu Temple, Irving-Texas featuring Semi-Classical Bharatnatyam-Bollywood Style , Bollywood-Folk, and Bollywood Performances.
  3. Grace And Grooves performs Bharatnatyam(Shabdam/Shabhdam), Garba, and Bollywood Dances in a walkathon organized by CRY America Inc in Irving-Texas.

    Folk Dances of India, Bollywood and Bharatnatyam

    Bollywood, Bharatnatyam and Folk Dances of India at CRY America Inc walkathon in Irving-Texas.

  4. Grace And Grooves performs Bharatnatyam (Art-work), Bollywood and Fusion at Iskon-Dallas at a sponsored event.
  5. Grace And Grooves performs Lavani, Garba, Ghoomar/Ghummar, and Folk tale lyrical in Dallas-Texas for Dallas Catholic Charities in Dallas-Texas.
  6. Grace And Grooves performs Bharatnatyam(as guest artist, Allaripu) in competition where Ms. Hetal Joshi was judge for Non-Classical Category-Dallas, Texas. (2011)
  7. Grace And Grooves performs Garba, Bollywood Dances, and Lavani in May Festival -Fortworth.
  8. Grace And Grooves performs Bharatnatyam(Pushpanjali-Guru Vandana), Tollywood Dances, Bollywood Dances, Folk Lyrical in Dallas International Festival, Dallas-Texas.
  9. Grace And Grooves performs Kalbelia, Kshatriya, Tippani and Bollywood Dances in Plano, Texas at an International Festival representing India.
  10. Grace And Grooves showcased art-works (Garba of Smt. Indu Mangrola) and Semi-Classical Kathak in Tarrant County-College, Arlington-Texas.
  11. Grace And Grooves performs Bharatnatyam(Thillana), Bollywood Dances, Rajasthani Folk Tale(with Chirmi) event organized by DFW International in Addison, Texas.
  12. Grace And Grooves performs Gidda, Bhangra(Beginners) and Bollywood performances at Ram Mandir-Plano Texas.
  13. Grace And Grooves performs Bollywood Folk, Semi-Classical Kathak, Bollywood Hip Hop, and Bhangra at an event organized by Indian Association of North Texas, Dallas-Texas.
  14. Grace And Grooves performs Teratalli, Garba, Ghoomar/Ghummar, and Chirmi in Fortworth Festival-Forworth.

    Folk Dances of India

    One of our Elite, Trained Gymnasts

  15. Grace And Grooves performs at inaugural function with Bollywood Fusion, Koli, Lavani, KummiAdi, Bihu at a sponsored event in Colleyville, Texas featuring Cultures of India. PAID Performance.
  16. Grace And Grooves performs Bharatnatyam(Jatiswaram)in Grapevine-Texas for Diwali event organized by Denton Association.
  17. Grace And Grooves performs Raas/Dandiya, Bollywood-Retro, and Fusion Tap w/Bollywood in association with Dance Workshop at Lewisville Grand Theatre(Lewisville). Students were avid Tap/Jazz dancers trained for more than 2 years at Coppell Dance Center(Coppell) and later at Prestige Dance Center (Lewisville), Texas.
  18. Grace And Grooves performed Bollywood-Lyrical, Lezim, Bollywood Bhangra, and Bollywood HipHop at Chinese Festival in Arlington, Texas.
  19. Grace And Grooves performed KumiAdi, Garbi, and Bollywood Dances, organized by DFW International in Addison-Texas.
  20. Grace And Grooves performed Lavani, Bollywood Dances, Semi-Classical (Bharatnatyam), and Tollywood in International Travel Show-Global Beatz Stage-Dallas, Texas.
  21. Grace And Grooves performed Chirmi, Bollywood, Rumaal Dance, Bharatnatyam(Lyrical Artwork) at World Fest, Addison-Texas.
  22. Grace And Grooves performed Fusion of Tap, Bollywood Hip Hop, Nepali Folk and Rajasthani Folk Tale in Grapevine Texas by Denton Association.
  23. Grace And Grooves performed Folk-Fusion, Bollywood Dances, in Plano-Texas. Students were avid Tap/Jazz dancers trained for more than 2 years at Coppell Dance Center-Coppell and later at Prestige Dance and Performing Arts Centre(Lewisville), Texas.
  24. Grace And Grooves performed Bharatnatyam-Ballet Fusion in DFW Hindu Temple, Irving-Texas. Students were trained in Ballet from Ballet Academy of Texas-Coppell, Texas.
  25. Grace And Grooves performed Fusion at Indian Association of North Texas, – Dallas Texas: Tap, Jazz, Gymnastics, Salsa, Bollywood and Folk. Students were trained or were avid dancers/gymnasts in Tap, Jazz, and Gymnastics, from Ballet Academy of Texas-Coppell, Coppell Dance Center/ Prestige Dance and Performing Arts Centre (Lewisville), and gymnastics studios respectively. Ms. Joshi took required Salsa Personal Training from a Master Choreographer at Arthur Murray Dance Studio (Plano). Please do not copy our artwork without training. It may harm your child.
  26. Grace And Grooves performs Bharatnatyam/Tap Fusion, Bollywood Dances, Kumari (Indian) Semi-Classical in Addison, Texas event organized by DFW International. . Students were avid Tap/Jazz dancers trained for more than 2 years at Coppell Dance Center-Coppell and later at Prestige Dance and Performing Arts Centre(Lewisville), Texas.

    Classical Dances of India-Bharatnatyam, Bollywood, Folk Dances of India

    Detailed workshops and performances at American Mensa by our founding member, Hetal Joshi.

  27. Grace And Grooves (Ms. Hetal Joshi) performs for consecutive 3 days in Culture Cowtown Event (National Gathering) organized by American-Mensa at Fort Worth-Texas, for Classical Dances of India, Folk Dances of India and Nepal, and Bollywood Dances. The performances featured Bharatnatyam (Kalashetra/Pandanallur), Fusion, Semi-Classical, Bollywood and various Folk Dances of India with variations in styles and techniques with time-line. Folk Dances of India discussed were – Garba, Raas-Dandiya, Gidda, Garbi, Bhangra, Lavani, Kshtariya, Lezim, Koli, Dumhal, Tribal Dances of India, Chhau, Sambalpuri Folk, Rumali Dance, Tippani, Matki, Bhavaai, and many more were showcased with variations/types, techniques and costumes. An educational workshop was also given after the performance with LIVE participation from audiences to American-Mensa Members on the all of above with and without costumes/jewelry. Over 30 Mensa members participated in the event of which a few were performing arts major.
  28. Grace And Grooves performs and gives workshop at Uplift Education – Summit International Preparatory, Arlington-Texas featuring Bollywood Dances, Choppai-Bollywood Style.
  29. Grace And Grooves performs at Independence Elementary, Lewisville featuring Tollywood Performances-Semi-Classical Style , Bollywood Dance.
  30. Grace And Grooves performs at Harmony School of Innovation, Carrollton featuring creative fusion styles.

    Bollywood Dances

    Uplift Education-Summit International Preparatory, Arlington-Texas. Workshop and Performances

  31. Grace And Grooves performs at Isaacs Early Childhood School featuring a neo-classical fusion and bollywood dances.
  32. Grace And Grooves performs at Universal Academy, Coppell featuring Bollywood Dances.
  33. Grace And Grooves performs at Castle Hills Elementary, Lewisville featuring various Bollywood Dances such as Medley of creative Modern and Traditional Bollywood Dances and fusion of Ethnic Rajasthani Folk dance styles.

Grace And Grooves holds exclusive rights for all the pictures being posted with permission of organizers for exclusive Grace And Groove use only.

More as we dig in our files…We enjoy performing and doing workshops so that you can enjoy reading/seeing pictures. 

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 ?

Any kind of Indian Dance, be it Bharatnatyam, Folk Dances of India or Bollywood was NEVER mainstream career in India and neither in Ms. Hetal Joshi’s family.  Right after 1999 when Hetal Joshi Nagaraj(Founding member) stepped in freelance private group choreography for Folk Dances of India (competitions-curriculam technique focused), there was no looking back indeed.

But these competitions demand creativity, dramatic appearances & intricate choreography thereby following the rules of your chosen dance form. intricate choreography includes techniques. And this means that it involves hours of training even before the actual choreography work starts. You can only imagine the work required for competitions if you were to do it as a mainstream career with your own mainstream studies. So, it was once or max twice a year exclusive work for competitions only.

So, was this the reason that company was established? Nope.

Way of life made a way of life when her 3.5-year old-daughter started dancing (not moving) to Krishna Bhajans at Hare Krishna Temple of Dallas, Texas (ISKON of Dallas, Texas-USA). The crowd turned heads when she “danced” and people asked if she took lessons and when she started dancing. Her daughter happened to pick these folk dance steps while Ms. Joshi was teaching a competition group. She then started teaching her daughter just as any (trained teacher or)mother would do with proper training. But, she felt that her daughter needed more structured program of folk dances, if there was anybody doing it as mainstream. Because then it would make perfect sense to be able to use it towards accomplishments, achievements and several other performing arts avenues.

After trying a dance school/academy (for 2 years w/group & private in Plano & Irving) that claimed to teach authentic, creative or curriculum based Folk Dances of India, Ms. Joshi just couldn’t find ANY other in entire Dallas Fort-worth areas. You-Tube videos as Guru, copied resumes of other trained dancers & even copied choreography (Bollywood mostly)-of unpublished works of other artists seemed like a practice to this so called folk-proclaimed gifted artist.

All of this @ the cost of parents and students’ who are ignorant to Folk Dances of India and would consider Bollywood or even community folk as actual folk dances! What ? The artist would then get their way out of all the blames by just doing govt. services-shocking and above all – shameful! 

Indeed an exhilarating & fraud experience from a senior artist it was! Not as expected when we joined folk program! A simple fact—you can’t call yourself a doctor just b’coz you know dosage & medicine names or you saw a surgery on you-tube and thus open a clinic @ home! Can you? We wished ;).  For an untrained eye will identify community dances as pure or modern folk, the so-called—“Hey, I know Folk Dance-pride” just crashes before the trained eyes that look for basic folk-requirements.

These days talk about community folk just about anything is included in it.

More than 99% of videos on You-tube are entertainment videos in the name of folk & don’t reflect the right elements of folk! techniques are missingContent 6 History

So, with training, in-depth knowledge, and competition experiences in competition that we already had (Ms. Hetal Joshi), we opened our doors to teaching authentic, certified folk dances of India to outside students and public altogether. 

Grace and Grooves, name itself was a recommendation from the audience where prominent dance teachers participated and only Ms. Joshi’s advance dancers did not have name when asked. Grace and Grooves it was then in 2012 when the company was finally registered in Dallas-Fortworth (DFW) as LLC with the State of Texas, USA. Since then, Grace and Grooves is focused on providing structured programs for Folk Dances of India, Bharatnatyam and Bollywood. Certified programs are available if you want to make it a part of your life just as it is ours for generations!

These programs receive continuous mentorship from lead dancers, junior & senior artists in India who do it as mainstream career either as gifted dancers (Bollywood) or as trained dancers (All genres). A consistent passion to compete in Pure and Modern Folk Dances of India to NOW a full-time certified business offering Bharatnatyam, Bollywood and Folk Dances of India. This is something like “the forgotten-once upon a time vision” in performing arts that actually came true! 

In 2016, Grace and Grooves was accredited by BBB(Better Business Bureau) so that you learn from the right people, just the way it is, in the right way & yet be just as creative enough, wherever required! After all, we want to introduce our kids-India’s beautiful culture, so that they don’t forget their roots and most importantly love to embrace it. The Right Folk Dances of India–Not the You-Tube videos!

So Why Grace & Grooves ?

All of above….PLUS How you want your child’s talent to be judged. Based on govt. service that a dance teacher does, their partnered businesses, and copied unpublished works of other artists ?

OR 

You want your child’s dance talent to be judged based on their own ability/talent because of training & by right people ?

Make your $ worth of where you spend! Common sense, culture knowledge is taught FREE with all our trainings just like the way we learned from our institutes and yet look beyond possibilities, wherever/whenever required!

Tell us what is more important, spending money on useless dances(without techniques or as a matter of fact anything worth) that don’t lead to anywhere on any path that is appropriate for decent family

OR

useful dance activities that lead to somewhere if you would wish to switch for fun!

Choice is YOURS!

God’s grace, this definitely answers as to why your child should enroll with Grace And Grooves.

Dec 7, 2023 –

The need to register the brand with a name was also a beautiful accident! It was around the time when a commercial gig of hetal nagaraj’s own activities got a bigger media face and we needed a company name to represent our group and that is how abruptly the name was announced. It wasn’t in the list of names being planned either but suddenly when the question was asked in media, grace and grooves got its name literally out of nowhere.

Probably it had something to do with ms. hetal’s telugu/tamil/malayali church gigs where she was named “grace” often and somehow that triggered the creation of the name when suddenly asked. The name “Grace” was titled to hetalnagaraj because of her beautiful way to treat people. www.hetaln.com

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.

****Hetal is always there in all classes either supervising her grads or texas all star program interns.

****+ Hetal teaches her own independent batches(under her own name as well) for which there are 4 productions, each with min 35 to 70 kids per production of her own on an average. Company works for Hetal. hetal does not work for company. Company choreographers participate if they worked in that season since most are seasonal or part time.

****+ ALL 30 programs that you see are exclusively to Hetal Joshi / Hetal Nagaraj, other than performing routine classes and so ms. hetal has admin or planner for herself that usually takes care of other appointments as well.

**** Hetal’s own networth(without spouse) shooted to 22.5 million$ in 2023 because of all the extra ordinary growth, transparency, traceability, multi-field specialities with 100% straight background record | 12.5 million$ networth in performing arts itself on paper direct calculation.

  • Company’s networth 30million$ on paper with Hetal and just the in-house Elites in it.
  • Company’s networth without any of these 1 million$. This company’s value are it’s people and Hetal’s mastery in using the specialities.

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.

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.

Ever seen any thing like this ? anywhere ? anybody ? Dare to compare Hetal Joshi M, Hetal Nagaraj.

Date update – Dec 7, 2023 with links.

Copyright Reach Media for Grace And Grooves | Grace Creations | 2012-2023. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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

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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.

Bollywood Fever…. since 2015!

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Bollywood Dances…. first impressions: Fun, Jazzy, Funky, Crazy, hip hop, Peppy and yes by all means entertainment, entertainment and entertainment. What else can you learn from movie dance routines? Movie, Masti(fun) and Magic(Celebrations) of Indian Cinema is addictive, yes it got us too.

Grace And Grooves is in love with Bollywood Program that we created with curriculam!. HELP! So what do we learn in entertainment dances (Bollywood)?

Let’s try & do some math — Circus skills (optional), fashionable clothing looks good but not required, lot of expressions and just expressions ONLY because limelight of widescreen requires that you just can’t have a blank face in Bollywood—aka face-value—well most of times. While some songs do have a total blank “watssup” face 😉 totally goes by script and not even by dance steps or words—Aha! UNLIKE FOLK OR BHARATNATYAM!

No Rules to follow in Bollywood (Yahoooo!) & it has rating based on clothing, language, or script used & other factors. Good thing is when you learn Bollywood Dances, there is no rating for clothes or language (Ahem!) but with Grace And Grooves, there is an assurance to learn from a Certified Business with a successful curriculam! Now that’s fun to learn—isn’t it? Our program will help you learn the following:

  • Traditional (decent) movie songs that you/your child can perform at your own community events, marriages, and Mehdi nights, meet-up get together, temples, churches and such other cultural events. Bollywood folk dances (Beware don’t mix w/Pure folk dances of India or even Community/Creative Folks-no where close.).
    • Eg – Some of our graceful choreography includes songs such as Rang De by Tabu(Tabassum Fatima Hashmi), MAYE NI MAYE by Madhuri Dixit(Madhuri Dixit Nene of movie Hum Aapke Hain Kaun), or Nagada Sang of Ram Leela by Deepika Padukone or her famous Pinga or Chittiyaan Kalaiyaan of Jacqueline Fernandez and several other amateur artists or just competitions or community performances.
  • Some Bollywood modern stuff & hip-hop like works to do in social family parties or friends parties.
    • Eg – We have done: Songs of our all time favorite Shahrukh Khan in Chammak Chalo(Ra One), or Kajol’s Mere “Khwabon Maen” of Dilwale Dulahniya Le Jayenge(DDLJ as we know it), or our heart throb Hritik Roshan in Ae Mere Dil Tu Gayeja of Kaho na Pyar Hai, & several other amateur artists or just for competitions or performances.BollywoodProgramContent4

Our Competitive and Recreational Program will do the job of making you dance with all that is required. How gracefully & upto what level is something that you have to decide. It goes by level from Beginners to Elite Program.

We DO IT ALL.  Videos & Pictures are getting ready…will be posted soon!

Let’s not forget the song-hits by the Kapoors, Bachchans, Karan Johars, Chopras and Bhansalis movies and all the fun-pop album songs by amateur artists. Depending on program you have joined, sometimes our choreography works will match directly to that of song, and our other program where our creativity is limitless often called as Fusion. We offer Fusion programs for Bharatnatyam, Bollywood & Folk too.

Training will take you to the heights of creativity without bluffing around of what you just did!

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.
Post Updated : Dec 2, 2022 with changes in company names 🙂

Copyright Reach Media for Grace And Grooves | Grace Creations | 2012-2022. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Elite : Expensive Or Quality ?

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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.