Honey Kalaria, ten years of Bollywood and Bhangra dance
Claire Hope

The UK's love affair with Bollywood continues, and it's not just the films and the stars that are gaining fans. You might be surprised by the fact that Bollywood dancing is one of the most popular forms of dance in the UK. It's got absolutely nothing to do with Shilpa Shetty; you can thank super-motivated choreographer Honey Kalaria for that.

Honey Kalaria, our own little Bollywood legend

This year, Honey's Dance Academy, the largest Bollywood dance school in Britain, celebrates its tenth anniversary.. Honey is the UK’s leading Bollywood dancer and choreographer who has trained some of Bollywood’s biggest stars. Claire Hope joined Honey at Pineapple Studios to find out what she's all about.

Happy ten-year anniversary. We've been through lots of Bollywood phases since you started out, and it keeps coming back more popular than ever. How did Bollywood dancing become so popular?

Bollywood amalgamates so many styles of dancing: western, Latin American, Middle Eastern and traditional Indian. I find people love it because it has so many different styles incorporated. People like Andrew Lloyd Webber did a fantastic job creating Bollywood Dreams and bringing it to mainstream audiences. Until then I was struggling to get bollywood dancing out to the mainstream audiences. But when that happened it all took off, and I have never looked back. On the first day I had 22 students, within one year I had 300 students and now we have almost 2000 students all over the country.

So you were a pioneer who knew Bollywood would eventually be big here. What made you decide to set up Honey’s Dance Academy?

I set up Honey’s dance academy in 1997 because there were no modern Bollywood dance classes, but people told me not to because nobody knew what bollywood dancing was. In September 1997 I made it my mission to create a demand for modern bollywood dancing. From 2001 everything kicked off for me.

I have so much passion for dance; I enjoy creating a piece or being directed. In my classes and in training, people know my choreography. I have such high standards and love to put my mark on my work. Maximising your true potential is what it’s all about.

The friday night class at Pineapple set this pose up themselves

What would you say sets the Academy apart from other schools?

Our trainers are trained to not just teach dance; it’s about bringing out the best in students. I still train my teachers once every two weeks to make sure they maintain a high standard in our classes. By taking part in one of our courses you aren’t just learning how to dance, you are also developing your communication and interpersonal skills, building confidence, improving your fitness and building grace. It burns calories, you build muscle, you lose weight and you also increase your flexibility.

We also strive to give people an education about Indian culture and dance: it’s not just about hip thrusting! We also teach people how to mime to songs; it’s great to push them out of their comfort zone, because once they have reached their goal we can push them a little bit more.

You must have a few success stories after ten years?

We’ve just had two of our girls go out to India. One of them has always dreamt of being a Bollywood star. She started training at the age of 11, and is now on billboards and in pop videos in India. We feel very proud when our students go out there. When we know someone wants to be a teacher, actor or dancer we start training them up in the right areas. If they want to be a dancer we get them involved in productions like Bombay Dreams; if they want to be an actor then we get them to learn Hindi.

Our longest standing student has been with us for ten years; he’s just turned 16. His mother and father told us when he was six “we want him to be a star, no matter what.” He has now done over 300 shows, 30 documentaries and television work. We’ve taken him to India, taught him Hindi and now we are teaching him martial arts. We hope that we will turn him in to the new Salman Khan! The point to remember is that you don’t become a star overnight; you have to work at it.

Honey regularly teaches across the country

You're no stranger to hard work. As a child thought you would never dance, because you had clubfoot, but here you are as one of the UK’s biggest Bollywood choreographers.

Your mind creates your own reality; if you think you can’t do it, you won’t. I say to everybody: “If you have a belief you can do something, and if you are willing to take the necessary steps, then do it”. Are you willing to train, are you willing to move to India, and are you willing to go to audition after audition? If you are, then you will succeed.

I was in a car accident a long time ago; I broke my jaw in three places as well as my shoulder and ankle. My doctor told me that I would have to accept that I could never dance again. But I didn’t accept it. I trained for two years to get my shoulder back to the way it was before the accident. Now nobody could ever tell that I was in that accident. But if I had followed doctor's orders, I wouldn’t be how I am now; it’s all about the mind. Get your attitude right, visualise what you want in life and you will get it.

Honey’s Dance Academy is currently enrolling for September. If you would like to find out more visit www.honeysdanceacademy.com