The 30-year-old Indian girl following her passion to dance on Bollywood beats in Hong Kong is winning hearts.
Gianani has been performing dances on Bollywood tracks since she was three years old. More recently, Gianani pursued her passion by leaving her successful marketing job and launched a start-up dance company to bring Bollywood to Hong Kong.
Born in India and raised in Hong Kong, Gianani speaks Hindi, English and some Cantonese she picked up at local international schools. Having grown up in Hong Kong, Gianani is still strongly connected to her Indian roots.
“Bollywood dancing is the most easy-going, welcoming form of dance. It is all about having fun, building confidence and expressing ourselves,” she says. “I want to bring it to Hong Kong.”
Her passion for Bollywood dance began in preschool when she gave her first dance performance. At 10, she started taking Bollywood dance classes and performing at Indian cultural events in Hong Kong.
She studied management at the London School of Economics and received a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Hong Kong.
In 2015, Gianani worked for a marketing company that supported Google’s office in Hong Kong. Though the heavy workload left no time for dancing her love of dance never faded, and a chance opportunity reignited her passion.
In August 2016, Gianani’s best friend was getting married and invited her to choreograph a Sangeet wedding ceremony. The work was challenging with a full-time job. She spent four months designing 10 dances. And her efforts paid off.
She soon received requests for more Sangeet choreography. Her talent was also discovered by her friends at Google, where her Bollywood dance instruction turned to be popular.
She also launched a YouTube channel. She choreographed and performed dances inspired by famous Bollywood actors and actresses such as Madhuri Dixit, Karisma Kapoor, Govinda Ahuja, and Shah Rukh Khan. Her high-energy, exuberant dances attracted more than 38,000 followers.
As Gianani’s popularity grew, she received more offers for work. She was before long flooded with orders for Sangeet choreography and started to consider turning her passion into a profession.
“I wanted to see if I could dedicate all my time and energy to Bollywood dancing,” Gianani says. “I’m willing to take this risk and see what I can do.”
She left her marketing job last August and started Ek 2 Three, a dance company named after her favorite Bollywood song, Ek Do Teen.
Over the years, Gianani explored different dance styles – including hip hop, jazz, and belly dancing – but Bollywood was always her favorite because of its energy, joyfulness and narrative form.
“To me, Bollywood dancing is telling stories in which movements marry lyrics,” she says.
Gianani tries to contribute to the local community through dance.
She and two partners organized a two-hour Bollywood dance event last October to raise public awareness of breast cancer. The event raised HK$14,000 (USD 1,783) for the Hong Kong Breast Cancer Foundation.
Gianani appreciates Hong Kong’s embrace of Bollywood culture and has seen how dance has brought people together.
Last year, Varun Dhawan became the second Bollywood actor to have a wax statue in Madame Tussauds Hong Kong, following Amitabh Bachchan. Gianani was invited to attend the unveiling ceremony and she created a digital dance installation behind the new statue.
By Sowmya Sangam
