"It was in Std III that I started dancing and when I reached Std IX, I started my own dance school," said Ashish Singh Khichi (21), who run his dance group called Exquisyth in the city.
He put on his dancing shoes early in life. "It was in Std III that I started dancing and when I reached Std IX, I started my own dance school," said Ashish Singh Khichi (21), who run his dance group called Exquisyth in the city.
Ashish hails from Kota in Rajasthan and came to Pune to study. He is now a final year BCom student. Since dance ran in his veins, he could not help but initiate a dance club. Ashish N Group was the name of the group he started in 2007, but he renamed it to 'Exquisyth' in October 2009.
Talking about his inspirations, he said, "From childhood I have watched and admired Prabhu Deva and Govinda. That's when I decided to make my own dance group."
When we quizzed him about who is the best dancer today, he was quick to respond, "Hrithik Roshan, without a doubt."
"The dances I specialise in are hip-hop, biboying, Bollywood and krumping," he said. "Dance is my life. A total passion," is how he described his equation with dance.
Awards galore
He and his group have won numerous accolades in several competitions. "We won trophies at inter-collegiate events like Malhar at St Xavier's College, Mumbai, and Mood Indigo at IIT-Powai.
I won first prize for an on-the-spot solo dance. A DJ would play a song and I had to dance," he explained.
"Then I participated in the Indira College event called 'Gusto', which was also an inter-collegiate one. I've performed at the NDA Ball in 2008, the Shaan Nite too, when I was in second year college," he said.
In Kota too, he did many shows. "I worked with Celina Jaitley and Sayali Bhagat in one event and with singer Mika in another," he said.
Dancing nine
His group of nine college students practice regularly at the Sit N Fun gym at Jagtap Dairy.
Dipesh Lodhari (21) was rushing for practice when we spoke to him. He said, "I feel good being in this group and really enjoy ir. I joined in the first audition just before the IIT-Powai event."
"We have taken part in many corporate events too. We performed at Wipro and even at Infosys," said Ashish.
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