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“After successfully bagging the Gold & Silver in World DanceSport Federation Competitions in Taiwan & Thailand in 2017, Rajeswari Vaidyanathan & her partner Shannon Benjamin, the highly sought out couple in India to continuously bring laurels to our country in the field of Latin Ballroom dances such as Rumba, Cha Cha, Jive, and so on is prepping for their 1st competition of 2018 to 1st Malaysia WDSF Open DanceSport Championship 2018, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, this month, after a 2 month long intensive training with their new coach, World No.15 Slava Vishnekovs, who has won several prestigious competitions in Europe & Asia including the German Open, Polish & Baltic Championships.

Juggling with time has always been extremely difficulty, especially for Rajeswari Vaidyanathan who also runs the fastest growing Latin Ballroom dance school VR DanceSport in Mumbai, as well as prepare for major competitions globally, to represent India. DanceSport being part of the Indoor Asian Games & World Games, requires rigorous training and practice akin to any other sport. The couple is not only recognised as the best Latin dancers in India, but also as the only couple to dance it in an authentic international way, by several international judges and federations who have seen and witnessed the Latin dancing scene in India.

Spent  a great amount of time training students, adults and kids for social and competitive levels. Due to her training and expertise, she is able to deliver highest quality training in the shortest time. They also have to dedicate several hours a week imbibing the mechanics and techniques and practicing for hours at length. However, the training and being a DanceSport athlete is an expensive proposition and the duo also struggles to find sponsors who are willing to support the sport. Unfortunately, there is no support from corporates, the government or anyone else.

The dance form also requires ample space to practice for which their studio in Tardeo falls short. Despite financial constraints, they have to hire out bigger studios to practice, which puts a huge stress on their already restricted budget. Their favourite place has always been Integral Space in Lower Parel, I love the positivity in this place we always feel satisfied after practicing, adds Rajeswari.

Pigeon Media (Abhishek Dubey)