Happy Birthday Kati!

There are few of us in the current DBDC Performing Group who have been there since the beginning. When I first met Kati in 2009 she was almost a child, barely 18 years old. It has been a privilege to witness her growing into this beautiful woman and amazing dancer she is now. Kati is one of the most talented and sweetest people I have ever met but she is also one who never makes any noise about herself. Among all the flamboyant extroverts we naturally have many in the performing group she is more introvert and quiet one, very modest and humble by nature. I sometimes have the feeling that she doesn’t even realise herself how important and amazing she is. As today is her birthday I wanted to dedicate this blog to Kati and make her stand in the spotlight she really deserves to stand in.

Kati during our first show ever (2010)

When you see Kati on stage you would never know that she hadn’t really been dancing at all before she first joined Danny’s classes. When she dances she lights up and shines brighter than probably any of us. Her moves are always beautiful and elegant and there is nothing forced about her dancing. It all comes from inside, from the passion towards Indian and many other styles of dancing she is always eager to try out an bring into her own choreos as well.

Kati's elegance on stage in Estonia show (2014)

Kati is not only a dancer, she has also become a very talented choreographer and dance teacher (watch the video below to see what I mean). She is so far the only choreographer (besides Danny of course) in DBDC whose choreos we have also performed. She teaches her own Bollywood Elegance classes and is in lead of the kids classes and kids performing group as well. 

Kati is one of the full time employees at the DBDC studios. You would think that teaching Bollywood elegance twice a week, kids classes thrice a week, b-burn class once a week plus leading the kids performing group (B-Star Girls) would keep one woman busy enough but there is so much more to Kati. Before she became a professional dancer and choreographer she studies to be a graphic designer. And I must add that she really stands out as an artist and graphic designer as well! This woman is someone you would call a multitalent – she stands out in everything she does. If you see any posters on the studio walls or any advertisment in Facebook or other social media, that is usually Kati’s work of art as well.

Samples of Katis graphic designer skills

And her amazingness doesn’t end there. She is not only a graphic designer but costume designer as well. Most of our recent costumes are her designs  as well as all the kids costumes. And she not only designs but takes care of all the other practicalities from taking the measurements of dancers to organizing the fittings  and all the coopeation that needs to be done with our tailor.

The red costume is one of my favorites designed by Kati

This is still not everything. Earlier I wrote a post about DBDC after school club and Kati is also part of that. She is one of the teachers in the club and on top of all the work she is currently studying to become a physical education assistant. When I first met Kati she was almost a child. Now she is a role model for all the kids in her class and in DBDC after school club. All the little girls adore her and many have said they want to be just like her when they grow up. They try to mimic her style of dancing and I'm sure in future years, when her kids start to take over the adults performing group, we will definitely see Kati's impact even stronger than we see today. 

Kati with her B-Star Girls

It shouldn’t be unclear anymore why this young woman deserves all the appraisal and also gratitude of the rest of us who would many times be in big trouble without Kati. When we have the busiest practice seasons for bigger events she doesn’t count the work hours and sometimes she seems to be working day and night. Yet she never complains. And she never fails. And like I said she never makes any noise about herself.

So today I want to make noise about Kati. She seems to be a superwoman and since she always works like a train people probably don’t even notice that she also gets tired sometimes. But, I have to repeat, she never complains. Or never seeks any attention. I think this could also be the reason why it is not always so easy for everyone to even realize how much she works for everyone else. I have sometimes asked how she does all this and the answer seems to be very clear to her. She is living her dream. DBDC has given her to fullfill her dreams, even the ones she probably didn’t even dare to dream about before. There is fire and passion inside her that drives her ahead, such creativity in her mind and her heart that most of us can only dream of.

There is fire inside her

Today is her birthday but I cannot publish this before evening. In DBDC we have had the habit of surprising our dedicated  members on their birthdays with cakes and other surprises  but I’m not sure if even after all these years Kati expects anything from us on this day. She is organizing her own birthday party although even if she hadn’t done that we surely would’t have let her birthday pass without a good celebration. But we will surprise her in another way tonight. This blog is part of the surprise. This is just one way to tell her how much she means to us and how much gratitude we own to her. I know we are often busy and don’t say outloud the things that we think in our minds but I hope after tonight it won’t be unclear to Kati that we love her and  thank her for everything she has done and for everything she is to us. I feel honored to have been there to witness her growth from this shy little girl into a beautiful, powerful, elegant, goofy, adorable young woman she is now. Kati never was an ugly duckling but today she definitely is a swan.

Happy Birthday to world’s most amazing Kati!!

The Beautiful swan she is today

DBDC After School Club - Play, Learn And Dance Together!

If you ever step into DBDC studio during weekday afternoons you might be welcomed with bunch of little dancers going all ”Boom kah boom boom kah” – in other words DBDC after school kids club practising their dance number to the latest favorite hit songs of the age group of about 7-8-year-olds. I have been really impressed by the excitement and enthusiasm I encounter every time I have had the chance to visit the studio during this time so I decided I need to find out a little bit more. First of all how does a dance studio turn into a kids club all of a sudden? And what do the kids think about the concept.

Danny is the mastermind behind most creative new ideas at DBDC. At one point he was working at an English language play school where he noticed that many parents came to pick up their children already in a hurry to reach their dance practises or other hobbies that take place in the evenings. Working with kids has always been one of DBDC’s top priorities and once the studio was opened in Tullintori, Danny and his crew started to work on  the idea of creating the most fun after school club there is: a club that combines afternoon care of the youngest school kids with hobbies and learning English (the club language is English although the staff speaks Finnish as well). So when the kids are in the DBDC After School Club,  they don’t necessarily need to rush to other hobbies in the evenings since there is dance class or some other activity each day in the club itself.  Wonderful opportunity to save some time and energy for both parents and the kids!

But what do the kids think? I spent one afternoon with them trying to find out what DBDC after school club is like from their point of view.

We <3 Bollywood!

Elli and Maia, 1st graders from Tammela School praise ”Miss Kati’s Dance Classes”. By that the girls mean Bollywood  dance class that takes place every Monday. Bollywood is not the only dance style the kids learn but it seems to be the most popular one especially among the girls. Boys like Urho, Daniel and Niilo vote for Hip Hop although they seem to be very excited about the ”agent” and ”superman” routines in the Bollywood classes too. The weekly menu offers ballet classes as well. Elli and Maia who both do ballet also in their free time explained with sparkling eyes that at DBDC ballet is not as strict and in many ways it is more fun because it includes more playing and less technique than their regular dance classes.  

So they have all these wonderful dance classes but it doesn't end there! Aliya told me that dance is not the only thing they learn at DBDC. Once a week they have yoga class too. Aliya told me she likes yoga because stretching is good for you. Smart kids in the club! The Club has weekly schedule and different dance or yoga class or games or crafts each day. Everything about the club is very organized and it is amazing that even though the kids are clearly having so much fun and so many activities, things never get out of control. Respect towards the common rules is clear. In the weekly schedule there is enough time for free play as well. 

Daniel planning the next move

Aline and Niilo told me that they especially love to draw. Daniel on the other hand loves to play chess and he often challenges the other boys or Mr. Santhosh or Mr. Danny for a match or two. Aliya said she likes ”just to play” with her friends and kids are happy about the fact that when they go outside at the end of the day they can play in the closeby Sorsapuisto park.

After talking to the kids I was really impressed by the excitement with which they talked about their after school club. When I was wondering if there is still something else I might want to know, Maia reminded me about the fact that they have nice snack every day and that is one of the best things about the club in her opinion. I also found out one thing that every single kid without exceptions seems to love: the Friday Movie time.

Drawing made for Danny.

So the kids love their after school club, no doubt about it. But what about parents? I asked some of them few questions as well and they convinced me that DBDC after school club really is something different. Initially parents chose to register their child with the DBDC club for the obvious reasons of dance, international environment and possibility to learn English. But in the end what they are most happy about is the wonderful atmosphere of the club that is not easy to put into words but you have to see and experience it yourself. They have managed to create a special kind of group identity and kids find joy in simply being part of the "Danny's group". Parents are really happy with the club teachers and the special humor they have created with the kids. The after school club is their common "thing", something they are all proud of being part of. 

My son is starting school this year and I have to say I am sad that his school isn’t close to Tullintori so that I could register him in the DBDC club. Kids are being picked up by the after school club staff from three schools closeby Tullintori (Juhannuskylän koulu, Tammelan koulu and Sammon koulu). But luckily DBDC organises a summer club for 6-10-year-olds so also the kids who are not in these three schools can join the fun in the summertime (needles to say my children are already registered for the summer).

There are also good news for kids and parents in Hervanta: DBDC After School Club is expanding to Hervanta and will start operating in Vapaa-aikakeskus in August 2015. Registration is open right now for both Tullintori and Hervanta clubs. You can find more info about the after school club and the summer club in www.dbdcdance.com.

Danny and the gang! 

Quite a Start for 2015

Oops, the blog has been quiet for a long time but I do have a good excuse. Or a number of them actually. There has been so many great things going on that I just forgot to update this one. 

Like I said in the previous post, most of us took a well deserved holiday in India during Christmas and New Year. Amazing trip with full of adventures and quality time together. Batteries were properly loaded and we headed back to Finland full of energy.

Above: Fun times at Marina Beach in Chennai
Below: We got the chance to visit the shooting of Jodi No. 1 Show in Chennai and spend some time with Loyola Dream Team.

It didn't take long after our return to Finland when we already pulled on our performing costumes and hit the stage. We even had our first TV show of the year already when we visited Kingi as Aku Hirviniemi's back up dancers. One of the most fun shows ever!

It is not only performing that is fun: in tv shows some of the most memorable moments happen backstage and off cameras.

Fun is also the right word to describe our first flash mob of the year which took place in the University Hospital (Tays). They had work wellbeing themed week there and we definitely succeeded in bringing some smiles on the faces of the nurses and doctors and other hospital staff when we surprised them with our dance during their lunch hour. We are always happy to find ways to bring joy to those who need it the most so it was wonderful to do this flash mob for all these people whose work is so important and demanding and not always the most cheerful kind. 

Flashmobbing :)

We have also had some lovely events at our home base, the DBDC studio. Open doors day in January was a success and it was delightful to see so many new people to find the joy of Bollywood and lose themselves to dance. The same happened last weekend when the studio was filled with heart shaped balloons and all kinds of Valentine's day treats - like the special Valentine's day Stardom class where we got to dance with the balloons (small sample video can be found here) or the crazy photo booth that encouraged both kids and adults to fool around with some funny props. 

Photo Fun during Valentine's Day

DBDC kids have been keeping busy as well. The studio is full of action when the afterschool club kids take over the dance hall in the afternoons. B-Star girls have put on a whole new gear with their dance practice and enthusiasm to perform. They have improved a lot during the years and have become quite professional performers as well, making the crowds dance and shout during their after show workshops. I think it won't be long before 2nd generation of DBDC'ers take over the big stages.

B-Star Girls rocking the stage in Karosen koulu, Tampere

It is hard to believe the year is only in the beginning and we have already done all of this. I have a feeling it is going to be one wonderful DBDC year again! 

Beyond The Dance Floor

Reading the past posts one might think that all we ever do is practice. But the truth is these intense practice periods happen only few times a year when we have some bigger shows to get ready for. And when the hard work is done we also know how to reward ourselves.

From the beginning we have formed friendships and spent a lot of time together in our "free time" (meaning outside dance practices and shows) as well. After dance classes we might decide to go have dinner together, nowadays most often in Telakka which is just outside Tullintori. Or have a drink in Passion. Also our movie nights have been quite legendary. Before our dear Vinay escaped to work in Philippines we often used to gather at his place to watch a movie or two - Bollywood or other Indian flicks of course. In general we are very creative at coming up with any excuse to spend even a little more time together.

One of our get-togethers from a couple of years back and the already traditional body parts game.

All the dancers work really hard during practice periods and Danny is very demanding but he is also very generous and often rewards us with epic parties or small trips. In the early years we were quite regulars in Miami/Hullu Poro. Now the studio easily turns into a party scene - like already a traditional Halloween Party both for kids and adults. 

Halloween with DBDC - scary and fun as it should be!

We have also expanded our get-togethers outside Finland. In 2013 we went to a lovely cruise together. We had big plans to dress up fancily and have a posh evening out but as often before we finally found ourselves squeezing into a small cabin over some intense 'five cards' game. Especially our Indian members turn into card playing maniacs when they see the deck of cards. It really doesn't matter where we go, just being together doing simple stuffs s what we enjoy the most. 

The cruise did begin with style. ;)

Sometimes our journeys are a little more on the grand side - like the time when some of us travelled to India to celebrate Danny & Ranju's wedding right after the grand finale of Talent Suomi in 2012. That was a journey that would really deserve an entry of it's own!

Our trip in India included a lot of dancing (or course) as well as some beach life with cows.

This year we decided to to something different for our pre-xmas party. We did 90 mins of glow-in-the-dark paintball madness in Tampere Areena (scary but F-U-N). After getting a good sweat and bruises all over we headed to a beautiful cottage in Sastamala to end the year with a night of great food from Nepali Kitchen, sauna, fun and dancing until morning. We even had a visit from Mrs. Santa!

Mrs. Santa :)

Very memorable, very DBDC way of closing this year together. Now we only have the last pre-xmas party shows left before a well deserved Christmas Break. And this year even the break will be something very special. Some of us are packing our bags again and heading to India for Christmas and New Year together.

So although Christmas is still a couple of weeks away everybody in DBDC is already getting into xmas mood. I dropped by at the studio to say bye bye before taking off to India and what did I find!? A house full of dancing DBDC elves! A guaranteed group selfie moment. ;)

DBDC Office Elves Kati, Santhosh and Ekaterina feat. special guest blogger

Although the holidays are close, DBDC dance classes are still running all the way until Christmas. Remember to check the timetables at DBDC website, there are still some special treats coming up!

Happy, Dance-Filled December to everyone and very very relaxing Holidays as well! I will see you in 2015. :)

Zürich

Danny always has goals for DBDC. Sometimes his goals seem to be out of this world but somehow we always manage to reach them and go beyond. Our own dance school and the tv shows are just few of the targets we have hit. Going abroad is the next step.

Earlier this autumn we had our first show outside Finland in Tallinn, Estonia. Unfortunately not all of our dancers could go there so even if that was the first show abroad, our second one in Zürich on November 8th was definitely the more special one.

Considering it was our first bigger show abroad our journey went surprisingly smoothly. As our flight was very early in the morning we stayed in a hotel at the airport the previous night. Some of us didn't get much sleep but not because of partying but because some were still stitching lights to costumes and doing some other last minute preparations until late hours. We managed to almost miss the flight as well but that was only because yours truly had some problems parking the car… We already had the picture in our mind how we would have to call Danny and Rami who were already in Zürich that they would have to come up with a duo performance quickly. But after all we did reach the flight in time and had a chance to catch up with sleep. Although some of us rather played with Vuokko's photo booth application...

Flying DBDC Style... :P

In Zürich we had a warm welcome first by Danny and Rami the Photographer who were waiting for us at the airport and later by our lovely hosts from the Indian Association of Greater Zürich (IAGZ). IAGZ had invited us to perform in their yearly gala that was held in the beautiful Congress House by the Lake Zürich. It always brings a little extra excitement to a show when you know the audience is mainly Indian and other artists performing at the gala (Gyansundari's Dance School who performed beautiful Bharatanatyam dance and singer Nitin Shrivastava who performed Bollywood hits from 1940's to 2014) were amazingly talented. We really had to give everything to stand out. But we definitely got the feeling that it would be a good night when we saw the waitresses joining our dance during our practice session. It was wonderful to notice that our performance touched people and made them happy. We can really export our show outside the Finnish borders and make our message universal. This show was a proof of that.

Dancing waitresses 

Zürich show was not special only because we went there with the whole crew including Rami. The show we prepared for it was something we had never done before. It consisted of two parts. First one was theme performance dedicated to everyone who ever lost their loved one to cancer. Danny and Kati were playing the lead roles and such amazing job they did! It was truly heartbreaking.

Kati and Danny were shining like stars!

The second part was more traditional DBDC style: breathtaking half an hour full of Bollywood hits. We did a number of new songs including burlesquey Asalaam- e-Ishqum and recent hit number My Name is Ranveer Ching. So a lot of new songs, new props, new costumes and all together one hour show - we could really feel it in our muscles!

It's DBDC showtime!

This show took more practice hours than any other show before. For the theme performance we had to come up with the plot, record the voice over, practice with new props (like HUGE white fabric, heart shaped umbrellas and illuminated dresses). To make the show flow smoothly with all the costume changes we divided the group so that not all of us were dancing in all the songs but people were running on and off the stage all the time. 



Big part of the performance day is practice, getting ready, posing with friends and of course fooling around a little. :)

This time around it was time for Kati to take a bigger role as a choreographer as well – Asalaam-e-Ishqum-medley, Yaro yarodi and Sara sara saara kathu were all Kati’s choreos. I actually don’t know how she pulled through everything! She designed the new costumes. Some of them were made by our tailor Kristiina, some were ordered ready made online. So she looked all over internet for proper dresses and when not all of them arrived on time she stayed up all night to stitch dresses for us. As we were practicing our group numbers every evening and Kati had her own classes to teach as well, her and Danny only had the nights to practice their duos and solos. Not to mention they also had the after school kids club to take care of every day so they probably managed to add more hours to their day somehow or else I don’t know how they made it! So big HUGE thank you to Kati, our multitalented, beautiful, hard working superwoman! Without her dedication none of this would have been possible.

AMAZING Kati! <3

The next day we had the chance to walk around Zürich and admire this beautiful city from close. Some quality DBDC familytime before heading back to Finland.

Sunday walk :)

At home we have quite a busy pre-xmas party season going on so still many gigs to go this year. But we will definitely remember our special show in Zürich for a long time and all the new friends and memories we made.

Thank You Zürich!!

Dancing With The Stars

2 minutes and 30 seconds. That's the length of the performance we did in the latest episode of Dancing With The Stars. You could think that such a short performance is a piece of cake for us or that it would not be a big deal since we've performed in TV shows many times before. But more than 1.5 million people watched the episode so it was HUGE for us. Actually it was the most watched TV show that week in Finland. Earlier I wrote that we practiced around 10 hours a week for this show. The last week before the show the amount of practice probably doubled and I stopped counting the hours. You would not believe how much work is behind these two and a half minutes! And it's not like we would be practicing the same routine for hours and hours. Danny always keeps changing small details in the choreo a lot all the way until the performance. We also had a reporter from Helsingin Sanomat visiting one of our practice sessions and a full page article and video about Danny & DBDC was published on the eve of our Dancing With the Stars performance. So quite a lot of media coverage during one weekend!

We had a group of 20 people dancing in the show. Susanna, Hilla, Laura, Amanda, Outi and Paula were performing for the first time with us - quite a start for their DBDC-career! And they did an amazing job.

Hilla's debut with DBDC was full of emotion!

The show day started early in the morning already. We met at our studio around 9 am, danced through the song a few times, checked That all the props, costumes etc. was with us and then set is our way towards Helsinki - on time for once! It is quite a colorful caravan when DBDC cars hit the road. Myself, Danny and Linda had the honor to drive our crew to Helsinki this time. On a side note I have to say that people were actually fighting for a spot in my car.! ;D I guess some were worried that Danny's driving style would be too Indian... Although this video shows that eventually atmosphere was high in his car as well.

Every time we have a show in Helsinki, we take a break at the Linnatuuli. It is a tradition for many of us to have a panini and coffee there and it almost feels like we cannot go to any shows without stopping there. It brings good luck, it really does! 

We arrived in Helsinki almost an hour early. I guess it means this show was really important for us since we usually arrive in Indian style on the last minute. We first went to the dance studio where also the star couples practice routines for the show. At the studio we had our last practice session and started to get ready with hair, costumes and make up.

Last practice at Dancing with the Stars studio and some basic stretching by Eevi :) (pics by Hilla)

Usually we do our makeup ourselves but this time we had invited our wonderful make-up artist Vilja with us. She has done make up for our photo shoots before and it felt so good to have a pro like her with our team to make sure all of us were at our best during the TV shoot. She had quite an intense day as well doing the make up for 18 girls - big thank you is definitely in place!! 

In the afternoon we shifted to the TV studio and saw the star couples practicing their jive marathon. I think it was at this point when the excitement among our dancers really started to grow and it started to hit in that in just few hours we would be performing for more than 1 million TV viewers LIVE.

Props, hair, make up - GO! (Pics by Vuokko)

Before the live show there were still run throughs at the TV studio. And a lot of waiting as well. Luckily it never gets boring When spending time with DBDC and there is always someone's hair That needs braiding, costume that needs fixing etc. And if nothing else there is always time for some selfies! 

Also we managed to get some of the celebrities in pictures with us (side note: Pete Parkkonen is so HOT! We wish him all the best in the competition.).

With the stars :)

I don't really know what was running through my head minutes before the live show. I know I was more nervous than usually but also just could not wait to get on the stage. The Feeling when you dance in front of a cheering audience on such beautiful big stage is just something unique. You forget any fear or stage fright because you know it is the kind of feeling and opportunity you might never have the chance to experience again. So you just let go and enjoy the moment.

I think the performance itself went really well. And it was over so fast! So many hours of work, such a long day and then it all comes down to 2 minutes and 30 seconds when all the 20 dancers danced their heart out. It was such an intense experience that it was difficult to remember any details about the dance or how it went afterwards. Luckily we have proof that it was amazing! You can watch whole episodes here, our dance is in the beginning.

The after-show feeling is both happy and sad. Happy that it was so wonderful but sad that it actually is over now. Luckily we still don't have to start biting our nails for lack of practice sessions. Our next goal is in Zürich on November 8th. A lot of work is still to be done for this one hour spectacle that we are going to perform there so practices are nearly every evening and about 10 hours during the weekend. So something very special coming up soon. 

All the girls

The Happy Team after the performance.