Dance instructor brings Bollywood to Fort Bend
It’s Tuesday night, and Bollywood dance instructor Mahesh Mahbubani’s Sugar Land studio is packed.
To music with female vocals and a throbbing beat, 22 preteens spin, twist and pop their hips on the dance floor as moms fill benches and chairs along a wall.
“Dancing is using all of your body, not just your upper body and face!” Mahbubani yells.
It was an extra rehearsal for Naach studio’s second annual spring performance at Miller Outdoor Theatre in Houston, about 20 miles from the studio, which is off Williams Trace Boulevard between a cafe serving Indian food and a Montessori school.
Mahbubani, 52, was trained in ballet and contemporary dance in Spain and England, but his true passion is the Bollywood style he grew up watching on television and performing in his parents’ Bombay living room.
So, in 2012 he opened Naach, which is the Hindi word for dance, determining it would have a Bollywood focus.
Dance for Mahbubani is more than performances and perfecting steps. His goal is to foster confidence in his students.
“My calling was to empower people through dance,” Mahbubani said, explaining why he left India in 2007 to open a Houston-area studio.
Before he left India, he made a living choreographing television commercials, music videos and the occasional movie that featured Bollywood stars.
So far, Mahbubani’s goal seems to be coming true.
He started with about 60 pupils and now has 120, ranging
in age from 3½ to middleaged moms who join with their children.
The studio offers five levels of dance based on age, each split into performing or recreational groups, plus a Bollywoodinspired workout class and contemporary dance classes.
Mahbubani is creative director for the studio’s performances and has written 2½-hour productions with plots that involve love stories.
This year, it’ll be a different.
The concept for the show, which is almost 1½ hours long, will be “Bollywood Broadway” because Bollywood, with its drama, costumes and dance, is India’s equivalent of musical theater, Mahbubani said.
The music and dance will still be characteristic of India’s Bollywood style, but in the spirit of a Broadway show.
And though he called out his students by name when they repeatedly messed up a step, Mahbubani encouraged those who were doing well as they ran through their numbers for the performance a third time that night.
“You have it,” he said to one student. “Be confident.”
Nihal Kulkaril, an 8-year-old third-grader at Austin Parkway Elementary, isn’t worried about the upcoming performance.
“It’s hard, but if you practice more, it’s going to get better,” he said.
Mahbubani was shy growing up and gained confidence through studying dance at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London. That’s why he’s so invested in instilling it in his students, he said.
He keeps them going during class with seemingly endless energy.
“I always think of him as a big kid,” said Nirju Tailor, 27, one of his students, who also helps him teach some classes.
Mahbubani telephones his seven faculty on a regular basis, pumped up because of a performance or idea.
Another student turned instructor, Star Gilani, 23, said that if she doesn’t hear from him every few days, she’s pretty sure there’s something wrong.
Mahbubani’s newest idea is starting a nonprofit community arts program, called Moksh, to help him do more community outreach events.
He has the name approved, and is waiting for 501c3 approval.
In the meantime, Mahbubani has been teaching Bollywood-inspired workout classes to residents, some of whom are in their 80s, at the Sugar Land Senior Citizens Center.
He hopes this April’s performance will get his audience members grooving.
“I just want them to be inspired to dance.” Mahbubani said.