2018 was a
memorable, momentous year for LDAB. Our students performed at a TEDx event at
St. Mira’s in Pune. We had the glorious opportunity to represent India at the
“Dances of the World” event held in Kuala Lumpur. LDAB was extensively covered
in the media with numerous articles showering praises on our work in the field
of dance. Our Artistic Director, Neha Suhjani, was featured on 2 city radio
stations: Radio Mirchi and RadioOne, where she talked about her passion for
ballet and teaching. LDAB added another international feather in its cap with
its affiliation to UNESCO’s Council of International Dance (CID). We hosted 2
international examiners from Singapore and Australia to conduct the first-ever
international ballet exams in Pune.
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| Artistic Director of LDAB Ms Neha Suhjani with the CSTD Asia Pacific Head Mrs Ruby Kavanagh and CSTD Examiner Mrs Gilby |
Keeping the
momentum going in 2019, we’ve already launched the 2019 Ballerina Calendar
featuring our talented students on its pages. We also hosted an award show to
laud the stellar performance of our students in the CTSD examinations. Our
resolution for this year is to take LDAB to newer heights and spread joy
amongst our budding ballerinas.
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| LDAB Calendar featuring the LDAB Ballerinas of the month 2018 and LDAB Ballerina of the year 2018 |
Keeping alive
our glorious tradition of crowning an industrious and gifted student every
month, we’re extremely elated to announce that Anwesha Ahuja has been bestowed
with the regal title of “Ballerina of the Month for January 2019”.
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| Anwesha Ahuja – Ballerina of the month Jan 2019 |
Anwesha, a calm and quiet 10-year-old, is a
5th grader at Delhi Public School. She’s the younger child of Preeti Ahuja, a
Home-Décor exhibitions consultant and home-maker, and Anuj Ahuja, an IT
professional working at Cognizant.
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| Anwesha and her lovely family |
Ballet isn’t Anwesha’s first brush with
dance. She trained as a Bharatanatyam student for over 6 months, before coming
to the realisation that learning ballet was her true calling. The good kind of
peer pressure must have played an important part in this switch. About 6 of her
friends already were students at LDAB, which sealed the deal.
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| The graceful ballerina working hard in class |
On quizzing her about her other interests,
Anwesha tells us about the plethora of extra-curricular activities she
participates in at school. She’s fond of art and craft, she enjoys basketball
and is also part of the calligraphy club.
She’s also a budding celebrity chef of
sorts. It’s a father-daughter culinary team at the Ahuja home every weekend.
They have a Youtube Channel: “Artistic Anwesha”, where they put out
meticulously designed and produced videos of Anwesha preparing lip-smacking
desserts. If you want to quickly learn how to make mango popsicles, chocolate
shots, Oreo ice-cream or a chocolate smoothie, do check out Anwesha’s channel.
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Anwesha
teaching the internet, how to make some delicious desserts at home!
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Giving her take on new-age parenting,
Preeti tells us,
“I have an older son Adhyan, who’s a 12th
grader and a really studious sort of student. But my daughter is a
diametrically opposite personality type. She’s good at studying, but we
understand intuitively that extra-curriculars is what she naturally gravitates
towards. As a parent, it is my responsibility to let my child enjoy the freedom
of exploring and carving out her own personality, rather than imposing a
pre-formed template on her.”
Echoing his wife’s sentiments, Anuj agrees
by succinctly giving his own take, “As long as she’s having a good time, I’m
supportive of all of Anwesha’s endeavours.”
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| Anwesha with her older brother Adhyan |
It’s been about 7 months since Anwesha
started learning ballet at LDAB and she is completely obsessed about it. She
eagerly looks forward to her bi-weekly session at the academy. Something she
happily confesses is how utterly enamoured she is by her teacher, Neha. We
happily concur. Neha’s warmth and graciousness do always seem to make her
students love her more!
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| Anwesha getting corrections from her teacher in class |
Giving her insights on Anwesha’s journey as
a ballerina at LDAB, Neha tells us,
“Anwesha has been studying ballet for less
than a year, but her passion for the art form isn’t any less than that of her
friends, who have been at it for longer. She’s always trying to be her best,
which is quite evident when she asks her senior Grade-2 friends to judge her
moves. The most endearing quality she possesses is her smile. Even during
difficult, physically draining sessions, I always find that her bright smile
lights up the spirit of the whole class”
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| Anwesha with her ballet friends |
