Tathastu Buddy
India’s first and the only certified Salsation Instructor, Anshu Tiwari is a young lad of Raipur, who followed his passion fiercely and never gave in to the pressure of society or people who expected him to be anything other than what he really is! While his family wanted him to choose one of the limited traditional career options that are perceived to be stable and secured ones, he kept fuelling his fire of passion towards dance with determination and perseverance. When responsibilities demanded him to set aside his passion and focus on money-making, his love for dance showed him the path to Salsation. And since then, his popularity is growing with each passing day, while he teaches the masses to set their spirit free while grooving their way to fitness with Salsation. He travels across the country and shares the joy of dancing and fitness with people. Anyone who has attended his session knows that Anshu is crazy about salsation! The glow on his face, his joyful smile and his exuberance while performing the steps for his students clearly show how deep is his love for this dance fitness programme.
Salsation Is an international dance fitness programme. Salsation term has been coined by combining the two words i.e. Salsa (the sauce and not the dance) and Sensation, says Anshu. According to him, Salsation, unlike other dance fitness programmes that are mostly cardio, is a blend of functional training, music and various forms of dance forms. Salsation trains even those muscles of your body, which are usually not trained during your daily activities or ordinary exercises. Salsation gives you freedom of expression through its groovy dance moves and makes you active yet controlled with the quick variations in steps with the rhythm. Anshu also told that in a Salsation class, the instructor is not allowed to give instructions through signs and signals, he/she has to perform it for the students to follow.
About how he discovered his way to Salsation, Anshu recalled the first dance performance he gave in the annual function of his school, when he was in 10th standard. He says, that performance and rehearsals for the same made him curious about this art called dance. He really used to enjoy dancing. He thought he would join a dance class and learn it better. But that hobby turned into serious affair when the duration of his dance practice extended from one hour to six hours a day. And obviously, this affair with dance had villain called studies. With not-so-good results in 10th standard, made his family completely hostile to his passion. And then a number of restrictions were imposed on him. His parents restricted him from going to dance class and he was counselled every now and then to study and choose a more stable career option. But Anshu was head over heels in love with dancing. He started lying at home and excuse himself to dance class every now and then. And once, he was caught going to dance class and was scolded like anything. At that time he felt, is following one’s passion is that a big crime?
But soon Anshu realized that his bonding with dance was way too serious to go for anything else. So he started finding a way to make a living out of his passion. He started watching videos of aerobics and practicing. Soon he got a job as an instructor in a gym and his first salary was Rs 5000. For a 12th passed to begin with that salary in year 2010, was a decent start. Slowly and steadily his career graph went up and his family got assured that he is doing what he loves and he can make a living out of it. To increase his income, he became a fitness trainer in a local gym and he started earning quite well. But then came a stagnation in his career, and the routine of 14 hour work a day became overbearing. Later he got the opportunity to go for Zumba training programme. And though Zumba wasn’t really something of his type. But for the sake of making money he took a few classes in the local gym. But in hearts of heart he knew Zumba was more like a work for him. He discovered his passion when he got to watch videos of Salsation on youtube. He started practicing it tirelessly. Gouri Shankar Pradhan, owner of GSP Fitness, encouraged him to take a class in his gym.
He knew Salsation was a new concept and Zumba was already trending. So he started his session with Zumba songs and eventually introduced Salsation to people. Over the time, he became quite popular and his work was appreciated. Once on facebook, while scrolling down the page timeline of the founder of Salsation Alejandro Angulo, when he saw the advertisement of Salsation Zumba Instructor Programme in Malaysia. His eyes lit with hope. But his financial constraints didn’t allow him to go for it. Then came a person in his life like an angel, as he says, Dr Farishta paid his fees for joining the programme. And a few more persons came forward to fund his travelling expenses. That is how he went to the certificate programme of Salsation in Malaysia, where he got to see his inspiration Alejandro Angulo. Anshu says, it was a dream come true. He learned a lot there. And what really keeps him going is the inspiring words of his Alejandro Angulo, who says “Salsation is a way to spread love, to spread the joy of dancing! Do it only if you love it!”
Anshu owes his success to all the people, who helped him in the time of crisis, and to the people who loved his work and encouraged him to do better.
