Australian Aishwaryas

Australian Aishwaryas is live!

During my internship with the Centre for Stories in 2019, I produced an interview series featuring six of the most experienced dance teachers in Western Australia. Their styles ranged from fire-spinning to African samba to ballroom, but their determination and dedication to their art was universal. I named the project after Bollywood queen Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, as no matter their age, gender or style, I felt all my interviewees deserved the respect and fame of the beloved dance icon.

Nikki is a second-generation bellydancer. Her mother learnt from an Eygptian-Armenian immigrant who in turn learnt in secret from her housemaids, as bellydancing was looked down upon in Eygpt. Sukhi let me watch as she tied her ghungroo and practiced kathak as she has since she was a child in Malaysia. Fiona, a ballet dancer and trauma survivor, now loves flow arts and sees the fire she spins as a symbol of hope. Todd taught me to jive when I was seven years old and he’s still teaching! He told me about the time he had to deal with a snake slithering through the class when he was teaching in Leonora. Yamina once accidentally ended up performing at the Rio carnival; Jen Nie told me the myth behind Lion dancing.

It was an incredible privilege to help these people tell their stories of success, failure and determination. You can read the project here.