almost famous: Rani Asra Gidwani

by P.Ramakrishnan.

Eight days before she delivered her beautiful baby girl Raina, Rani Asra Gidwani was squatting on cushions on her mother's living-room sofa, addressing a room full of dancers. Gidwani teaches Indian dance all year round but she's busiest during the months leading up to Diwali, the Indian new year, which falls on October 25 this year.

"I said no to everything but when people want you, they want you," she says. "I had an assistant; I showed them what to do and taught all the way till my last trimester."

With no formal training but with three decades of experience behind her, Gidwani combines Bollywood-style "filmy" dancing with MTV-inspired sequences and dollops of originality and style.

Officially, she's been instructing for nine years at her Kowloon School of Dance but as far back as she can remember she's been grooving to music. "I've been dancing since I was three years old choreographing my own dances since I was five," says the 33-year-old. "I've always been one of those people who leads the dance; I can't follow other people and copy them. That's not my style. What I have to offer is unique and original. I can't blindly copy what's on TV."

Apart from the vast number of youngsters she's taught over the past nine years ["Ninety-five per cent of the Indian kids in Tsim Sha Tsui who dance have come to some class or another with me"]. Gidwani's worked with Chinese, Japanese, Russian, British and Americans, enthused by the exuberance of Bollywood musicals' and joie de vivre.

"For the older ladies especially, or couples who just want to look good when they're dancing at events, it's a great workout. with Indian dance, bhangra especially, you shake everything. Bhangra-cise is huge in Britain and I'm sorting out a scheddule in Hong Kong too.

"Indian music has crept in to so many remixes. From Eminem to Ricky Martin, the influence has spread into the club scene as well so when people want to learn to move to it, they come to me. I'm sure I was the first person to mix hip-hop and Indian songs and teach dance."

A voluminous file reveals her students' information - an age group from three to 60. "I worked with an international school last year, with teachers, students, all of whom were putting on a Bollywood show after Moulin Rouge I think. They were eager to learn and that made it fun for me to teach. The best part was that there were no hassles because they were so enthusiastic."

Opportunity to work in Bollywood, the world's largest film industry, came often, but she didn't grab the offers. "I've had offers to work in showbiz many times but I wasn't ready to leave home - I was born and brought up in Hong Kong. To live in Mumbai and cater to stars and their egos and try my luck - I wasn't sure. Deep down, I didn't have the confidence then."

And now? "Now, I'm happily married and a mother of a 10-month-old. I still get to do what I love and seriously have no regrets."