When I watched a ballroom dance show on television, I thought to myself, ‘How difficult can that be?’. That was until I actually took up the class. After the first day, I didn’t want to go back to learning dance ever,” shares Katya Virshilas, a Canadian performer and choreographer, on her first stint with dance at the age of 13. Just like many who know that dance isn’t as easy as it appears to be, Katya’s impression too, was blurred once by the ease with which professionals went about it on television.

But her mother didn’t give up. “She in fact gave me money as an incentive to go back and am glad that I did,” she says.

Katya has to her credit, a professional background in several styles that include Salsa, ballroom, Ballet, Jazz, Modern, and Hip Hop styles. Along with workshops at her school that fulfiled her ambition of being a dancer, Katya has also been keen about the big screen. And dance opened up that window of opportunity too when she was offered a role in the Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez starrer ‘ Shall we dance’.

“I was training in the same school as the two actors and someone recommended my name not only to assist the actors for the movie but also play a small part as a dancer in it. Following that, I was offered a role opposite Antonio Banderas in ‘Take the lead’,” says Katya, who has over four feature films and a few more television serials to her credit.

In India, she was brought in by Shiamak Davar to assist with a few Salsa workshops.

“My association with Shiamak began when he saw an advertisement of my training school on a billboard in Vancouver. He immediately called the number on the advertisement and a few interactions later, I am here. With about a week each in the scheduled cities here, I am hoping to share a few basics on Salsa and the students can take it further from there,” says Katya.


For details on the Salsa with Katya workshop, call: 98867-03211.
MB