One-track, one-day dance workshops catching on in Bengaluru

Over the past two years, Bengaluru has become a hub for quick weekend dance workshops held by popular content creators, dancers say.

Unlike regular dance classes that focus on a specific style of dance, these two- or three-hour sessions typically feature choreography set to one track, often a trending film song. Participants learn the routine for the whole song and are given a chance to perform it at the end of the class. 

The routines are catchy, the participants are a mix of professional and amateur dancers, and the instructors are always well-known content creators skilled in multiple dance forms.

Mumbai-based Noel Alexander, for instance, is trained in hip-hop and
contemporary dance. With over 1million followers on Instagram, Alexander has conducted numerous workshops in Bengaluru and returns to the city every two or three months. “Bengaluru is my favourite location because the people are laidback yet passionate about dance,” he says. 

One of Alexander’s first choreographies that went viral was set to Telugu hit ‘Inkem inkem kavale’ by Sid Sriram. Later, he started focusing on other South Indian languages with songs like ‘Unaku than’, ‘Kaantha’ and ‘Kalyani’. “The last two songs have become extremely popular and we have been touring with those tracks over the past few months,” he shares. Lately, his routines are heavier on classical and folk elements. But he also specialises in something he calls ‘movement exploration’ through which he has created a style unique to his own sensibilities.

He has seen participation from five-year-olds to people in the 70s and 80s. Depending on the style of choreography, he caps the classes at 50-55 to avoid injuries and overcrowding. “The number of participants have increased since I started holding these workshops,” he notes.

Subculture brewing

Nicole Concessao of Team Naach, Mumbai, has been hosting similar workshops for over 10 years but points out that while they were visiting Bengaluru once or twice a year earlier, they now fly down every three months. “In Bengaluru, there’s a strong dance subculture brewing,” she observes. On some of her recent visits, she has trained participants to dance to ‘Gehra hua’ and ‘Sahiba’. While the former was a semi-classical routine derived from kathak, the latter featured a Latin fusion choreography. Next, she hopes to host a class focusing on the Aishwarya Rai hit ‘Daiya daiya’. 

Apart from semi-classical, folk and fusion pieces, some choreographers lean more towards classical dance forms. Dr Srija Ramakrishna, a Bharatanatyam dancer from Bengaluru, noticed that her classes did not have many takers, so decided to introduce popular songs to her routines. Since then, her classes have become extremely popular. “I started with Brodha V’s ‘Aigiri Nandini’, then I also choreographed a routine for ‘Brahmakalasha’ from ‘Kantara’ and ‘Pranavalaya’ from ‘Shyam Singha Rao’. These are all classical songs but the steps are semi-classical,” says the dentist. 

Larger spaces

RTribe Dance and Wellness Space, Koramangala, which opened in June 2025, hosts different artistes every weekend. Niharika Shenoy, one of its co-founders, wanted to cater to the growing interest in this format of dance workshops and knew she had to find a space large enough to accommodate 100 to 120 participants. “Before I opened the studio, I would attend these workshops myself and some of them were a little crowded,” she recalls. 

For most workshops, the number is capped at 50-60 participants. And the classes are priced anywhere between Rs 800 to Rs 1,200. Good Move, a dance event company, has a 2,400 sqft space and has hosted workshops by artistes like Ishaa Sharma from Delhi and Sohum Deb from Hyderabad. But they also focus on promoting Bengaluru artistes like Srija and Ananya Shanbhag. It was set up by Janhvi Sharma, a dance enthusiast who had to give up dancing after injuring her lower back.

Ayesha Tabassum, a marketing professional in her 40s, attended a class a few weeks ago to learn the choreography for ‘Shararat’. “I did not have any expectations because I have no training in dance. But it turned out to be a stress-buster. That was the bottom line. Now I’m trying to rehearse the steps to make a reel,” she shares.