I am a self-trained dancer. I have learnt everything from TV, and now I’m still learning. I just follow the pattern. I watch YouTube videos and learn. I am an entirely non trained dancer, but I can do many styles.
1. Tell us about your background and journey.
I was born and brought up in Dubai. I started dancing when I was 4 years old. I started choreographing when I was in 8th grade and teaching my seniors when I always knew a choreographer. When I began to teach professionally was in 12th grade, so it's been a very very long journey for which I have been dancing and teaching.
When the song "Kala chasma" came out from the movie Baar Baar Dekho, I decided to make my first official video on YouTube. I put a random status on Facebook asking if anyone wants to learn the steps that Katrina Kaif was doing in the song and everybody said yes.
So I just made up a dance cover, and that was my 1st official video on YouTube, and that hit 2.9 million views. The video became viral and since then no looking back. That's how I started. At that time, I was in Dubai, and Bollywood dance tutorials were not a trend then, and I was the only one doing it.
I started finding locations and shooting. Here I am. There was no looking back since. Then I have been on social media doing my thing for about 3 and a half years and yeah it's been a crazy journey. I moved to Mumbai last year to advance my dreams.
I danced with Neha Kakkar, Nora Fatehi, Tony Kakkar, Hardy Sandhu. This was like a dream come true. From dancing alone in Dubai to dancing with superstars in Mumbai, it has been getting crazier, in a good way!
I'm a team leader, actor, model, choreographer. I have done over 50 commercials in Dubai. I have been a TV representer for Zee TV medallist and colours medallist. I have also been part of big photoshoots. Hence, I decided now I should take the next step, and even my presence on social media was growing, so I moved to Mumbai.
2. When did you first decide you wanted to pursue dancing and how did you start?
Like I said, I decided to start when the whole Kala Chasma thing came up. That gave me the motivation to pursue dancing and do it regularly. Now it’s been three and a half years. I upload YouTube videos every single week.
Basically, I started dancing at a very young age. Obviously never thought of taking it on social media and also that time this was not a trend in India. Although people used to upload such videos in India but in Dubai, there was no such thing.
When I started it was really new maybe that’s why I got accepted, and now there are over a hundred videos uploaded in UAE every single day, and that makes me really proud.
3. Who is your favourite dancer, and why?
It was really a hard question because I mean I have so many favourite dancers, but obviously, Madhuri Dixit Ma'am stands out. She's like the goddess. I absolutely love her. Moreover, I also love Matt Steffanina. The amount of work he puts in his videos and outstanding choreography he brings out is commendable.
In India, of course, all my favourite YouTubers - Team Naach, Sonali Bhadoria, all of them are just amazing. I have many many favourite dancers from India Himanshu Dulani, Linelsy Corniel, Shazeb Sheikh. I can't even take every name because there are so many of you.
4. Can you throw some light on opportunities one gets as a dancer?
So the opportunities you get as a dancer are many. The most important thing is consistency because there is so much competition. Everyone out there is now doing the same thing. Now, this has become a trend. So many people are doing the exact same thing of using social media to show their talent.
You need to figure out what makes you different, and you need to be consistent in making videos. That's when you start getting opportunities. If you become popular enough on social media, you will get a lot of brand collaboration. You get collaborations for promotion of some songs.
You also get to dance with a lot of stars while promoting their films and songs like how I got the chance to perform with superstars. So there are a lot of opportunities, but the whole point is how you make use of them, and social media can be both boon and a bane.
The advantage is that as a dancer, you get a so many opportunities you can literally become a star through social media. You gain fans through social media, and obviously, everybody knows that you can make a lot of money through social media if you do get popular.
So, there are a lot of opportunities, but it is just about who can grab them well with consistent and unique content.
5. Is format training required, or can one train themselves purely based on talent?
It depends. I am a self-trained dancer. I have learnt everything from TV, and now I’m still learning. I just follow the pattern. I watch and learn. I am an entirely non trained dancer but I can do many styles.
But obviously, if somebody wants to do proper dance forms like jazz, bachata, salsa or contemporary, then they need adequate training. I can do these styles but obviously I do not have the in-depth knowledge.
For the people who want to learn a particular style, training is super important because these styles require training. But again if you wish to do freestyle dancing like me, I can try and do as many styles because I feel like I’m not trained.
So I think if you are not a trained dancer, then it's not a problem. For example, I feel that because I am not trained in one particular style, my body is so natural, and I just get into any dance form. I just shape into any dance form, and it comes out well.
I think training hundred per cent is crucial if you want to become thorough with one particular style. You can train yourself too! Literally, everything is out there now on YouTube there are free tutorials, teachers are teachings free classes proper training techniques.
So I think people should make use of that and get themselves trained. Also, you don't necessarily need to pay money to get trained.
6. What piece of advice would you like to give to future and aspiring artists?
Firstly, never take shortcuts because when you take shortcuts, you go up, you claim the ladder fast, but then you also come down quickly so never take shortcuts. Be consistent in your work and most importantly love what you are doing because only then you can continue to do it for a long time.
I mean people might think this is an exaggeration, but my followers know that in three and half years, I have not taken single daybreak. And yes, I am not proud of it. It is mentally, physically exhausting, but I just don’t want to take a break. I love what I am doing, and that pushes me to do more.
Compete with yourself. Most importantly, make yourself better every single day. Don’t compete with others, don’t get jealous. Have a goal, and don’t let anything come in between. Work so hard towards it that everybody will be like 'yes that’s what makes a superstar.'
So, these are the few things that I have done. HAVE YOUR GOAL, MAKE YOUR WAY AND DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO ACHIEVE IT.
7. Which is your favourite book and why
I actually love reading, but I don’t read much. I only read a few good books here and there. I think my favourite book till now has to be The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni.
Basically, it’s about whole Mahabharata tale, being told through the viewpoint of Draupadi. You know as a woman at that time living a world male-dominated, so I think it was a fantastic book.
Talking about how women were treated during that time. Basically, it’s from Draupadi's viewpoint, everything which happened with her and the family. It’s a fantastic book, and I really recommend everybody to read it’s fascinating. So yeah that’s my favourite book.
Nidhi Kumar
Dance YouTuber | Choreographer | TV Presenter | Actor | Model
YouTube Channel - Nidhi Kumar
Instagram - @nidhikumardance
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