“Bharatanatyam is my first love,” says Joshinder Chaggar — and this love for dance has morphed and deepened over the years; something she has immersed herself in. It has inspired her to reinvent herself and discover her passion for life and art — whether acting or writing or simply teaching dance. Driven and enthusiastic, Chaggar’s eagerness to express herself through art has taken her halfway across the world; from her home in Australia to Pakistan.
Born in India to a Sikh family, Chaggar grew up in Lagos, Nigeria and Geelong in Australia, and spent her childhood mastering the Indian classical dance styles of Kathak and Bharatanatyam. The dance form that she is most passionate about, however, is Bollywood. “As a child, I was a Bollywood fanatic,” she says — something she learnt and perfected, practicing for long hours while she was a student at Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. Even when working full-time in marketing in Melbourne, she continued to train and studied contemporary dance at Deakin University.
Despite this intense interest, Chaggar realised in her mid-twenties – a time when most professional dancers are halfway through their short careers – that she wanted to dance full-time. Undeterred, she plunged into her new found profession. At that time Bollywood was the craze and Chaggar found plenty of work, making a Get Fit with Bollywood DVD in 2006 which released nationwide, touring the country with her dance troupe Bolly Movements, and then joining the Sydney-based troupe Mélange – a mix of Brazilian, Bollywood and belly dancers – where she got the chance to explore different dance forms. She hasn’t looked back since.
After moving to Pakistan in 2007, acting is what Chaggar has been drawn to the most: “I am just enjoying it because it’s a newer art form for me,” she says, adding that it is a welcome break from dancing and something she sees herself doing more of. As with everything else she does, she delved into the field with dedication and intensity, making her theatre debut with Katha’s play Mohabbat Bhi Qayamat Bhi. Her enthusiasm and energy paid off when she received rave reviews for her performance. “I was really proud of myself. I am still learning Urdu and the subtle differences in pronunciations of letters like the kh. To know that I could be on stage with veterans like Sania Saeed and Rehan Sheikh and hold my own; it was an amazing feeling,” she says.
She has taken on more roles: she can currently be seen on Hum TV’s Aye Dasht-e-Junoon, in Sabiha Sumar’s upcoming feature Rafina, as well as the short film Poshak. While she sees herself doing more acting in the near future, dance is something, she emphasises, will always be a part of her life. In Pakistan, in particular, Chaggar feels teaching dance has more of a purpose. “It’s like dance therapy, the students stand taller, the dupattas come off,” she points out.
Currently an instructor at the dance school ActOne, she wants to eventually return to training in Bharatanatyam. “I love the strength required. It’s very beautiful and spiritual,” she says adding that she will also continue to dance contemporary Bollywood, “for me, it’s all about story-telling and emotions; contemporary is like a melting pot and I love it; I can express myself so much with it.”
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