His swagger and vanity make him stand out from other choreographers. But as Terence Lewis himself says, he is still a practising dancer. Lewis emerged on the scene with Lagaan and Naach , and impressed by bringing contemporary dance forms to Bollywood. Having successfully choreographed Broadway musicals, ad films and music videos, Lewis is now mentoring youngsters through reality shows. The latest being the ongoing So You Think You Can Dance – Ab India Ki Baari on &TV.
Trained in jazz, ballet and contemporary dance at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance in New York, Lewis now teaches others. In a chat, he reminisces about his training, films, fitness and emerging forms of dance.
Tells us about the new dance forms coming to India.
New dance forms are constantly being invented. Now it is boys dancing with six-inch high heels and doing everything that a girl does but ten times better! So the whole element of being a girl, called girly hip-hop is quite interesting with many guys taking to it and transforming it into an art form. Then there are waacking and voguing, which are very popular. Also there is liquid popping, and robotic animation. It is really hard to say what style is going to be popular because everything is on the Internet.
How does one dance form flow into another?
Well, if it’s contemporary dance, it flows, otherwise it doesn’t. Contemporary is like soda, you can mix it with any drink. So this form is a great mix because it has no definite form of its own but it has a definite technique. Contemporary has only one principle that it has to be organic, which means you cannot force the movement; it has to come from a place of initiation. So it is like setting something in motion with a certain velocity, and seeing it evolve and take its own shape and pattern. Now in that you can integrate classical, hip-hop, salsa; any dance style and make it look completely different.
What are your memories of Lagaan ?
Lagaan was very difficult simply because I was inexperienced. I knew dancing but nothing about the camera. Fortunately, Anil Mehta and Ashutosh Gowariker were there. Ashutosh ji said, ‘Don’t worry so much. You dance and we will shoot.’ I was okay but then wondered how long I could continue. So I observed them taking shots and learnt the camera angles, the cut point, editing, when to cut and when to close up etc.You are known to be conscious about fitness unlike other choreographers like Saroj Khan and Ganesh Acharya…
I am often asked this question. I would like to point out that Saroj Khan ji and Ganesh Acharya ji are choreographers and do not need to dance. What they are required to do is choreography which requires application of mind.
They tell their assistants who do the needful. So I don’t see any reason why a choreographer needs to be compulsorily fit. They are there to visualise how the dance will look and make sure that the actor(s) looks good. The reason why people like Remo and me are fit is simply because we perform and dance a lot on stage. I have not quit dancing. In fact, I have quit choreographing for films. People go from dancing to teaching to choreography and then retire. I want to do the reverse. Having started with choreography and teaching, I want to go back to dancing because that is where my heart is.
Tell us about the new dance forms in So You Think You Can Dance .
We did zouk and also some folk dances from Russia and India. We have done Chhau and Mayurbhanj Chhau.
