From a young age Izac Ivan Krishna’s maternal great-grandfather gave him the inspiration to dance. But that passion lay dormant for many years until it blossomed a few years back.
Now aged 18, Krishna’s latent dreams have come true. One year ago, he and his best friend Manshika Kiran founded the popular local dance group- ‘Rudra Dance Fj’.
“We have grown within a period of one year and now have 10 members in our group,” Krishna said.
The group performs at various functions and events such as birthdays, weddings, engagements, open days and stag shows.
“Our aim is to express and celebrate the human experience, using body as the instrument and movement as the medium for personal, social, emotional, spiritual and physical communication.”
Krishna said his maternal great grandfather, a tirikutu master, who specialised in South Indian folk dance sparked in him an interest in the performing arts..
“Dancing makes me feel happy and relaxed,” said Krishna. “Just by listening to the beats of a dance number, I instantly start to dance.
“I dance whether I am lonely, sad, angry or happy. I would like to tell everyone never hide your talents and ignore what everyone says about you and ‘just focus on yourself.”
He said dance was the hidden language of the soul and one should dance ‘like there’s no tomorrow’.
“Our dance genres include- Bollywood, hiphop, classical, fusion, contemporary and island dance.
“As a young boy, I used to watch my great grandfather. Seeing him perform always made me happy. Just by watching him, I slowly learnt how to dance.”
Mr Krishna said one of the challenges his group faced when it decided to open was finance.
“We did not have the money, so we did event hosting and money earned through that helped us.One of the important lessons I have learnt in life is — never give up and never hide your talent. I also want to become a fashion designer as I like coming up with new ideas.”
He said his family and friends had been very supportive of him.
“My future goal is to go to India with my dance group and learn more about dancing.”
Mr Krishna lives with his extended family in Banaras, Lautoka.
