Terence shares his expertise with Just Dance's Top 21

One of the most established choreographers of the industry, Terence Lewis, is indeed a force to reckon with in the entertainment world. The celebrity choreographer has choreographed many international stage shows, mega bollywood shows, exclusive corporate launches, Broadway western musicals, feature films & music videos.

He also runs the Terence Lewis Academy International (TLA I), providing dance instruction around the world while Terence Lewis Dance Foundation Scholarship Trust (TLDFST) since has been the one of its kind dance scholarship with the view to providing dance as a serious career option. Now, Terence is all set to take the contestants of Just Dance, through special classes in contemporary, jazz and hiphop to ensure that they excel in each form of dance.

Who is your favourite among the contestants in Just dance?

I don’t have any favourites among the contestants but I feel the ones who can dance with both the male and female energy will be a wholesome, ultimate dancer. The inhalation and exhalation of breath is really important in dance. Karan Pangali, Ankan, Rajith, Karan Khanna, Meher are few people I have noticed who have tremendous potential. They are working hard to better themselves and learn in this competition. All these people have a lot of potential.

How do you gauge if a dancer has the ability to excel in a particular dance form?

Every dancer has to have a flexible body. It also depends on the dance form - like if you are doing contemporary, jazz, hip-hop, the dancer would need a certain amount of flexibility in the spine, certain attitude needed for the style. One also needs to understand the mind set of a dancer before pushing him/her into a certain dance form. As everyone has their tastes so it is better to excel in what you love best. Whatever the mind wants, desires, loves, the body will learn it faster. Also, the dancer’s capabilities, whether the dancer is trained or not also makes a difference in learning a new dance form.

What will you be teaching in these workshops?

Before they learn anything about Contemporary dance, they will have to learn how movements originated, how to go about it, how to control body parts and elongate them, going across the floor, turning your body, isolation, connection, and many basic ground rules of Contemporary dance. First of all they will learn the basics of Contemporary dance before learning the form exactly. Once you know they understand the basics, then you teach them a routine and perfect it. I will also be teaching them about how to create variation and give depth to their dance.

How do you plan on tapping on these contestants talent in order to bring out the best in them?

I used to be a dancer and would train for hours daily but that knowledge doesn’t make me a teacher. The art of teaching is a tough process which requires understanding of the training principles. How do you teach a person who has never danced before, or knows the basics of dance, or wants to learn the intricacies of a dance form? A good dancer need not necessarily be a good teacher and vice versa. How do you teach people about rythym, balance, art. To build that, I have had training to be a teacher. I have done research and understood the process. I can say without arrogance that I am a great teacher.

What is the one important factor that a good dancer must possess?

A dancer needs a certain amount of discipline to go through rigours of dance as it is not an easy task. Everyone can dance but to be a dancer is not everyone’s cup of tea. A dancer has a skill, an ability to mesmerize the audience and himself. A dancer needs to be active, focused, disciplined, dedicated, great teachers and be in love with dance more than anything else. Being a full time dancer isn’t easy nor can I teach you in a day. You need to be patient, perseverant and have a good, strong body.

What is the kind of transformation you are expecting to see at the end of this workshop?

I hope to see a change in attitude towards Contemporary dance, understanding of choreography, how dance and dancer are connected.

What has been Hrithik’s brief to you. How does he want the workshops to benefit the contestants and what is the end result he wants to see?

Hrithik told me that most dancers in the show are raw and need to be polished, be taught and explained about dance. They needed to understand what they are doing. They all have potential to be great dancers but don’t know where it comes from, or how they can achieve it. They don’t know the names of steps they do, and in short, most dancers are dance illiterate. So Hrithik wanted me to teach them about dance, where it came from and how it evolved. Like if you learn to speak hindi as a kid, doesn’t mean you can read and write it too- you need to be taught that at school right? That is the same way with dance. Once you learn to read and write hindi, you realise you can read more books, and understand things better. The same way when you learn about dance, you can understand and use it better. 

Tap Dancing-Dancing to generate Music

Tap is an exciting form of dance where the dancers wear special shoes with metal taps. Tap dancers use their feet like drums to create rhythmic patterns and beats in time. The "tap" term comes from the tapping sound is produced when the little ballerina shoes, sheets of metal to touch a floor or hard surface.

Tappers & Hoofers:

One common style of tap dancing is called "a classic Tap." The classic, "tappers", using their hands and bodies to merge with ballet or jazz movement, touch their own habits. "Hoofers" trying to use every part of his shoes with his feet to make sounds like drums.

The Clogging is similar to tap dancing. Cloggers play with a movement of the body and goes down and tend to make sounds with their heels. Tap dancers are light on their feet, and tend to dance to the music, rather than the rhythms. Often Cloggers dance group, such as Riverdance.

Benefits Of Dance

Dancing is a great way for people of all ages to get and stay in shape. Besides being fun, dancing has many positive health benefits.Here It is great saying for Dance

                        "While I dance I can not judge, I can not hate,

I can not separate myself from life.

I can only be joyful and whole. This is why I dance."
Following are the health benefits of dance.

1. Sense of Well-Being:-Dancing is a social activity. Studies have shown that strong social ties and socializing with friends contribute to high self-esteem and a positive outlook. Dancing provides many opportunities to meet other people. Joining a dance class can increase self-confidence and build social skills. Because physical activity reduces stress and tension, regular dancing gives an overall sense of well-being.

2.Flexibility:-Flexibility is an important part of healthy living. Dance requires a great deal of flexibility. Most dance classes begin with warm-ups, including several stretches. The dancers must strive for the full range of motion of all major muscle groups. The range of motion over the muscles can flex and extend. Most forms of dance require dancers perform movements that require bending and stretching, so naturally, the dancers become more flexible, just for dancing.

3.Strength:-The Strength is defined as the ability of muscle to use force to resist. Dancing to build strength to force the muscles to resist against the weight of the body of the dancer. Many of dance such as jazz and ballet, which requires jumping and jumping in the air.Jumping and leaping require tremendous strength of the major leg muscles.Ballroom dancing to build strength. Consider the loss of muscle mass ballroom dancer to develop her male companion to lift it above his head!

4. Endurance:-Dance is physical exercise. exercise increases the resistance. Endurance is the ability to work the muscles for longer and longer periods of time without fatigue. regular dance is great for improving strength, especially in a strong line dancing and ballroom dancing. Raising your heart rate can increase the resistance. Just like any form of dance exercise regularly to build strength.