A self-made star and a born dancer – Priyanka Nair

An example of how hard work and perseverance reaps great rewards can be seen when it comes to Priyanka Nair’s life. Priyanka is a dancer, Youtuber, choreographer and dance teacher. This is the story of a multi-talented woman who has taken the dance world by storm. Building her career from the ground up, Priyanka shares her awe-inspiring journey with us

Jack of many trades, master of some

Priyanka’s stunning dance moves have garnered a huge fan-following on social media. She is the co-founder of Bollymadras, a YouTube channel dedicated to dance with a solid 100k subscribers. Besides this, her graceful choreography via Instagram reels has made her a viral sensation. But all this success started from humble beginnings.

Priyanka finished most of her schooling in Chennai, after which she moved around frequently as her father was in the navy. As a child, she was very good at sports and was a national-level player in 100m hurdles. She was also a part of a choir group. But her talents don’t just end there! Priyanka’s original dream was to be a fashion designer, which is why she spent a lot of time sketching. It was only later on that she realised her true passion was always dancing.

Making the right moves

She tells us how she became known in her school for being a dancer after she performed for one event and was later made to choreograph other shows. She is a trained classical dancer and is self-taught in other styles of as well. In college, her passion and talents grew, and this was when she started earning money from different shows and events. She fondly recalls this time when she would spend hours practising for events only to earn a meagre Rs300. But this never fazed her because her love for dance was so great.

While her career grew, Priyanka says that she never had friends and even today only considers a few people like her partner as a close friend. This is because she believes in having honest relationships, free from any negativity.

The inspiration is a passion!

She performed in shows, choreographed numerous sangeets and events and even worked with a number of Bollywood legends like the star dancer Prabhu Deva and the actor Dhanush. In fact, it’s a dance video with Prabhu Deva that became viral on Instagram and drove more fans to Priyanka’s account. When asked about her inspirations, Priyanka mentions many dancers, including Madhuri Dixit, and how these stars’ effortless grace guided her to work harder. “When you love something, it shows on your face”, says Priyanka when asked about her passion. She has conducted numerous workshops for people and is very well known for her Tamil ‘kuthu’ dance. When asked about India’s dance scene, Priyanka believes that we need to stop prioritising only Hip-hop dance and dive deeper into other dance styles and learn to collaborate and appreciate the art forms.

During the lockdown, she has taken several online workshops training people for 15 days on 15 different songs, only for Rs150. Besides this, she has a new studio opening soon for proper classes as well. Priyanka’s fast-paced progress comes with a lot of hard work that she contributes towards learning from others and sticking to it day-in and day-out. “If you have a talent, never give up”, says Priyanka. From tough shows and performances, harsh comments on social media too difficult crew members, Priyanka has managed to surpass all these hurdles. Her perseverance is a result of pure passion and hard work, and we are sure that there are plenty of milestones that Priyanka Nair will conquer in the future!