Meet Dhruv & Rathi Sandilya of Daksha Dance Troupe

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dhruv & Rathi Sandilya.

Hi Dhruv & Rathi, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Dhruv born and raised in NJ has been learning bollywood dance since he was 10 yrs old. Additionally, he has been teaching bollywood dance since he was 14. Dhruv has taught for many schools in NJ, danced for 3 years on RU SAPA, and founded Daksha Dance Troupe.

Rathi born and raised in PA began dancing through her mother’s instruction in classical bharatanatyam dance – she had her arangetram at the age of 10 yrs old. Rathi was captain of her collegiate bollywoood team Nova Nassa for 4yrs. She also danced for the elite Aluminati team.

Dhruv and Rathi choreograph, teach, and perform for Daksha Dance Troupe together combining western, classical, and a melting pot of cultural indian styles within the umbrella of bollywood fusion.

Fun fact – dance is the reason why we got together 😉 both of our best friends were getting married and they put us in charge of the bridal party dances. Fate would have it …that would spark our relationship.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Starting our dance school was in no way easy. We had a lot of unknowns and risk when we decided to launch our company. For example our first open house free demo class session hosted over 30 participants, however we only ended up with 1 student who signed up for classes. There’s lot’s of competition out there in terms of other dance schools but also simply just other activities that kids or parents would rather prioritize. Challenges are also often in simply the day to day of running a successful dance school across multiple locations in it’s early phases (we’ve only been in business for 4 years). Balancing the needs of our business and the priorities of our family lives also sometimes have a tendency to cause some strain. The need to constantly create new content and choreography both for classes and social media can be tiresome.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Daksha Dance Troupe is a school and community located in Malvern & Philadelphia, PA + Marlton, NJ. Offering a wide variety of South Asian Fusion Choreography including: Bollywood, Bhangra, Hip-Hop, Tollywood, Kuthu, and more!

DDT’s Mission is to always teach with discipline, patience, and fun in mind. Emphasizing growth from all skill levels and offering many exciting opportunities for all students to perform on stages across the tristate area.

What makes you happy?
Seeing our inception of a performance or concept take fruition on a big stage or video shoot. After weeks and long months of hard consistent practicing/work is really gratifying because we are molding young artists into strong dancers. Both of us are dancers at our core but we both agree that being choreographers and leaders of this scale is so much more gratifying because we are impacting lives in a wonderful way.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.dakshadancetroupe.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dakshadancetroupe/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1DrmNYVU2C/?mibextid=wwXIfr
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@dakshadancetroupe75