Small talk fills the dance room as kids from 7 to 10 years-old begin their warmup. 

From there it’s on to exercises that focus on building up their upper arm strength. 

Next they learn their new choreography. 

Lastly, they do a cool down to end off class. 

This is exactly what freshman Anvi Saxena did when she began Bollywood dancing at the age of four. But now she is the one teaching young girls how to dance. 

“I was very excited on the first day as there were many people interested,” Anvi said. “I had a great time getting to know each kid and their dancing abilities.”

Anvi’s mom Anuprita Saxena used to direct the dance classes but she encouraged Anvi to run classes herself. 

“[She] has a great interest to handle or manage kids. Later on she had shown great interest in dance and would perform anything,” Anuprita said. “She had also seen me teaching dance classes, which built her interest in dance. With her gifted leadership quality, and interest in dance we suggested her to start her own dance class.”

Observing the way that Anvi teaches, Anuprita thinks that she is taking care of everything very effectively. 

“Anvi has good time management skills and she is running classes very smoothly,” Anuprita said. “This resulted in me being able to get more time for myself. It makes me proud to have a daughter that started a small business even in 9th grade.”

But it’s more than just a business as Anvi is learning skills that come along with teaching.

“You get a lot of patience from teaching and speaking skills. Cause you have to rephrase it so they actually understand,” Anvi said. “Also, I have to change the choreography multiple times because they don’t get it. Sometimes they don’t practice, so I would have to go back, and do it again. I also have to find time in my school day to do stuff like message their parents, find places to perform, etc.”

Finding a place to practice was also a challenge.

“Right now, dance classes take place at my home because of COVID,” Anvia said. “But we do have a studio outside which hasn’t been opened yet because of COVID regulations.”

Although COVID has presented some restrictions, Anvi and her dancers were still able to find ways to perform their dances. 

“We perform during festivals and stuff like, Diwali and New Years,” she said. “We also have a YouTube channel where we post videos of choreography. This allowed us to share our dances even during the pandemic.” 

Like many people, Anvi has had some difficulties during COVID,  but what keeps her going is her inspiration to teach dance.

“So my mom used to teach and that was one inspiration,” Anvi said. “Another inspiration is my classical dance teacher; I absolutely loved the way she teaches and I always wanted to be like her.”