We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Aleena Daredia a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Aleena thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you feel you or your work has ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized? If so, tell us the story and how/why it happened and if there are any interesting learnings or insights you took from the experience?

I definitely feel like most people, including me, in the creative and art industry have had their work and businesses undermined. I believe one of the biggest misunderstandings is how much time and effort goes into organizing classes and creating choreography. Even if the choreography is simple, it takes specific skills to run and teach classes which is sometimes overlooked. In turn, some may believe it isn’t worth the amount we charge to hire us to choreograph their event or attend our weekly class. It’s totally okay that our services appeal to some clients and not others, that’s just how businesses work and you won’t be everyone’s target market, but it would be so lovely if creative businesses were acknowledged and approached in the same way as non-creative businesses.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Sitaara is a Bollyfusion dance company that focuses on building a community and intertwining it with fitness and mental wellness. What sets Sitaara apart is that we choose to focus on making an engaging class experience for those who attend. There are amazing dance classes in lots of cities, but we noticed a trend that the focus felt more on the personal brand of the choreographer/social media in those classes (absolutely nothing wrong with that) instead of having the focus be on those who came to learn. We wanted to emphasize that those coming to our class have a welcoming and safe space to dance, especially for those who haven’t danced in a very long time.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Community and human connection. Our classes are more than just a dance class, it’s a space where people can connect through their passion. One of my most favorite parts of class are when people make new friends in class!

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

The stigma of not having a conventional career and the amount of time it takes to create any type of art, especially in eastern cultures. A trend I’ve been noticing is that some believe running a company in a creative field is less stressful and/or rewarding than other fields. Running a business in a creative field is just like any other business. I oversee strategy, maintenance, branding, team management, and a number of other things and that’s only on a macro-level. This is the journey of any founder and entrepreneur.

Art, community, wellness: these concepts bring happiness into the daily lives of humans. All fields have a place in changing the world. It’s a tale as old as time that certain careers earn more respect than others and I hope this notion changes.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sitaaradance.co
• Instagram: @sitaaradanceco