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

Hi Gaitrie , thanks for joining us today. Do you wish you had started sooner?

If I did I would have failed. Here is the reason why, who I am as a creative is not only because of one thing. I am a creative because of all of the things which I have learned throughout the years. From my time working in a Law Firm, to working in a Non-For non-profit arts Organization right before I had my kids. I learned so much during my time with these organizations and the people that I worked with. The skills and experience that I received (even at the young age of 15) helped me as a creative, business owner and a minority woman in the Arts. Because of these experiences, I was able to bring my creative vision to life. I knew that I wanted to be capable of working for myself and really making a profession out of dance. As a Performing Artist, I understood that I was not being lined up for shows and events every day, so I had to create new opportunities for myself. I became a teaching artist for Arts for Learning, here I was able to do a multitude of different things, including visual art, while still bringing in Folk dance from my background. My program Dandiyas and Dance, focused on Garba dance from the area of Gujrat India, the participants would design their own Dandiyas (wooden sticks) and we would use them in a short dance piece. If I had started sooner in my life I would probably not have had this opportunity to create that.

Gaitrie , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I have been passionate about dance since I was a little girl watching Bollywood films in the living room of my grandmother’s apartment in the Bronx. I grew up surrounded by different cultures, we had Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Trinidadians, and so many more living right in the same building as us. It was very easy to get distracted by everyone else and how they moved. It was because of my family’s love for Bollywood films that we kept our culture and traditions so close to our hearts.

I started dancing in college while attending the University at Buffalo. In my first year, there was a big shock, I was immediately surrounded by Indians from India. I forgot to mention, that I’m not Indian-born, I was born in South America, Guyana. The international students from India were surprised to see someone who was not Indian born to have such a passion for Bollywood films and dance. I immersed myself with the International students, I was the vice president of the Bengali Student Association and also created dance performances for them at social events, competitions, and festivals.

After I graduated I returned back to NYC, even with a full-time job at a law firm, I needed to find a way to keep dance in my life, so I was on the hunt for a dance school. I found Bollywood Axion under Pooja Narang who was trained by the late iconic Bollywood choreographer, Saroj Khan. It had everything I could have asked for, Classical, Bhangra, and Garba. I later became a company dancer for her and then moved on to being a company member for The Sa Dance Company under the Artistic Direction of Payal Kadakia-Pujji.

When I got engaged I moved back to Buffalo I searched for classes and found nothing. I knew I needed dance in my life, so I made the decision to start my own dance classes, while working, while planning a wedding, and without knowing ANYONE in the city. Yes, it was scary but I decided if I wanted to keep dancing, if I wanted to share a part of who I am with this new city, I had to continue to move forward.

One of the biggest obstacles I faced was the work/life balance, my job required a lot from me and expected me to be present before everyone arrived and stay late after everyone left. I understand the need for that for some people, but that unfortunately did not work out for me and what my overall goal was (to work for myself), so I left that job and focused solely on dance. Yes, this was yet another scary decision I made. But, it was the best decision ever. It shifted everything and it all fell right into place.

There have been many obstacles but there have also been many wins, because choosing to work for myself gave me more time with raising my three kids, having more time at home, and being able to be there for my friends when they needed me.

In January of 2023, I opened the doors to my own studio in Buffalo. Here I am able to offer dance classes for adults and kids, Yoga classes, host workshops and events, and use this space to continue to train and have rehearsals with my dance company. Having my own studio has its ups and downs, finally being able to have a permanent space has helped in the development of my own production, Find Your Beat, in this production I worked with dancers, choreographers, and musicians from different backgrounds to tell my family’s story.

Synopsis of the production “Find Your Beat”: “What can a young immigrant girl raised in the Bronx know about Indian dance culture? In searching for the answer, choreographer and performer Gaitrie Subryan, takes us on a journey tracing her ancestors’ voyage from Bihar, India to Guyana. With her untamed passion for Bollywood, Kathak, and Afro-Carribbean dance, she discovers that her ancestors’ stories reside in her body and have paved the path to find her beat.”

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My goal is to keep my culture and tradition alive and to have my children know more about who they are and where they come from.

Dance has done this for me, and so it is my mission to do it for them. The richness and beauty of the Indian culture can be beautifully expressed by storytelling through dance. One of the dance forms that I have trained in is Kathak, Kathak is one of the eight major forms of Indian classical dance. It is the classical dance form from Uttar Pradesh. The origin of Kathak is traditionally attributed to the traveling bards in ancient northern India known as Kathakars or storytellers. Kathak is characterized by intricate footwork and precise rhythmic patterns that the dancer articulates by controlling about 100 ankle bells.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

“If you do this for us, you will get so much exposure” As an artist who has been in this field for 15 years, I have heard this so many times. Every time I am asked to teach, perform, host, or collaborate, this is always the first thing that is said.

When we devalue the art, we devalue the artist.

I think that society can do a better job at supporting artists, creatives, and a thriving creative ecosystem by allocating funds to hire these artists to do this work. There is currently an amazing program out there called Creatives Rebuild New York (which I am blessed to be one of the artists). CRNY provides an Artist Employment Program for 2 years and funds employment for 300 artists working in collaboration with community-based organizations across New York State. It has been my saving grace to keep my studio alive.

If more opportunities like CRNY flourish so will the artists and the arts in your city. We need to find ways to fund artists of all crafts and mediums, to continue to do what they are doing, to give them the spaces they need to create, and to provide them the utmost support to continue to move forward. We need artists in our cities, in the rural areas, and everywhere in between.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.devibollywooddance.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/devibollywood/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DeviBollywood
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gdramnarine
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCld41YKqZXP3JoLhKTVWQZg

Image Credits
Photo credits Living in the Buff Art Media, Paul Fanara Website: https://livinginthebuff.com/