The Womenz team had an opportunity to interact with Ms. Svetana Kanvar, Founder, The BOM Squad, India.  Here is what she shared with us 

Can you please tell us something about The BOM  Squad –

 The BOM Squad is  an all girls Jazz crew based out of Mumbai. We are trained Jazz , Contemporary Dancers who are trying to promote Jazz and it's different forms and keep it from fading out. We represent the different moods of a women through our Dance and Dance choreographies.

How you all members met together?

They used to be a part of Svetanas team at some point of time at our academy that we trained from. We all used to Dance together and that's how we're all connected.

Meet the squad-

 
Svetana Kanwar - Founder of The BOM Squad, Svetana has been dancing and training for almost 10years now. Dance for her is her life and passion. Being a strong independent opinionated woman, she wanted to build other women to be the same because she strongly believes in what her mentor taught her. How you are is how you'll Dance.

Virali Parekh - Co-founder of The Squad, Virali started as a Jazz , Contemporary Dancer who then went to Broadway Dance Centre for a year and found her love for Funk, heels and Hiphop. Passionate and determined, Virali is the sturdiest pillar of support. 

Roshini Nair - A Dancer from the industry, who also has a hunger for formally Training herself, Roshini is the most hardworking of the lot. Her Tom boyish nature doesn't stop her from being super sexy and femine while she moves to a Beyonce song.

Hemanshi Choksi - A Hiphop lover, Hemanshi though trained in other forms as well cannot stay away from Hiphop and funk for more than a few hours. Sexy and with a style of her own, Hemanshi is famous for her spicy hair flips.

Arya Mehta- The youngest member, at 16 Arya is pretty much sorted and focused about her future as well as her present.  She balances her school with Dance beautifully and excels in both.

Radhika Mayadev - A born performer, Radhika has a body made of elastic that can me twisted in any direction.  She's crazy and has a strong mind of her own , always hungry to learn more and constantly growing herself.

Sharvani Pandey - The pretty diva of the group, Sharvani is extremely talented and a very fast learner.  She's the new and very eager to be the best.

Natasha Shetty - Natasha is a kathak dancer who also went ahead to train herself in other western forms. Grace and subtly are her calling.

What inspired you to begin with The BOM Squad? How did you coin this interesting name?

When we saw that Jazz as a form is not very popular anymore and seems to be dying, we were determined to keep it alive. Also we wanted to spread the Importance of training yourself the most as a Dancer. All our strengths being Jazz and versatility we decided to come together as a crew as Jazz has many various forms. The name was thought of by Bansi Mehta who is Arya 's Mom in her sleep. She immediately messaged us and we all loved it. It actually means Bombay squad. So BOM is actually supposed to be short for Bombay.

 
Your initial journey/struggle and motivation to scale this far?

As Jazz Dancers we have always been told that we need to be soloists not chorus dancers. We all have to enhance our personalities as we dance. Which is all true and great but if we want to perform as a crew looking identical was very important. It was hard to find the balance initially.  Also the form we do is not very popular since it's not Hiphop or bollywood we needed to be smart and innovative in our approach. But with all our heads together, we have only gotten better with time as we always have each others back.

 
As an all women group did  you face any hurdles in your journey so far?  If yes,  how you faced & conquered them?

All the time, specially since we do Jazz , which is naturally a sexy  form. So we're generally typecast. Also we get inspiration from Dancers overseas and even there  dressing sense which is constantly questioned in our  country.  Also when you do a form like Jazz and  contemporary, showing your lines and training is very  important so we're generally in right or short clothes. And anywhich way we're confident girls and have the freedom to wear what we want without being questioned. For every sexy choreography there is a quirky one and for every elegant choreography there is a strong and emotional one.

 
What is the USP of The BOM Squad

That we are trained dancers and each of us have different and strong personalities that when brought together can create magic.

 
Your videos are very energetic? Do you all follow any particular diet?

We try to just train and stay for and eat well.

 
What is your biggest achievement so far?

An article about us was in the paper. Full page. We're not even a year old so for us it was a huge achievement.

Have you done any live shows? How many?

Yes, atleast 12 together.

 
Does The BOM Squad got any opportunity to perform in other countries? If yes, which?

Not yet, we would love to though and as I mentioned we're not even a year old we are sure there is a lot in store for us.

 
Are you open to share your talent with others?

Ofcourse. We would love that.

Further growth plans of The BOM Squad for the coming years?

We plan to continue training and start taking a BOM workshop Tour so we can spread our knowledge to whoever else wants it all over the country and if needed even outside.  Also do as many shows and shoots as we get to because we love performing.

 
Any message to aspiring female artists out there who are struggling to prove themselves?

Please never stop trying.  Please do not give up on your dream. The world is not always supportive, you have to be your biggest support. As an artist the struggle is always there but so is the satisfaction. Also never stop learning and always be a student first.

We The Womenz team thank her for sharing The BOM Squad story with us. We are sure that the squad will certainly inspire our readers.

The BOM Squad can be reached on Instagram

Have a  look at The Bom Squad's video

First Published: 07-Apr-2017- 19:24