What we teach
नृत्य विधाएँ
Eleven forms, taught under one roof.
Classical, folk, western and street — each taught properly rather than as a taster. Kathak is our specialism and has a page of its own.
Kathak
Kathak is the classical dance of North India, and it is what Shubh Sanskar was founded to teach. The name comes from katha, a story: the earliest Kathak dancers were travelling storytellers who narrated with gesture and rhythm before the form entered the courts and took on the speed and precision it is known for today.
Our Kathak training is structured and unhurried. Students begin with posture and tatkar — the flat-footed rhythmic pattern that everything else is built on — long before they are given a composition to perform. Ghungroo are introduced when the ankles are ready for them, not on a timetable.
What you learn
- Tatkar and layakari — footwork, and playing with tempo
- Chakkar — controlled spins, built up gradually and safely
- Hastak and mudra — hand positions and their vocabulary
- Abhinaya — telling a story through the face and the body
- Taal and bol — counting, reciting, and dancing to a rhythmic cycle
Folk Dance
Folk dance is where most of our youngest students find their confidence. There is no barre, no mirror discipline and no long apprenticeship before you are allowed to enjoy it — you learn a step, you join a circle, and you are dancing.
We teach forms from across India alongside the traditions of Jharkhand and the surrounding region. Because folk is danced in groups, it is also the fastest way for a shy child to stop feeling watched.
What you learn
- Group formations and staying together without counting out loud
- Regional step vocabularies and what each one is for
- Stamina and rhythm through repetition rather than drill
- Performing in a group at academy showcases
Contemporary
Contemporary is the form students come to when they want to say something specific and no existing vocabulary quite fits. It borrows the control of classical training and the weight and momentum of modern dance, then asks the dancer what they want to do with it.
Our contemporary classes spend real time on the floor — falling, rolling, recovering — because that is where the form’s honesty lives. Improvisation is taught as a skill, not treated as free time.
What you learn
- Release technique and moving with, not against, your own weight
- Floor work — descending and recovering without bracing
- Contraction, suspension and momentum
- Structured improvisation and building your own phrases
Dance Acrobatics
Acrobatics at SSCDA is a dancer’s class, not a gymnastics class. The goal is a body that can be asked to do difficult things safely: strong shoulders, an honest backbend, and the core control to land what you leave the ground with.
Progressions are strict. A student does not attempt a skill until the shape and the strength underneath it are there, and every stage is spotted. This is the one class where we are slower than students would like, deliberately.
What you learn
- Conditioning — wrists, shoulders, core and ankles
- Active flexibility, including splits and bridges built safely
- Cartwheels, walkovers and handstands by progression
- Falling and landing technique
Afro Jazz
Afro jazz sits low. Where ballet lifts away from the floor, this form pushes into it, and students used to classical posture often find the first few classes genuinely disorienting — in a useful way.
The real training here is rhythmic. You will be asked to move your ribs on one count, your hips on another, and your feet on a third, and the class does not move on until that separation is honest.
What you learn
- Grounded weight and a low, bent-knee centre
- Isolations — ribcage, shoulders and hips moving independently
- Polyrhythm and holding two counts at once
- Jazz lines, turns and performance attack
Ballet
We teach ballet as foundation. A student who has spent a year at the barre stands differently, turns more cleanly and injures themselves less, whatever form they eventually choose.
Classes follow the traditional order — barre, then centre, then across the floor — and turnout is trained from the hip rather than forced at the feet, which is the difference between building a dancer and building a knee problem.
What you learn
- Barre work — plié, tendu, dégagé, rond de jambe
- Turnout from the hip, and alignment that holds under load
- Port de bras and épaulement
- Centre practice, adage, and travelling steps
Belly Dance
Belly dance is far more technical than its reputation suggests. Almost everything in it is an isolation: one part of the body moves at a specific speed while everything else stays genuinely still, which is much harder than it looks.
It is also our lowest-impact class. There is no jumping and no floor work, which makes it a realistic starting point for adults returning to movement after a long gap.
What you learn
- Hip and chest isolations, and keeping the rest still
- Shimmies — layered over movement, not instead of it
- Undulations and figure-eights
- Arm carriage, veil basics and finger cymbals
Breakdance
Breaking is taught here in its actual order: toprock before you go down, footwork before you go upside down, and freezes before power. Students who skip that order plateau, and usually hurt a wrist on the way.
We also teach it as a culture, not just a set of moves. Cyphers, exchanges and knowing where a step came from are part of the class.
What you learn
- Toprock and the entry into the floor
- Six-step, CCs and footwork variations
- Freezes — baby freeze through chair and shoulder
- Wrist, shoulder and core conditioning specific to breaking
Dandia Raas
Dandia is a timing discipline disguised as a party. The sticks are unforgiving: if you are half a beat late, everyone can hear it, and that immediate feedback is why it teaches rhythm so quickly.
We run dedicated Dandia batches in the weeks before Navratri, alongside the year-round Garba class. They are popular, and they fill.
What you learn
- Basic and advanced stick patterns
- Partner rotation and changing partners on count
- Circle formations and moving as a group
- Navratri repertoire
Fusion
Fusion is a choreography class, and it has a prerequisite: you need real footing in at least one form before combining two, or the result is neither. Most of our fusion students come from the Kathak or contemporary batches.
The work is as much editorial as physical — deciding what to keep from each tradition, and being honest about when a combination is not working.
What you learn
- Choosing and combining movement vocabularies deliberately
- Kathak footwork against contemporary phrasing
- Music editing and counting across two idioms
- Building and staging your own short piece
Garba
Garba is the most inclusive class we run. Grandparents and six-year-olds have been in the same circle, and both left able to do it, which is not true of most of our other batches.
We teach the traditional forms alongside the faster modern styles danced at Navratri today, so students can walk into any circle in the city and keep up.
What you learn
- Two-clap, three-clap and popular Garba steps
- Circular formation and keeping the circle even
- Turns and direction changes on count
- Traditional versus modern Navratri styles
Not sure which form suits you?
Come in for a free trial. It is much easier to tell after one class than after any amount of reading.