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HT Brunch Social Media Star of The Week: Dancing Dadi
Ravi Bala Sharma, 62, wins this week for showing that age is just a number with her graceful dance Reels on Instagram
After retiring as a music teacher at a Delhi government school, Ravi moved to Mumbai in 2019 to be with her son, Aekansh, an actor. “During the lockdown, the kids encouraged me to practise music,” says the 62-year-old, from Muradabad, who learnt singing, sitar, tabla and kathak.
The Diljit Dosanjh fan
In June 2020, her children made an Instagram account for her. Aekansh asked her to dance, made a video and uploaded it. Encouraged by the reaction, Ravi started uploading one video a week. The only break she’s taken ever since is when she had Covid-19!
She went from Waheeda Rahman songs to Diljit Dosanjh, with G.O.A.T. Dosanjh reposted it in August, and Ravi saw a surge of followers. A second surge came when she did a Madhuri Dixit dance with a full ghagra set-up.
Rhythm’s gonna get you
Ravi’s kids keep track of the numbers and engagement. “I only like the comments. I’m scared to do much as it’s a touch-screen and who knows what I’ll end up doing accidentally,” she says, sounding exactly like her dance avatar ‘Dancing Dadi’, though she doesn’t have any grandchildren yet.
Why contemporary numbers? “The rhythm makes you start dancing naturally,” she says. Besides, she always loved dancing to Bollywood songs, despite her father’s disapproval. While in college in Moradabad, she had snuck into a dancing competition, only to find her father seated as a judge. “Meri chori pakdi gayi (the cat was out of the bag),” she recalls, laughing at the 1978 memory.
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From HT Brunch, April 18, 2021
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