International Dance Day Special: Daisy Shah calls dancing an emotion to express

For actor Daisy Shah, dance will always be her first love, and she calls it an emotion. “Dancing is a way to portray your emotions. Many people find it hard to express with words and I am one of them. So, music is the easiest way to convey my emotions to someone,” says Shah, as she poses exclusively HT City, celebrating International Dance Day.
Growing up in Mumbai, Shah discovered her passion for dance during her school days. “I was good at studying, but I used to indulge more in extracurricular activities, and I somehow just gravitated towards dancing. Annual day or sports function, or anything that was related to dance, I was there on the list. That’s how dance happened to me,” shares Shah, who started her journey in showbiz as a dancer and worked with choreographer Ganesh Acharya.
Interestingly, it was sheer luck when in the year 2000, she found herself on the sets of a Bollywood movie as an extra. “Ganesh masterji ka song chal raha tha. Our coordinator knew that I am a trained dancer, and some dancers didn’t turn up that day because of rains, and since they couldn’t stop the shoot, I was included in the troupe. That’s how dancing in Mumbai happened. Masterji saw me on that shoot and asked his assistant to take my number for the next shoot,” recalls Shah, who started off as an assistant choreographer, and then went on to become a model, a dancer, and then an actor in films making her debut with Salman Khan-starrer Jai Ho (2012).
Recalling her formative years in the industry, the 39-year-old looks back at those days as good old ones. “I learnt a lot of things, it was fun and full of masti. Aaj jitne sophisticated bante hain, uss time par utna hi paagalpanti wali masti ki hui hai humne,” she laughs.
Under the tutelage of choreographer Ganesh Acharya, Shah honed her skills of Bollywood dancing. “He’s the Bollywood mass choreographer. For him, any dancer who dances as a part of his troupe can adopt any form of dancing. So, that was the plus point. Whenever anyone asks me what form do you specialise in, I say Bollywood masala. Basically, I can do every form,” shares Shah, who can’t pick any one song she loves dancing to, but calls all the songs from the ‘90s her all-time favourites.