We’re delighted to introduce you to our Dance Leaders Group (DLG) Ambassadors, Reena and Anaya!

The DLG is a network of dance professionals across the West Midlands who share a collective passion for inspiring and involving young people in dance and movement and ensuring that opportunities are open and accessible for all. The network enables members to work together to develop bold, ambitious and unique projects and activities, through partnerships and joint working that extend and share expertise, resources and capacity. Sampad are delighted to be representing the South Asian dance sector in the Dance Leaders Group.

Joining Sampad will be our Senior Ambassador Reena Tailor who will be creating a ‘map’ of South Asian dance contacts across the region, a resource which will be available to the entire Dance Leaders Group.

Reena Tailor is a Bollywood dancer, choreographer and leader of Bollywood Dreams Dance Academy. Reena gained a BA in Technical Communications from Coventry University but she decided to pursue a career in dance, turning what was once a hobby into a successful business. She started her first class 20 years ago in Moseley which quickly snowballed into being one of the largest Bollywood dance schools in the West Midlands. She is passionate about creating opportunities for people in the arts and believes it has a big role to play in the physical and mental wellbeing of our society. Reena is also passionate in raising awareness about mental health and OCD which has impacted her personally.

Joining Reena will be Youth Ambassador Anaya Bolar who will be inspiring young people to engage with South Asian dance.

Anaya Vasudha Bolar has trained with Vid.Chitraleka Bolar for the last 20 years in the style of Bharatantyam, a South Indian Classical artform. Since 2012 she has been a two-time South Asian Category Finalist in ‘BBC Young Dancer’ (2015 and 2017) and was awarded a Training Bursary by the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD) in 2016. These experiences allowed her to start training in Bangalore, India under great exponents to increase her knowledge and technique of the artform. Anaya graduated with a Degree in Sports therapy from Coventry University in 2018 and since graduating she has joined Chitraleka Dance Company as a full time performer and teacher.

We are delighted to have Anaya and Reena on the team and we’re excited to see what they can bring to the Dance Leaders Group. Our next Dance Leaders Group event will be in the new year, make sure to join our artist mailing list to be the first to hear.

Images by Simon Richardson