Special Correspondent
Bhilai. Alisha is a true blue Bhilaian to the boot. Her father Anjan Kumar Behura is a Bhilai Steel Plant employee. Her mother Suprabha is a caring housewife. She is still a student of BSP run Senior Secondary School, Sector-7 whereas her only brother Shivam is a student of Shri Shankara, Sector-10 . Naturally, on her first home coming as a celebrity, she was greeted and congratulated by the CEO BSP S Chandrasekaran, ED Operations & Projects M Ravi, at her residence, a rare honour indeed.
Alisha took to dancing at a very early age. Even before she could walk properly, she would tap her feet on the faintest music. She started following the dancers on TV and by the time she was old enough, she was a little celebrity at home for her family and relatives. She remebers with great reverence her first guru Ravindra who eased her into the stunts. This was followed by Ankit Jain. Presently she is training in the classical forms under Nritya Guru Rakhi Roy. One of the dance gurus of the steel city, had turned down her request to train, for being a girl. She remembers how she cried on the occasion, but has no regrets. The gurus she trained with, gave her all the training she needed.
Great experience
”It was a great experience at the SYTYCD. We stayed in a 7 star hotel for whatever was left of the day after training and preforming for 17-19 hours at a stretch. It was like a 10 year course condensed into 4 months. Deepak, Prateek, Dheeraj, Bunty, Vivek & Rishi worked long hours to get our steps and movements right. This was my dream come true”, said Alisha. ”I have never loved anyting more than dancing and learning new styles,” she added.
One of the youngest contestants, she was a pet for almost all trainers and mentors. They liked her child like simplicity but mentored her to be more composed. ”They were so protective and possessive about me. I felt like living a great family,” she said.
”Every day I would learn new things, hitherto unknown and explore the various possibilities. The formidable prop of the finals was so high, I was scared to look down from the platform. The Hopak Dance of Ukraine was a big challenge. At the end of each session, I would get dog tired and could almost sleep without a bed”, she told Sunday Campus.
My parents and my brother have sacrificed a lot for me. I had to let go my 12th board exams, but my family kept supporting me to realise my goals.
Honour for Sunday Campus
Sunday Campus had spotted Alisha at the Jayanti Stadium grounds in December 2014. She had the spark in her. We had her videos put on our youtube channel and news and pics on our website www.sundaycampus.com. Her becoming a celebrity brought us thousands of hits from across the globe. Thank you Alisha for doing us the honour.
– Editor/Moderator
I Know I Can Dance says Alisha
