ROOTS DANCE STUDIO NOIDA
Gate no.11, C-1, Jain Rd, C Block, Block C, Sector 49, Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201304, India
ROOTS Dance Studio began as a converted industrial loft on Noida’s Film City Road in 2012 and has since evolved into one of the NCR’s most respected rhythm sanctuaries. Three walls of the original warehouse were kept raw—exposed brick, iron trusses and graffiti left by every visiting dancer—while the fourth was paneled floor-to-ceiling in spring-loaded bamboo to preserve joints during hours-long sessions. A ground-to-roof mirror fills the southern face, but it is partially frosted so beginners don’t feel over-exposed; advanced students unclip black satin curtains when they want complete reflection for precision choreography.
Sessions run from 6 a.m. Kalaripayattu-based mobility drills to 11 p.m. locking battles under programmable LED battens that convert the floor into an illuminated grid. In between, seven genre-dedicated rooms carry separate soundscapes engineered with TPI-certified acoustic treatment. The Kutir (kathak & folk) keeps natural reverb so anklet bells sparkle; Studio Grime contains carbon panels to absorb low-mid muddiness typical of London bass lines; the Waack Alley emulates a 1970s New York roller rink with maple-oak plank and a mirror ball sourced from an abandoned Brooklyn theatre.
Monthly, the central concourse (700 sq ft, no mirrors) hosts “Open Soil” nights: a rotating drum-circle, kalimba, djembe, and tabla invite anyone barefoot to step in. Tariff is—you bring an instrument or story, ROOTS serves ginger-lemongrass chai. These evenings fertilise cross-genre collaborations; a Hindustani khayal improvisation once birthed a contemporary piece that later toured to Birmingham’s Sonia Sabri Company.
The faculty roster is intentionally 60% women. Founding figure Guru Raktim Das trained with Birju Maharaj, then apprenticed under Pina Bausch; contemporary head Akanksha “AK-47” Arora pep-talks dancers into confronting “microscopic motion”: moving only a metacarpal to test breath-isolation. Guest mentors have included French choreographer Bouba Landrille Tchouda and present collaborations with LA popping icon Pandora Marie.
Cost is startlingly egalitarian: the first class is donation-based (proceeds to WASH programs in neighboring slum clusters). Matriculated students pay ₹4,500 quarterly; scholarship slots—twenty per batch—are decided anonymously by graffiti vote, a democratic chalk mural that is wiped clean every admissions week.
Lockers are RFID-secured, showers provide biodegradable soap, toilets are gender-neutral. A spiral staircase climbs above the HVAC to a rooftop sala where sunrise yoga meets sunset lo-fi cyphers. Local roasters Blue Tokai designed a microlot exclusive to the studio; the café ploughs profit back into subsidized pointe shoes and tap plates.
ROOTS’ credo is printed in Devanagari and braille above the exit: “Feel the ground, lose the baggage, return lighter.”
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- Published: July 30, 2025
