Swastik Dance Academy
Basement, GT 35, Sector 117, Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201009, India
Swastik Dance Academy sits on the second floor of a lime-green art-deco block in Wembley’s Ealing Road, its saffron-and-gold logo glowing like an invitation above the sari shops and neon sweet stalls. Step off the busy street, past the scent of cardamom from the neighboring café, and climb the granite stairs past marigold garlands and framed photographs of Birju Maharaj and Martha Graham chatting with the founder. Two heavy teak doors open into a 1,600-square-foot studio wrapped in mirrors that carry the soft flicker of LED diyas at the corners. The sprung beech-wood floor—imported from a ballet-supplier in Amsterdam—bears subtle, hand-painted swastikas the size of a palm; they help instructors position students and, under invisible blacklights, glow like gentle constellations during night classes.
The place smells of cedar shavings and fresh jasmine; instructors string new garlands every evening, a ritual that doubles as mindfulness. A Bharatanatyam bronze Nataraja stands opposite a sleek sound system that can swing from boomy dhol bass to the crystalline twang of a veena at the tap of an iPad. Built-in drawers along the back wall contain rows of ankle bells in graduating weights, silk scarves dyed with turmeric, LED poi balls, and packets of rosin for Kathak spins. Climate control keeps the room at 22 °C, but classical nights dip the lights to 18 °C so veena strings don’t slip, while hip-hop nights raise it to 25 °C so muscles stay loose.
Timetables change like London weather. Dawn Bharatanatyam starts with the raga Mohanam at 6:30 a.m.; noon is reserved for corporate Bollywood workshops; after-school crew battles occupy 4-7 p.m.; and moonlit salsa socials run till 11. Children’s summer camps wheel in whiteboards to fuse physics (angular momentum) with Kathak chakkars. The back alcove hosts a tiny scholarship library—out-of-print volumes on Odissi temple sculptures, dog-eared Vogue issues used for costume research, and Raspberry Pi kits for motion-capture choreography. Annual performance seasonals happen at the nearby SSE Arena, but every quarter the mirrors are wheeled aside and oil lamps lit for an intimate baithak where rasikas sit cross-legged in a circle, close enough to feel the rhythmic stomps.
Prices range from £12 drop-in for one-hour Bollywood sweat to £220 monthly unlimited passes. Founder Priya Srinivasan—a former aerospace engineer who quit Boeing to follow Leela Samson—claims the academy’s heartbeat is balance: “Tradition in the spine; innovation in the feet.”
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- Published: July 31, 2025
