Sophomore performs as backup dancer in Bollywood film

As “Night and Day” by Param Gill began booming through the Stockton Soccer Complex, sophomore Ishana Narayanan felt the spirited bass of the song synchronize with her own heartbeat. Almost instinctively, she flashed a wide smile at the rolling cameras and began performing intricate Bollywood dance movements to the sound of the uplifting melody.

Narayanan and her traveling dance troupe from the Max Dance Company arrived in downtown Stockton on June 28 to participate as backup dancers in the Bollywood film “Warrior Savitri,” which will premiere in India in October.

Two weeks before filming day, Max Dance Company received an email, inviting its dancers to perform in one number of the movie. Narayanan’s dance troupe has performed at many local events and showcases in the past, but she said the dancers had never been offered this kind of opportunity before. When their dance teacher told them about the offer, Narayanan and her troupe were all extremely excited to participate.

“We all looked at each other and smiled, thinking, ‘this is going to be awesome,’” Narayanan said.

A week before filming day, Narayanan’s dance company received a video of the choreography they were instructed to learn. From then until filming day, Narayanan and her troupe spent nine hours at the dance studio, learning and perfecting the routine. By the time they arrived on set, the dancers were all confident with the complicated moves.

On the film set, the dancers were instructed to perform the routine whenever the music played.

“When the music came on, we would just start dancing,” Narayanan said. “It was kind of like freeze dance!”

Over the course of the eight-hour filming day, they took over 65 shots for a dance that was only 4 minutes long. After hearing the words action and cut more than a hundred times, Narayanan realized how much time and effort actors and dancers put into each shot and just how exhausting filming can be.

“By the end of the day, we were worn out,” Narayanan said. “I just fell on the grass and sat there for a while.”

The experience made her feel immersed in the dance industry for the first time in her life.

Dancing alongside her dance troupe allowed Narayanan to develop lasting relationships with her dance mates, as well as to gain exposure to film. But she doesn’t see herself in Hollywood — or Bollywood — in the future.

“I don’t think I can handle the spotlight,” Narayanan said. “With all that pressure, it’s physically and mentally taxing.”

Even if Narayanan doesn’t pursue dance as a career, she hopes that dance will remain a part of her life.

“Every time I dance, I feel like I can express anything that I am feeling,” Narayanan said. “It gives me freedom, and I can’t see my life without it.”