He’s got the Moves

Three years ago,Akshay Unecha was in the audience watching a Latin dance competition at a college festival in Mumbai. The day became a defining moment for the 21-year-old. “I made a decision to learn the dance form,” says Unecha. He has now become the first Indian to win the Australia Salsa Championship,held in Sydney a week ago. After training with Rocky Poonawala for two years,Unecha went to Australia to train with choreographer Oliver Pineda,who is associated with popular television shows such as So You Think You Can Dance.

Within a few months,Unecha enrolled for the championship on Pineda’s advice. The championship was a nail-biter to the end — Unecha and his partner Sophie tied with another couple in one of the qualifying rounds; they won the final round by just one point. “We had tough competition — all the contestants were much more experienced than me. I strongly feel that dancing is more about passion than technique and experience,and that is probably the reason I won,” says Unecha.

He will fly back to Australia in October to begin training for the world championship in Hong Kong in 2013. Currently in the final year in a distance course in BBA from Tripura University,Unecha hopes to finish studies while training.

Musical Beginnings

Esha Deol’s four-day wedding celebrations began on Monday evening with a sangeet ceremony. Close friends of the bride and the groom — businessman Bharat Takhtani — were duly in attendance. Held at a suburban hotel in Mumbai,the event was attended by Riteish Deshmukh and Genelia,Naseeruddin and Ratna Pathak Shah,Malaika and Zayed Khan,Sohail Khan,Ranveer Singh and Anushka Manchanda. Among family,Abhay Deol turned up with girlfriend Preeti Desai. Hema Malini passed up a Kanjeevaram in favour of a peach,gold and black sheer sari and Aahana was dressed in a blue anarkali. The bride-to-be wore an orange-and-red lehenga designed by Rocky S,while Takhtani was in a deep blue-embroidered sherwani.