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Journalism of Courage
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 had goosebumps as I watched the performance. I made a decision to learn the dance form, says Unecha. He has now become the first Indian to win the Australia Salsa Championship,which was held in Sydney a week ago. After training with Rocky Poonawala for two years,Unecha went to Australia to train with chroeographer Oliver Pineda,who is associated with popular television shows such as So You Think You Can Dance and Dancing With The Stars.
In Australia,Unecha had to learn Salsa all over again. I would keep going back to what I had learned in India and Oliver would say Its not like that Akshay,its like this! and Id have to start all over again, he recalls.
Within a few months,Unecha enrolled for the championship on Pinedas 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 also hopes to finish studies while training in Australia.
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