Struggled to be a dancer for 18 years: Dharmesh

"Dance India Dance" fame dancer Dharmesh Yelande, who will be seen as a captain along with Sumeet Nagdev and Shakti Mohan on forthcoming dance reality show "Dance +", says his life as an aspiring dancer has been full of struggles and challenges.

"I've struggled to be a dancer for 18 years. But 'Dance India Dance' completely changed my life. It gave me a platform to enter the industry. Soon I turned into a choreographer in Bollywood and now a judge on 'Dance +'. It's been an extraordinary journey from a contestant to a judge," Dharmesh, who was in the capital along with Sumeet on Wednesday, said.

He added that his father had a tea stall in Vadodara.

"Even I used to run a 'Misal Pav' stall as I was more into dancing than studies. Before starting my stall, I was working as a peon. I left the job because they used to leave me at 9 p.m., but my dance classes used to start at 6 p.m. I told my family that I'll get money for them, but only when I'll get free from my job at 6 p.m.," Dharmesh said in his quest to share how passionate he has been about dance.

His big break came when he participated in reality show "Dance India Dance" in which his skills caught the eye of Bollywood choreographers. There was no looking back since, and he earned the 'Dharmesh sir' tag.

Dharmesh then got to work with names as big as Farah Khan and Remo D'Souza, and was also seen in films like "ABCD: AnyBody Can Dance" and "ABCD 2".

Starting from July 26, "Dance +", which will be aired on Star Plus, will feature Remo as a 'Super Judge'. The show will witness solo, couple and group performances choreographed by the three mentors for their respective teams.

Talking about the show, which will be hosted by Raghav Juyal, Dharmesh said: "We have full freedom of judging in 'Dance +'. Apart from its different concept, where contestants will have a choice to perform in group or solo, the theme of the show is really nice. The contestant will perform on his favourite style from the star till the end. Nobody will ask him to do other styles.

"The show is named 'Dance +' as apart from your dancing skills, you need to have a 'plus' point. There is a contestant in my team named Hardik from Jaipur. He can split his legs even beyond 180 degrees with ease."

Meanwhile, Sumeet said 'Dance +' is an "answer" from dancers, who got evicted from other reality shows, just because they cannot performs various dance forms.

"Many dancers join dance reality shows with a dream of making it big with their art. But their art is contaminated as (often) they are asked to do something (styles) that they have not been practicing for all their life," Sumeet said.

Asked about Remo's judging style, Sumeet said: "He is the most humble, coolest and a calm person as a judge on reality show. He is an honest person and I really appreciate his work. As a dancer, I really look up to him."

"Dance +" will replace "Nach Baliye 7" which has its finale on July 19.