Dance socials are city’s new obsession

On weekends, when Kolkata usually slips into café hopping and binge-watching mode, dance workshops across the city are seeing an unexpected rush. Students, doctors, professors, couples and office-goers are turning up for jazz, salsa, contemporary, and other dance workshops, swapping sofas for movement.

These short-format sessions are fast becoming a new way to unwind- part workout, part social space, part stress release. For many participants, dance isn’t about performance anymore, but about feeling lighter, meeting people and breaking out of routine.

Where movement meets mindfulness

For Prasanna Saikia, director of Mind Body Spirit and faculty at Busy Bee Academy, dance workshops are designed as a holistic reset for the body and mind. “Movement is medicine, motion is lotion,” he says, explaining that jazz workshops focus on social interaction, physical alignment, and mental rejuvenation.

Through technical elements like isolations, port de bras, and coordination exercises, participants become more aware of dormant muscles and develop balance, posture, and cognitive control over their bodies.

“As people progress, I see beautiful transformations- confidence, emotional release, inner calm, and a personal movement style emerging,” he says. Dr. Vishal Xalxo, an OBG resident and dance trainer, echoes this sentiment, describing contemporary dance as “soul-oriented” and fluid, helping participants break rigid body patterns and flow freely.

He notes that fear of judgment is the biggest barrier, but it fades once people realise everyone is there to learn and enjoy. Sarmistha Barik, a marketing executive attending a weekend session sums it up: “This is cheaper than therapy and way more fun than a gym membership.”

Reconnecting with the body, memory, and loveParticipants come with different motivations- nostalgia, romance, stress relief, but often leave with something unexpectedly personal.

Student Tanveer Singh Bhatia joined a salsa workshop inspired by childhood memories and Bollywood. “It reconnected me with the kid in me who loved dancing,” he says, adding that dancing with his girlfriend was the highlight. Social media executive Srividya Manoharan describes dance as grounding.

“It quiets anxiety and helps me express what I can’t put into words,” she says, recalling how dance transformed her confidence and self-image.

Professor Monalisa Patra, who attended her first-ever workshop, found the experience energising amid academic burnout. “The music and shared energy lifted my mood,” she says. Writer and teacher Ushasi Sen Basu joined with her daughter, hoping to rediscover the joy of movement. “Workshops remind you how much you missed using your body,” she says. Riddhima Sen, a young banker at the session puts it simply: “This felt like reclaiming my body from spreadsheets and screens.” Thinking of joining a weekend dance workshop? Here are some tips

“After dancing, it feels almost meditative - you forget everything else and just focus on the movements and posture. It’s exercise, meditation and stress-busting all in one.”- Mitrobinda Ghosh, founder and project director of Randhanu , works for street and tribal children “Technique gives structure, but personal expression makes movement effortless. When people interpret steps in their own way, dance becomes deeply personal.” - Prasanna Saikia, dance trainer