CAT Unpacked - Aishani Ghosh

Week two of #CATUNPACKED

We asked our Centre for Advanced Training alumni to share 5 images that tell #MyCATStory of their dance journey from the DX studios to the present day.

Up this week is Aishani Ghosh who graduated from our CAT Dance Generation and Yuva Gati strand 2 years ago.

About Aishani

Aishani began her training in Bharatanatyam at the age of 5, under the guidance of Smt Chitraleka Bolar. She was selected for the CAT programme and trained there for 7 years. She was the first dancer to train in both the Contemporary and South Asian strands. She was a category finalist in the BBC Young Dancer and the winner of the Navadal competition in 2019. She was recently named in Akademi’s list of 40 under 40 dancers to look out for and is currently in her second year at London Contemporary Dance School.

Image 1 – In this picture, I was roughly 6 or 7 years of age and had not started at CAT. I was training with my Guruji Smt Chitraleka Bolar. I think this picture depicts that even from a young age that dance has always been a fun outlet for me.

Image 2 – In this second picture, it is taken from my Arrengetram, I was depicting Krishna being caught eating stolen butter. I had been training at CAT for 4 years by this point. My training at CAT on top of my training with my guru helped me start to develop a greater kinaesthetic awareness and have a greater understanding of myself as a dancer. 

Image 3 – This photo was taken when I was 17 and a year before graduating from CAT, the opportunity was presented by OneDanceUK. By this point, I had been training in the Yuva Gati strand for 6 years and the Dance Generation strand for 3 years. CAT had helped me develop confidence in myself as a dancer and a person. It taught me how to turn technique into dance. They also encouraged me to start auditioning for conservatories which was something I had never considered as a career until then.

Image 4 – This is a picture from my CAT graduation solo. This piece was a culmination of both my Contemporary and Bharatanatyam training I had received from CAT. CAT gave me the tools to start to develop my own style of movement and develop the confidence to explore this.

Image 5 – This is a picture from my improvisation class at first year of university. I would not be at LCDS had I not been introduced to Contemporary via CAT or had the training and support I received there.