Doon dancer to perform marathon dance, eyes Guinness

Doon dancer to perform marathon dance, eyes Guinness
By PRABEER SIKDAR
DEHRADUN, 24 September 2008:
Javed Jaffri, Prabhu Deva and Hrithik Roshan are the ones who come to mind when it comes to dance. But imagine performing a marathon 24-hour non-stop dance without a break!

City’s dance lovers will get to watch a never-before-seen reality dance show on 24 October when 34-year-old Dev Pathik performs a live 24-hour non-stop dance recital in a prominent hotel here.

Pathik, who is the Director of Rajpur Road based NAACH Music and Dance Academy, already finds a place in Limca book of Records for his 19.5 hours of non-stop aerobics performance. “I achieved the feat in Jaipur at the fag end of 2002 to beat Raj Kumar Verma, (the then Limca record holder) who had clocked 17.5 hours doing non-stop aerobics,” said Pathik.

However, the 24-hours of non-stop dance feat he plans to perform would not include aerobics. “I would be dancing to Bollywood numbers, about 400 songs approximately, without taking any break,” he claimed. He has reportedly performed a 12-hour non-stop trial dance in June at Dance Academy this year.

“Though the Limca Record rules provide an interval of 10-15 minutes interval after every 10 hours, I would not like to use this option,” he said, adding that he would be taking in only liquid food during his non-stop performance. “


A trained aerobics instructor from Reebok Institute, Pathik also has a diploma in Kathak from Bhatkhande Music Institute. Students from all age group can be seen at his dance institute learning western, folk, Bollywood, semi-classical, Dandiya, hip-hop, salsa and aerobics.

“I had earlier worked with Ganesh Hegde’s ( Lagaan choreographer) dance troupe in Mumbai. But a chance visit to Doon two years ago made me leave everything,” he said.

In 2007, Pathik organized a two-month summer camp for dance lovers. “After that huge response, I decided to open a permanent dance academy in the city itself,” he said.

Pathik, who always prefers to dress in whites, is also aiming to break the current Guinness World Record on individual marathon dancing. (Suresh Joachim, a Sri Lankan national, holds the current longest marathon solo dance Guinness record for clocking 100 hours of non-stop dance from 16 to 20 February 2005)

“ I already have a Limca Record under my belt but what I am eyeing at is Guinness,” he said. According to Pathik, after his 24-hour non-stop performance on 24 October, he would perform a non-stop 58 hour performance in January.

But, who will benefit from the reality show? “My marathon peformance is for higlighting the fact that one can derive immense health benefits out of dance. Apart from its entertainment value, it also provides professional dancers job opportunities as choreographers,” he explained.

“Moreover, on that day, I would also be setting up a donation box to collect money for the Bihar flood victims,” he said, appealing people to witness the reality show in large numbers.

Interestingly, members from the audience are also free to join him in his marathon dance show. “Their participation would encourage me to go on,” he said.