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Rule 7: SPECTACLE
~ by Reshma Gajjar






Reshma Gajjar is a dancer, actress and performance artist best-known as the person we first see dancing round her car at the opening of the Oscar-winning La La Land. She has toured the world dancing for Madonna and Ricky Martin and has appeared on-screen in American Beauty, 500 Days of Summer, Crazy Ex Girflriend and more.

Dance is a really beautiful tool for storytelling, because words can only get you so far. Words hit the head, but dance always hits the heart, leaving an impression that lingers. People really connect to stories told through dance, which has led to its growing popularity. It’s of the body... our most basic human instinct is to move. It doesn't matter your culture, language, educational background, or if you can read or write... dance is universal. A language of its own that always reaches you.

The opening scene of La La Land is the epitome of spectacle, and yet it was meant to feel pedestrian in style. We were balancing between existing in fantasy and remaining grounded in the real world. We are doing what appears to be natural movement, that any normal person would and could do. I think that's why people really connected with it. Being human in dance is harder than it appears. It's a challenge that I love, taking the dancer out of myself and simplifying. It's like, okay, this is not the moment where I kick my leg up to my head, or focus on my technique. Throw it all out the window and just be a human being with a feeling.

There's a difference between being in awe and being moved. To me, a technically perfect dancer with incredible facility is like a superhero. They're doing things that defy gravity and their body. I know what I’m seeing is a miracle. I leave fascinated and incredibly impressed, wanting to live vicariously through them. That type of performance leaves me in awe.

My favorite spectacles are those that move me to tears, to joy, to make a difference, to join in. The dancer doesn’t need to be an amazing technician. They just need to really connect and commit to what they're doing and be emotionally there. That's where I think the important storytelling exists in dance. So you can do the choreography, but where are you in it? Did you leave your audience feeling something? My favorite dancers and performances are those that embody the story they tell and evoke something inside me. To leave us in awe and moved… that is the ultimate spectacle.

Interview and edit by Erin Ruffin
Illustrations by Melissa Jarram