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<\/p>\nInika Hadfadkar, who recently won the gold medal in the freestyle dance category at the 3rd Mount Everest International Music & Dance Sports Championship 2023 at Tribhuvan University Kathmandu, Nepal, speaks to NT KURIOCITY<\/p>\n
RAMANDEEP KAUR | NT KURIOCITY<\/p>\n
Dancing has always been Inika Hadfadkar\u2019s passion. \u201cI have loved dancing ever since I was a child but it was in Class 9 that things changed. There was a dance competition in my school and I decided to give it a try. The response I got from the audience was impressive and that\u2019s when I realised that I have the potential and decided to grow as an artiste,\u201d shares Hadfadkar, who then taught herself belly dancing before attending dance workshops and training in Latin dancing.<\/p>\n
And the 20-year old recently represented India at the 3rd Mount Everest International Music and Dance Sports Championship held at Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu in Nepal where she won gold medal in the freestyle dance category. \u201cWinning this medal was amazing as this was the first time I represented India. In fact, I did not expect it at all as I did not have enough time for rehearsals. I thought at most I\u2019d probably make it to the top 3,\u201d says Hadfadkar, who participated in this championship along with a few other participants from Goa.<\/p>\n
Preparing for the championship was a task.\u00a0 \u201cAs I had my internship going on that month, I did not have much time to practice. However, I still tried to devote two and half hours daily,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
For the championship audition, Hadfadkar had to send a small dance video, following which the nationals round was held in Goa itself where she did a fusion of belly dancing with Bollywood. \u201cHowever, according to the format of the championship, belly dance was strictly restricted and so my points were deducted and I was ranked second with silver,\u201d she says. Selected medal holders then qualified for the international championship where she performed freestyle on the song \u2018Run the World\u2019 (Girls), with an essence of waacking. And the youngster also enjoyed her experience at the championship. \u201cMost of the performances were extremely inspiring. I met talented artistes from various other countries like Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Besides dance, Hadfadkar has made her mark in the pageant world as well. She was the second runners up (the best personality subtitle) at the Fashion Model India 2021 and also won Miss India 2023 by Glam and Elegance Pageant. \u201cI used to be a camera-shy person but the self-confidence that a model carries ignited a fire within me and got into the field of modelling at the age of 19. Since then, I have been working as a part-time freelance model,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Currently pursuing her bachelor\u2019s in arts in psychology, Hadfadkar admits that striking a balance between her life as an artiste and a student is always a challenge. \u201cI value my education as much as my passion. So, I make sure I schedule my day in such a way where I\u2019m able to complete all the tasks of the day,\u201d she says, adding that she also ensures that she slots some \u2018me time\u2019 at the end of the day \u201cbecause mental health matters.\u201d<\/p>\n
And the Calangute-based Hadfadkar now wants to take her passion for dance to higher levels and make her country proud. \u201cOne of my professors once said \u2018Life is like an arrow, the farther back you\u2019re pulled, the farther forward you will end up\u2019. I can strongly relate to it. It\u2019s okay to restart again. There will be stressful events which will make you weak at times but take a pause and keep going. Don\u2019t forget the ones who are with you and take them up with you too,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Inika Hadfadkar, who recently won the gold medal in the freestyle dance category at the 3rd Mount Everest International Music & Dance Sports Championship 2023 at Tribhuvan University Kathmandu, Nepal, speaks to NT KURIOCITY RAMANDEEP KAUR | NT KURIOCITY Dancing has always been Inika Hadfadkar\u2019s passion. \u201cI have loved dancing ever since I was a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2518,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aspire-inspire","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navhindtimes.in\/kuriocity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navhindtimes.in\/kuriocity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navhindtimes.in\/kuriocity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navhindtimes.in\/kuriocity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navhindtimes.in\/kuriocity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2516"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.navhindtimes.in\/kuriocity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2519,"href":"https:\/\/www.navhindtimes.in\/kuriocity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2516\/revisions\/2519"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navhindtimes.in\/kuriocity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navhindtimes.in\/kuriocity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navhindtimes.in\/kuriocity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navhindtimes.in\/kuriocity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}