Nora Fatehi opens up about her childhood and learning from variety and diversity

Nora Fatehi recalls her childhood and shares her journey about learning different forms of dance just by practicing on her own sans any professional training.

Probably the most popular and loved performer of Bollywood today, Nora Fatehi is known for her immense talent and is touted as an aspirational icon owing to her knowledge and experience in dance. However, it’s a lesser known fact that the actress is not a trained dancer but has learnt the art by practicing on her own.

Taking inspiration from international icons across the globe, Nora Fatehi dedicated herself to the art from a young age by following legendary performers like Shakira, Madhuri Dixit, Beyonce, Rihanna, Jennifer Lopez as well as Turkish belly dancer Didem, Nora Fatehi explored varied terrains to ace her act.

Talking about the same, Nora Fatehi shared, “I was always someone who did a lot of research and I never really focused on one genre of dance or one style of music or language or culture. I always wanted to have a variety and diversity in my learning. So, I was heavily inspired by them and I would always lock myself in a room. My mom was busy doing something, talking to her friend on the phone or cleaning and I just moved in front of the mirror and see certain movements they would do and I would try and repeat it over and over again until I got it.”

Nora Fatehi opened up about her childhood and early experiences of dance in school saying, “I am from a very ghetto area in Toronto with different type of people. I lived with a lot of people who were Jamaican, Guyanese, Nigerian, Somalian, Indian, very diverse community, and they had their own ways of dancing and I picked up from all of them. At school we used to teach each other because we don’t really have resources to go to posh dance schools or dance classes because nobody really had the money. So, we used to teach each other and do free programmes at school, and everytime there was like a certain event at school, like we had African heritage month, Asian heritage month, every month we would celebrate someone’s culture, I would be the first one on stage doing a dance performance. Every month, there’s Nora again, she’s going to dance for us, and I used to take it so seriously I used to think I’m like in the Super Bowl stage or something. So, it was always in me and I always pushed myself.”

Overcoming the barriers of languages and cultures, Nora Fatehi came to India and became a part of the entertainment world leaving imprints across the globe, yet again reinstating the power of talent.