Dancing King!

By Rashika Fazali

One man flew around the world because many requested his presence and his abilities. He has helped many people develop their talents and he has made his way to the top from absolutely nowhere. Most importantly, his love of all kinds of art inspired him to always be creative no matter what and no matter where.  

Known among many, but never the one for publicity, M.B. Imran, founder of the Imzys Crew, Imzys Choreography and Imzys Academy, who is also a creative and marketing consultant by profession and a photographer, has much to share with the world especially when it comes to a beloved form of art – dance.

Commencing with Bollywood dance, packed with energy and glamour, he revealed that his journey started when he was just nine years old. He joined his sister’s dance team, abandoned it after a few years and stopped dancing altogether as his religion did not allow him to do so and his school did not teach dancing. But he started dancing again after he left school and never looked back from there.

Passion not profession

Although dance was more of a passion than a profession, it eventually became a career for him. “I didn’t see myself taking dancing so seriously. I never looked at it as a career initially,” said Imran, adding: “It’s a part of who I am. It’s in my blood. It’s become a lifestyle and there is no looking back at all.”

Over the years, he began choreographing and teaching many people to dance which led him to meet his crew – the Imzys. He recalled that the crew formed soon after he got the opportunity to do a ‘flash mob’ for Hutch at the Fort Railway Station in 2009.

So how did the name ‘Imzys’ come about? “One of my students, Sam, said: ‘Let’s call ourselves the Imzys because we call you Imzy and we are by-products of you’ and that stuck,” explained Imran.

Many firsts

He stated that they have done many flash mobs since the initial Hutch gig, for corporate companies such as Aviva NDB and Tetra Pak and, interestingly, at marriage proposals as well!

The Imzys call it the ‘prop-mob’ when people in love get the chance to say ‘I do’ with the dance crew. One person got in touch with Imran and wanted them to choreograph some moves to the song ‘Marry You’ while he popped the question to his lover.

He added that something like this had never been done in Sri Lanka. “We had to get clearance from the relevant authorities. He joined in the dance and it was amazing. That video has gone viral, to an extent that I never imagined it would.” The video has over 15,000 views.

They also did a second marriage proposal flash mob at Waters Edge and they have a few more lined up. Imran stated that he was glad that they’ve performed flash mobs for people as well as companies, adding: “People have started adding flash mobs as a creative tool to market their product which is really good. Today, any product can be promoted with a flash mob. If you want to promote coffee or a camera with a flash mob, you can do it.”

Bollywood influences

The Imzys initially started off as a Bollywood dance group. Explaining why they started with Bollywood, he said: “It was a niche market. I loved Bollywood. No one was doing Bollywood and there were other dance teams focused on Bollywood, but they were following different styles of it. A definition of what Bollywood would be is more dramatic. There is meaning to every word. You can’t say ‘jhunka’ and touch your feet because it means earring.”

Today, they have expanded their dance moves to include a fusion of dance styles, combining Latin American, Kandyan, manipuri, kathak, bharatha, free style, pop and lock etc. Imran added: “I basically ‘fusionized’ the whole thing. ‘Fusionzed’ is not a word, but I would like to make it a word one day.” As the leader of the group, he stated that he is every happy with his team as everyone brings in their own style to the table.

The Imzys have also expanded to theatre production with the start of their first production done recently for an Indian client.

Fours years into the Imzys, Imran revealed that they have a dance crew of 30 members that has performed at prestigious events and for celebrities such as Bollywood singer Carlyta Mouhini during IIFA Sri Lanka 2010, CSN Idol 2012 and popular YouTube sensation Jehan R.

Commenting on working with Jehan R., he stated that the experience was still a shock to him. The proposal to work with Jehan R. came through IFilm Sri Lanka when he trained one of the directors to dance, and knowing what Imran was good at, he brought up the idea of the Imzys collaborating with Jehan R. on a production.

“The response was very good. On that day, we had a lot of support. It increased viewers on my page to about 230 in a day which was really good and it helped the video go viral as well,” Imran acknowledged.

Gigs in Jaffna, travelling around India

Having performed in and around Sri Lanka and the world, when asked to name which was the best gig they’ve taken up, Imran stated that it was the New Year’s gig they performed in Jaffna for the dawning of 2012. He said: “We realised we were catering to a different market altogether and the crowd was different, so we picked a Tamil love song. The crowd went berserk. They absolutely loved it and I am really glad that I thought of doing that.”

As a whole, the Imzys – 13 of them – flew to India last January to improve their dance techniques, for exposure and to see the centre of Bollywood. Imran mentioned that they were given the opportunity to see India’s first and biggest theatre hall, the Kingdom of Dreams and to meet actress Gauhar Khan.

He said: “The team was really mesmerised by the amount of effort put into a production and I took them mainly because we were getting exposure on how to pull ourselves through actors and performers as dancers.” They also had the honour of meeting one of India’s renowned photographers, Rohan Shrestha, who eventually did a photo shoot for them!

With meeting these famous people comes hardship as well. Imran revealed that the trip was more of a learning curve for them. The freezing cold weather got to them, they had to make a 21-hour train journey from Delhi to Bombay and lived in a small cabin which can generally hold only six people, but was instead packed with 13. And just like in the Hindi movies, they even had to run after a moving train to get on to it and nearly missed their flight to Sri Lanka!

However, Imran mentioned that he was enthralled by the entire journey and by how similar Indian movies are to real life in India: “You watch movies and that’s exactly how it is there. People sing on the road, people dance on the road. At the end of the day, weddings are as glamorous as it is as you see in the movies. People are very dramatic and it’s fun.” He added that he would like to plan another similar trip but on a bigger scale.

Battle against corruption

But for now, he wants to use the team’s talent to dig people out of corruption. “I want to battle against corruption. I want to be able to take artists who can perform really well and put them on a platform. Nowadays, you find an actor’s son or daughter just becoming a star because they are born into that family and not because of their true raw talent. I’ve done so much of work for reality shows where I’ve seen people with absolutely no talent being showcased whereas the people with talent are just lying around. I really wish there was a stepping stone for these people,” said Imran.

Where he is concerned, he is currently working on one of the biggest Bollywood musicals and also hopes to stage award shows around the world and to star in Bollywood movies one day.

Imran has travelled around the world to Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong just to name a few to choreograph dances and will be heading to London in July.

In Sri Lanka, he teaches dancing to over 400 students at the Body Bar Studio on a weekly basis. Along with a group of students, he also teaches children with special needs to dance – children with autism, Down’s syndrome etc.

“You would never expect these kids to learn a routine, but they do and they love it. They are currently learning Bollywood dances. We recently did the gummy bear song and they loved it!” exclaimed Imran.

If in case you happen to catch a guy dancing on a bus, on a flight or at a restaurant, it would most probably be Imran!

Pix by Lasantha Kumara