For us humans who socialise, attend various get-togethers, go for parties, festivals, celebrations and events play an important role. It not only helps us connect with the right people but bond with our dear ones at the same time, thus allowing us to unwind and relax our heart, mind and soul. I am sure you all will agree with me that this feeling of social fulfilment can only happen with superb music, uninhibited dancing and delicious food.
Music and dance is said to be the soul of any kind of merrymaking. No celebration is complete without it. Of course, live music is something most people love but today recorded music has become very popular. When I talk of recorded music, it is not just about playing one track after another on a soft or blaring speakers but it is a complete art.
An art of mixing the right songs and music along with the durations of each tune and most importantly, feeling the pulse of the celebration and playing only music that makes people go back with a relaxed mind and a memorable smile on the faces. It is no easy task to make hundreds and thousands of people have a great time at any gala event. But today let me make you meet one dazzling personality who literally has people eating out of hands at a party, she generates a blissful feeling at the top most party events world over, I am talking about one of the hottest Disc Jockey (DJ) of India, Julia Bliss.
Meeting Julia is an experience not only because she is drop-dead gorgeous but because she is funny, intelligent, full of life and laughter. The best part comes when this Russian beauty in her heavy accent speaks in Hindi mixed with Marathi, Punjabi and Gujarati words, and people around cannot stop the riot she creates off the DJ console too.
I met this stunning girl in 2012 when I choreographed a song for her in Bollywood film Ghost and thereafter what followed was a friendship I will cherish for life. I totally agree with the people who call her one of the sexiest DJs today. With her charisma and style along with her incredible knowledge and intellect, she is ruling the party scene not only in India but world over. At a recent high voltage party where she had just shown her enigmatic art of DJing, I caught her at a silent spot and bombarded her with my question which she calmly answered;
Tell us about your beautiful country, Russia, and the love affair it has with music and dance?
I am proud to say that I come from the largest country in the world which covers one-eighth of the earth’s inhabited land area and spans 11 time zones. It is indeed a fascinating place. Russian culture is considered one of the richest and most influential ones around the world. The world of dance can never ever neglect the famous Russian ballet and the incredible ballerinas who are cultural symbols of my country and who have ruled the world of dance for decades. We are also well-known for our unbelievable classical music, having produced some of the world’s best pianists, violinists and opera singers. Not just that Russian literature is famous all over the world with writers like Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. For all party-lovers, our Russian vodka is the best in the world. So when all of it mixed and brought on to one platform what you get is the best experience of life.
What dance and music forms have you learnt and how did it influence you?
I spent six years of my life learning ballet, I used to practice daily for four-five hours and more and then moved on to lean jazz, modern and Russian traditional dance professionally. Later, I also developed love for street and hip-hop and trained in that too. In addition, I have taken training in piano and have studied ‘history of choreography’ that helped me to keep in balance a theory and a practice. Music was and is an important part of my life, since the time I was born my parents kept listening to all kind of music genres and my house was my favourite place filled with happy tunes and positive vibes, until now I live in my music world
What brought you to India and tell me your love for this country?
Being an artist was always and is my passion, but work wise I had to try something else to realise the value of my passion. 2008 in Russian, I was working as a sales person in the automobile industry, I like cars but it is not what I dreamed of. Daily at office I would imagine a huge stage and thousands of people watching my show. I would be dancing, playing music and acting, I saw myself up there and this thought has never left me. This dream made me leave my job and I came to the land of dreams Mumbai.
I made my Bollywood debut with Bharat Shah produced film ‘Ghost’ by Puja Bedi, the film scored ok at the box office but my song ‘Aaja Khatam Sabr Kar le’ which you choreographed Sandip, became a huge success and it got me many stage shows and performances. Later I went on to appear in many films such as ‘Don 2’ by Farhan Aktar, ‘Tezz’ by Priyadarshan, ‘Agent Vinod’ by Sriram Raghavan, ‘Rock in Love’ by Deepka Tijori and even a south film ‘Maattrraan’.
At the same time I started playing music and my stage performances got more and more into demand. I was able to follow my dreams and I felt I found myself in India, today India is my second home.
Why this transition from being a dancer to an actor to a DJ?
In today’s world multitalented people get the most of recognition. I decided to use all my skills for building up my artist profile. I had to learn Hindi as I am good with languages, my dance performances were going on, my first movie got released, but in all this I was somewhere missing my music. I wanted to become a DJ from the age of 15 and I had a great opportunity to make my dream come true, today I called top EMD DJ of India and it makes me feel complete. It took me 10 hard working years, in a stranger’s country, yes, it was and is very difficult to compete with local talents who know the vibe and culture and the language, but I believe nothing is impossible! Where is wish, there is a will
What is the common connect you feel is there between dance, films and DJing?
Music is one from of art that unites us all, be it a Bollywood song or an EDM track at a festival. Music allows us to express ourselves, dancing on the film set or the festival grounds, music is it’s complete and bang on answer
Acting, dancing and DJing, What are you future plans?
My agency, Elements inc, has always been supporting me with dance events and shows and now that my artist profile is complete, I wish to balance my opportunities to perform in every way. DJ-wise, I will be performing at the biggest music festival in Asia – Sunburn 2018, main stage, on the 29th December and many such mega events next year too. In the acting front I am currently shooting with Mr Jainendra Baxi for his next film which will see me in a sensational role
It won’t be wrong if I say that Julia Bliss is one person who actually makes people dance to her tunes, in her impeccable style she ended her talk about her incredible journey from the streets of Russian to the lanes of India saying ‘If Russia is my Janam Bhoomi (the land where one is born) then India is my Karma Bhoomi (the land where one works). Today with this story I wish my dear friend all the love and happiness and pray that may this bliss never fade.
Sandip Soparrkar is a World Book of Record holder, a well known Ballroom dancer and a Bollywood choreographer who has been honoured with three National Excellence awards and one National Achievement Award by the Government of India. He can be contacted on sandipsoparrkar06@gmail.com
