Meet Karma Chuki | Dance Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Karma Chuki and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Karma, do you have some perspective or insight you can share with us on the question of when someone should give up versus when they should keep going?
If your “WHY” is clear, you keep going. If not then maybe find your “WHY” and be clear to achieve what you want to achieve. I believe knowing our Why’s creates a laser focus and determination.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I think to start off, sharing with the world is not letting your age stop you from doing something which your heart desires and passion leads you to do. anything that is out of the box. The reason why I say this is because I left my 9-5 job at the age of 24yrs. With a goal in my head that one day I would open a dance school in Bhutan. Also knowing the fact that no one from Bhutan has ever taken dance as their profession or even heard of it as a career, I Packed my bags, left my country to a new unknown journey in Dance. I would say that it was not an easy journey, but my focus and determination got me to where I am today.
Challenges I had faced in my journey is countless, but to name a few:
My instructors in most of my dance classes being younger than me, not being flexible at all when I first started, no extensions, no training in ballet or jazz, or any kind of dance forms, being the oldest in probation junior company, oldest and less experience in the main academy company and the being the oldest in the touring Contemporary company. But with my hard work, I got in the touring company in 3years from my start day as a dancer.

Nothing stopped me, not my age, not my experience.. nothing. The strenuous amount of hours put in to work on my body because I knew I had very little or no training comparatively to a lot of the dancers I came across. I knew what I had to do. Waking up at 5am for those 3years, working on myself before the class started at 8am. And it didn’t stop there. The training became more with more hours of extra work.

And I never saw this as work. I loved every bit of it and I wanted more of it as I enjoyed the process and when I saw results in my technique, my training and how I started to feel confident, the experience.. I was living a dancer’s life.
Making it to being one of the first pioneer’s as a dancer to a touring contemporary company known as Navdhara India Dance Theatre.
Being in this company changed my approach, broadened my perspective for dance, grew as an artist and became the main soloist and a principle dancer of the company in less than 2years.

Then I wanted to learn more and build my dance even more, so I ventured to New York right during the pandemic time in March 2020 at Peridance. What a challenging part of my life.

But it didn’t stop me from dancing and gaining knowledge about dance every single day because for every highs there is lows and vice versa! It never stops and we have to keep going no matter what we go through in our lives and knowing the fact that it always teaches us something.

I strongly believe, and cannot stress enough that no matter what we do in our lives, knowing our “WHY”’s is so important to do or to start something. Yes passion drives you but to a certain level, if the goals are not written down, and met we tend to get lost in between. And also knowing that our whys keep changing with journeys and the decisions we make along the way. And it’s never right or wrong.

There’s a saying, “living our passion becomes our profession and when our profession starts serving the Society, it becomes our purpose”.

So with that thought, maybe one day when my profession starts serving and helping the society, then I will be able to find my greater purpose. And in the meantime, keep learning, seeking and exploring new colours in my journey.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I would definitely take them to The Edge, high line park, Central Park, see the Statue of Liberty, WTC area, oculus, Some artistic areas like the graffiti place in Brooklyn & the new Van Gogh museum.

And if we have the time, go watch me broadway show (lion king) because the production is so amazingly done.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Definitely a big shoutout to my family who supported me in my journey since the beginning. The company I was with for the past 8years who not only trained me as a dancer, but taught me how to perform, teach, create, find my voice as an artist, travel and educate others about dance.

Shoutout to The Danceworx Academy of Arts and Performances, Navdhara India Dance Theatre, Paul Taylor Company, Peridance Center. My mentor Mr. Ashley Lobo, Mr.Yehuda Mao’r, Ms. Yuko Harada, Mrs. Shohini Dutta, Igal Perry, Richard Chen See, Brice Mousette, and to all my teachers and colleagues.

Instagram: https://instagram.com/karmachuki?r=nametag

Twitter: @karmachuki

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/karma.chuki.100

Image Credits
Sonam Dekar Ahhi Ben Ahhi Rebecca Marcela Oviatt