Terence Lewis is a famed Indian choreographer who has gained huge acclamations in contemporary dance. He has crafted some of the very popular dance sequences in various Bollywood films. He has established Terence Lewis Contemporary Dance Company in Mumbai which imparts dance training to the aspirants. He also conducts dance workshops in India as well as abroad. Apart from working as a choreographer in popular films like Jhankaar Beats, Lagaan and Naach he has also worked for music videos, advertisements, stage shows and dance competitions at national and international levels.
Early Life of Terence Lewis
Terence Lewis was born on 10th April 1975 in Mumbai in a Catholic family to Xavier Lewis and Teresa Lewis. He was also raised in the same city and is the youngest of eight siblings. He did his schooling from St. Theresa high school, Bandra, where he also began to explore the world of dancing. He has attended Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance in New York and has been trained in ballet, jazz and contemporary dance forms.
Career of Terence Lewis
Terence Lewis has choreographed several dance numbers in Bollywood. Apart form these he has also worked as a choreographer for corporate launches, Bollywood shows and Broadway Westend musicals. In the year 2002 he received the American Choreography Award for his work in the movie Lagaan. In the movie he worked along with other prominent choreographers such as Vaibhavi Merchant, Ganesh Hegde, Raju Khan and Saroj Khan. He also owns the credit of being the first Indian to receive the danceWEB Europe Scholarship while representing India in Vienna, Austria. At the International Choreographers` Meet at the TANZ platform, Germany, he has represent Asia. Since 2007 Terence Lewis is working as a teacher at Impulstanz Festival at Vienna, Austria, where he teaches Indian contemporary and Bollywood dance forms.
He stepped into the arena of Hindi cinema with the Academy Award nominated movie Lagaan in 2001 in which he choreographed a ballroom waltz, titled `Waltz for a Romance`. His next venture was in 2003 in which he crafted the song `Dil Ne Tumko` from the film Jhankaar Beats. He earned extensive acclamations by choreographing Antara Mali in Ram Gopal Verma`s dance based movie Naach in the year 2004. He also worked for John Mathew`s movie Shikhar. He also has music videos to his credit including Stereo Nation`s Ishq, Adnan Sami`s Kasam and many others. Terence had made a Guinness World Record in March 2011 as a part of dance the reality show named Guinness World Record - Ab India Todega which was aired on Colors TV. In the show he choreographed 1,336 people together on the song `Jhoom Barabar Jhoom`. Terence Lewis has conducted international musicals such as The Children of the Sea and Finding Marina along with the Tsunami and Civil War affected children in Sri Lanka. He has been the judge of dance based reality shows like Hindustan Ke Hunarbaaz, Nach Baliye Season 5 and Dance India Dance.
Terence Lewis has also been the part of television show Fear Factor - Khatron Ke Khiladi Season 3 which was aired on Colors TV. However he got eliminated in the 11th episode of the show.
