Dancing diva
A few years back, she hit the headlines for her quirky and contemporary fashion sense when she styled her good friend actor Sonam Kapoor in her films Aisha and Thank You. Then her online pop-up shops made news. Now, fashion stylist and entrepreneur Pernia Qureshi is in the limelight again, not for anything related to fashion, but for redefining the classical dance form Kuchipudi by teaming it up with Sufi music.
“Both dance and fashion are equally important to me. I feel if either of the two were missing from my life I would not be the person I am today. I feel great that my parents introduced me to so many extracurricular activities. I chose the two best things from them. Though my dad wasn’t very happy initially with my fashion endeavour, he is proud of me now,” she says.
The fashionista recently performed a piece that is a fusion of Sufi and Kuchipudi, the first such attempt to club the two genres. Pernia, who has been a disciple of Radha and Raja Reddy for the last eight years, says the idea emerged when her grandmother told Raja Reddy about Pernia’s fondness for Sufi songs by Abida Parveen. “Guruji decided to choreograph a piece for me that would redefine Kuchipudi,” says Pernia. “The Reddy family are just next to my parents in my life. And it’s not just dance that I discuss with them. After practice, we chit-chat about everything including fashion,” she says.
Her two worlds of dance and fashion are both disparate and demanding. “On the fashion front I have to continuously keep brainstorming to come up with new ideas that keep my online pop-up shops up-to-date with new fashion trends, while on the dance front I have to make sure I don’t miss my practice session even for a day. I manage my entire day keeping both in mind,” she says and adds that the first half of the day is for her dance practice, the second half for fashion meetings.
To switch from something as spiritual as dance to a life full of glam and glitz comes easy to her. She says that as a person she has always been like that. “I am close to my culture and tradition, and also belong to the young brigade which likes to keep abreast with fashion trends. Next, I plan to introduce an online fashion magazine on my fashion portal to cater to fashion-conscious youngsters,” she says. She also plans a dance piece that combines Kathak, Sufi and Kuchipudi.
She connects equally well with her friends from both the worlds. So while her gurus are like her family, she also loves discussing fashion trends with Sonam, one of her best buddies from the glam industry. In fact, Sonam has always appreciated her passion for dance. “She has always been fond of my fashion sensibilities. She has never hesitated from correcting me when I’m wrong and has always encouraged me to do better,” she says.
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