What started as an after school hobby has now turned into a successful career for 26 year old Pavan Thimmaiah. In May of 2001, the native New Yorker took his passion for Hip-Hop dance to the next level when he founded PMT Dance Studio. Since then, Pavan has worked with artists such as Apache Indian and Sean Paul, performed at the 2003 Bollywood Movie Awards and is currently working on his studio's spring show, the PMT Spring Showcase 2004 (For more information on the show, check out www.pmthouseofdance.com). Pavan found time in his hectic schedule to talk to us and prove that though the road to pursuing his dream may be difficult and exhausting, his years of hard work and devotion to the art of dance won't let anything stand in his way.

Priyanka Sirpal: When and why did you decide to pursue dancing?
Pavan Thimmaiah: I decided to do it after I graduated from college. I planned to go to medical school and I took a year off and during that year I started doing small dance things here and there. After a while I was like, "I'm young once, let me do this now." I didn't want to get older and think I could have done it. I didn't really know what I was getting into. I guess that was a good thing because if I did I may have been scared to try. It kind of gradually happened. One thing led to another. I got a job here, I got a job there and then after a while I thought I could do it permanently.

PS: What was the first performance you ever did?
PT: The first performance I ever did was in a Shruti show at NYU. It was their fall cultural show. We had done an Indian dance. In college, a lot of the performances I did were Indian even though I incorporated a lot of Hip-Hop steps in them. I remember I was beyond nervous. I had a biology exam that day and I didn't eat much and I had only slept for an hour. Then when I got up there, I did a few things and the crowd started cheering, and that was it. At the end of the dance I was so excited I threw my partner half way across the stage and didn't even realize it. It was just a tremendous experience. That's the good thing about doing those college shows. The students really love the performances and they are really supportive of the performers. You can really learn a lot from doing those shows, like I did with all the ones I did with ICE at NYU.

PS: Is there anyone that you especially want to work with?
PT: (laughter) I would have liked to work with Michael Jackson, but given the current situation I don't know if that is possible. I really don't have a desire to work with anyone in particular. Maybe Janet Jackson, but no real desire otherwise. The only thing I try to do is to put my stuff out there and perform and dance. As long as the dance looks right or interesting to do, it doesn't really matter who its for.

PS: How did someone who was not brought up in the Hip-Hop community get involved in Hip-Hop?
PT: The Hip-Hop phenomenon was growing right at the time that I was in high school. The music itself was prevalent. In terms of how the dancing came in, I hung out with a lot of Asian kids and they were very much already into the whole Hip-Hop dance and culture. I may not have been brought up in a place where the Hip-Hop culture was in my neighborhood but a lot of the music and stuff that we watched was very much into that. We used to watch tapes from Asian shows where they would do all this Hip-Hop and breakdancing stuff. Once I saw that combined with Michael Jackson, it was just something that appealed to me. We wore the baggy jeans back then and all the gear that Hip-Hop people would wear so we were really into the culture. I guess because we were so into it and the dance was so cool to us, I was ready to assimilate that as part of my person. I mean, dance is dance, regardless of where it started. It appeals to everybody. It is one of those expressions that go across all boundaries. Just because a type of dance is from a certain place doesn't mean that it only appeals to that place.

"I also want to be the best. I feel like I am a very competitive person... there is nothing more to say to that."

PS: Why did you pursue Hip-Hop over other types of dance?
PT: Hip-Hop was the one dance that came very naturally to me. I like the music first, obviously. I just really enjoy the music so much that dancing was really just the next step in terms of enjoying the whole expression of the form. The style was very upbeat, very energetic. It's an attention getter. When you do it really well you can take over a party or get a lot of attention in one night. Mainly, though, my mind and body naturally related and moved to Hip Hop dance. Dancing Hip Hop is something that is very enjoyable to me and I love it. Hopefully, I'll continue to share some of that joy with those who I dance for or with.

PS: Why did you decide to open a studio?
PT: I am very much the type of person that likes to take control of things and I felt like having a school and being my own choreographer are all parts of that. Everybody has their own style that they want to put out there. I had a vision of how I wanted to dance and how I wanted to run this whole dance thing and the studio was just a part of that vision. I wanted to offer unique and affordable opportunities to dance and I just saw the studio as another way of making my art form visible and showing people how to dance.

PS: How has your studio evolved since it started?
PT: When it started it wasn't really a studio, it was just one class. There were only a couple of students in class and a couple of my friends here and there supporting me. Now there are people coming that I don't know where they came from. After that it evolved into different sections. Now we have freestyling where you can learn breakdancing at different levels. The biggest draw to our studio by far is the performance workshops. Now we have multiple sections of performance classes from Modern and Hip-Hop. You can join them for a very inexpensive price, probably a quarter of what you would pay anywhere else, plus you get to perform on a professional stage where at other places you can only perform in a studio.

PS: What is the toughest part of your career?
PT: The hardest part for me would be the physical aspect of it. When you are teaching 30 hours of class, training, choreographing, rehearsing and you have a studio and run your own business and have shows, it's just non-stop, you never sit down. Even when you sit down you are sitting in front of a computer working on something else. Also, just trying to prove yourself and trying to get respect. That all comes with trying to get yourself out there and trying to get your work out there and continuing to strive. Sometimes the most frustrating part is doing choreography and not having it look the way you want it to look or not having the dancers you want for it to look a certain way. Sometimes, when you choreograph, you move a certain way but then the people you get don't move that way. If you can manage your schedule and the physical demands of it and put it together with your vision and really make something good, then I think that's when you've made it.

PS: What motivates you everyday?
PT: Just trying to be better. It's like this; you have a vision of something and until you reach that vision, you keep yourself motivated to do it. I feel like if you are really trying to be the best, your vision is very high so you are always striving to hit that goal. If I do a performance and I want it to look a certain way on stage, I am going to strive until it looks a certain way or if I want to put forth a certain type of feeling when I perform or give the audience a certain type of feeling when I perform, I'm going to keep doing it until I give them that certain type of feeling. I also want to be the best. I feel like I am a very competitive person so I want to be the best, there is nothing more to say to that.

PS: If you weren't a dancer, what would you be doing?
PT: Well I came out of college as pre-med and psychology, but I probably wouldn't be doing that because I still don't like premed. I don't know. I can see myself in politics. I am really passionate about politics and things going on in the world right now. It is something I feel very strongly about and take a lot of interest in.

PS: If you didn't like pre-med, why did you do it?
PT: Why do most Indians do pre-med when they come to college? I thought I would be a doctor. From the day I was born I was brought up to think that I was going to be a doctor. My cousin wanted to be a doctor and I looked up to him. I just kind of followed along. There was nothing else that really interested me at that time.

PS: What do you like to do when you're not working?
PT: Those times don't come up very much. I love to watch and play sports. If my cousins are around, I'll play with my little cousins. I like to hang out with my friends and go out at night. I enjoy those types of things. I watch sitcoms here and there, "That 70's Show" and "Everybody Love's Raymond."

PS: What advice do you have for someone who wants to pursue dancing?
PT: First of all, know what you are getting into. A lot of people think from watching dance on television that it's easy but it's not. If you want to be a Hip-Hop dancer, you still have to be well rounded. You still have to know technical terms and you have to know how to do certain movements that you may not really realize that Hip-Hop would include. Nowadays, the competition is so tight that you have to learn and do as much as possible. The other thing I would say is make a plan and stick to it and make sure that it works. A lot of people just kind of go to studios or auditions and hope someone notices them, and that might work, but for most people it doesn't. Find a plan that works for you, follow through, and just practice hard. That is the only thing you can do. A lot of times, it's very hard, but if you practice and work hard, someone will notice you eventually.

Do you have any thoughts on this? Feel free to send Priyanka an e-mail @ Priyanka Sirpal.