CTYA’s Blog has started a new Feature on Fridays, Thulirkal. Thulirkal meaning bud reflects the young Tamil youth we will be featuring. These youth are the buds of our community, and are growing into to strong, achieving young men and women! Each week we will feature a Tamil youth of the week. For more information or to suggest a youth to feature, please feel free to email us at blogs@ctya.org!
This week, we’ve brought you, Athavan Anpalagan!
Athavan Anpalagan, a.k.a. WessTigga is an upcoming dance talent whose YouTube dance videos have earned over 1 million collective views internationally. From competing in street battles to performing on countless platforms, his repertoire of dance has flourished greatly. While cultivating his passion for dance, Athavan embarks on public speaking opportunities, hones his piano skills from completed piano studies under the Royal Conservatory of Music, and pursues various photography and cinematography endeavours. Today we sat down to learn a little more about this talented young man!
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CTYA Blog Team: Thank you Athavan for sitting down with us today. So, let’s get warmed up. Ok, now don’t think, just say what first comes to mind. 1, 2, 3…
- City boy or Country boy? City boy
- Early Riser or Nigh Hawk? Night Hawk
- Health or Money? Health
- Favourite Song? You Rock My World – Michael Jackson
- Biggest Pet Peeve? Noisy eaters
- Who’s your biggest fan? My family: Warriors
- CTYA Blog Team: Tell us a little bit about yourself.
WessTigga: I am an Arts and Business student at the University of Waterloo who is deeply involved with personal projects, which include works of dance, music, photography, video production, and public speaking.
CTYA Blog Team: What inspired you to become a dancer?
WessTigga: I remember being seated amongst a crowd to watch an array of performances at Highgate Public School’s annual Talent Show back in Grade 7. I watched good friends of mine perform and to me, they looked invincible. While performing, the enjoyment they seemed to share made me want to experience the very same some day. That night was “Day 1.” With time, after practicing behind closed doors, I shared what I could by taking part in street battles and staged performances. My journey as a self-taught dancer began just then.
CTYA Blog Team: Who is your role model?
WessTigga: My biggest role models are dancing sensations Prabhu Deva and the late, Michael Jackson. Their influence in my dance work is immense and is solely because of the confidence that they display when performing and for their remarkable originality.
Dancing talent, Anujan Asokan, and best friend, Anu Vasanthakumar, are the two who have inspired me during high school, which was when my association with dance had begun. To this day, they continue to inspire me, because of their love and passion for dance. I would also like to shout out my Waterloo-Laurier Warriors and paraDOX dancers, LXGIC, 2wist, and PointDxter, for helping keep dance alive in my life today.
CTYA Blog Team: In your opinion, what’s the most important quality needed to succeed?
WessTigga: This is a difficult question to answer, because I feel that a number of qualities are essential for success. The most important one to me would be perseverance. Very few things attempted in life will work phenomenally the first time. If you’ve got an interest that you value, let your passionate self guide you to success through the failures. You will fail, but if you persevere, you will eventually make it.
CTYA Blog Team: Are you currently working on any productions now? If so, can you tell us about it?
WessTigga: Alongside other coordinators and choreographers of our Waterloo-Laurier Warriors Dance Team, we are working towards our competitive performance that our team will perform at CTYA’s 3rd Annual Inter-College/University Dance Competition in June – Thaalam 2013. Prior to the competition, I hope to also release other short concept/freestyle videos that are both solo and collaborative pieces similar to our hit, “Why This Kolaveri Di Dance” video.
CTYA Blog Team: Finish the sentence. “To me, dance is ..”
WessTigga: To me, dance is an escape from reality and life’s stresses. I enjoy dancing to become a character on stage or before screens.
CTYA Blog Team: If you could say a few words to your younger self, what would you say?
WessTigga: You’ve got goals for today and big dreams for tomorrow. Stay hungry, focused, and hard working.
CTYA Blog Team: Anything else you’d like to add?
My hobbies are what bring greater meaning to my life. By giving life to my hobbies through personal projects, I am able to share them with my friends, family, and dear fans. There are many ways for CTYA Blog readers to follow me on this journey.
Please visit the links below.
Thank you!
Official YouTube Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/athavan101
Facebook Fan Page:
http://www.facebook.com/wesstigga.productions
Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/WessTigga
Tumblr:
http://www.wesstigga.tumblr.com
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