Young dancer turned instructor passionate about her craft

KIMBERLY Harnauth absolutely adores the fact that along with her day job, she gets to do what she loves the most – dance! She was just 10 years old when she began taking dance lessons, and today, 13 years later, she is now a dance instructor herself.
Now the lead person for the dance group called ‘Kimberly and Shellita Dance Troupe’ Kimberly explained that Shellita Khemraj was the original founder of the dance school some 20 years ago.
When Shellita decided to migrate to New York, she handed over the dance school to Kimberly who was one of her students since the age of 10. Out of respect for the work that Shellita has put into the dance school, Kimberly has decided to retain her name.
Although Kimberly teaches dance for free, owing to her deep love for the arts, she is often hired for birthday parties and other events and works mainly with Bollywood (including classical), Chutney, and Soca music.

Due to COVID-19, she is only working with 10 students at the moment. The age range she works with and from 3 years old to under 30. “Dancing is more of a hobby. It’s my passion so I don’t look at making a profit off of teaching them. My classes are free,” Kimberly told the Buzz this week.
Her grandmother, Indra Tulsie, is also an Indian singer who performed in several bands back in the days. Today she is still singing in Mandirs.
“My grandmother always said that she wants me to be her backup dancer,” Kimberly fondly reflected, adding, “My mom also was a dancer enrolled with the ‘National Dancing School’ but she didn’t go through with her dreams after she got pregnant, so I would like to believe that I picked up where she left off.”
Kimberly teaches dance at her home in Mandela Avenue and is trying to keep her group small until the pandemic goes away. She also strives to uphold all of the COVID-19 guidelines. For one year after the pandemic broke out here, she stopped teaching and accepting hires.

“It really affected us. I recently started back recently but I haven’t enrolled any children. Maybe later after many more people get vaccinated. Hopefully by half of this year,” she said.
At the moment, Kimberly only takes about two more persons out with her on hires so that they can maintain social distancing on stage. “I ensured that all of my dancers and I took the vaccines and we always wear our masks, even when we’re performing.”
Wearing the masks while dancing can be quite difficult and uncomfortable, however. “But I believe that if you’re hiring me, you need to feel safe also.”
Kimberly is hoping to be able to open a big dance studio at a prime location so that she can be able to teach more persons. She also wants to learn new dances and steps in different cultures so that she may be able to mix up performances in future.
“Maybe we can have more diversity. For example, I like certain African dance steps and other moves in the different cultures. It’s always a plus to keep building your knowledge.”
Kimberly and her students have performed in almost all of the regions across Guyana, and she especially enjoys working with the Indian Action Committee (IAC). Each year, she does a show with them in Berbice and Essequibo.