I started my dancing school 17 years ago. It was a small free service then, but now it has 100 students and it is my full-time job.

We support lots of community organisations through our dancing. Once a year we have a concert to raise funds for the Children First Foundation, and there are other groups we support.

We teach children and we also have a group of mothers learning. We are about to start our first men’s dance group.

Learning any form of art, particularly Indian classical dance, gives you more discipline in life. It keeps the body firm and the mind fit. We have not only Indians, but also Fijian, Malaysian and Sri Lankan dancers.

The dancers will train for 10 to 15 years with me, and then they will have a graduation.

I have been dancing since I was four years old. I did a double diploma in dance – it has always been my passion. I performed right throughout India and then in Switzerland, before moving to Australia and opening my own school.

Indian classical dance at NIFA is about people coming together and sharing and learning about another culture. I have met so many people through this dancing, people from different cultures and different parts of life.