Bollywood dance and fitness that will make you smile and sweat.

Have you ever felt captivated by the colorful Bollywood motion pictures filled extravagant dance numbers and beautiful costumes? The Indian actresses make the dance routines look effortless and playful, but boy are the moves tricky! Priya Pandya and Kajal Desai have together co-founded the Bollywood inspired dance and fitness movement called Doonya. The Doonya classes are a mixture of different traditional Bollywood dance styles and fitness routines – challenging at first, but oh so fun!

To learn more about Doonya and the brilliant minds behind it, I had an interview conducted with the co-founders Priya and Kajal. First and formal I was curious about the name and wanted to know where “Doonya” came from and what I meant, Priya responded. “Doonya, as well as variations of the word, means ‘World’ in many different languages, including Hindi, the language most commonly used in Doonya’s playlist of songs.” She continued. “We felt the word perfectly captures our vision of a boundary-less world, dancing together to promote the health and wellness of the body and the mind.”

I myself attended one of their classes at the Reebok FitHub in Georgetown. I arrived there with an open mind and with no expectations but left the location with a smile on my face feeling happy as could be. The Bollywood dance routines were a bit challenging at first since it was my first time, but after I stopped caring about how silly I might have looked it turned out to be a blast.

The dance instructor, Khushboo Rami, kept encouraging us to smile, to have fun and sing along to the music if we knew the lyrics. Khushboo made me feel beyond comfortable and her incredible energy seemed to have rubbed off on us all, everyone looked radiantly happy whilst sweating and getting our workouts on.

“Through the Bollywood-inspired movement, we blend science and art with awareness and expression. We stand at the intersection of Eastern and Western outlooks on wellness, celebrating the oneness of all cultures. One world, one Doonya.” Priya beautifully said, when I asked about what makes Doonya unique compared to other fitness movements.

I feel like Priya and Kajal truly have an inspiring outlook on fitness and wellness, which has influenced their business and contributed to their success. Kajal expressed herself in a manner I find inspiring when asked about their inspiration and idea of the company;

“Doonya is and has always been a passion project. The growth of the company is credited to the Doonya community and their openness with the benefits they experienced. We’ve listened to our students to create programming that is universal and that embodies a philosophy of no judgment, pure happiness, and unearthing confidence. As long as we succeed daily in reaching students in this way and witnessing the positive change in their lives, we’re succeeding.”

Doonya started here in DC but has moved to cities like New York, New Jersey, Los Angeles, San Diego and soon coming Houston. Priya and Kajal would like for the Doonya movement to expand to nations outside of the US too, and in late April they will be heading to India in conjunction with Reebok International Ltd for a Doonya launch in Mumbai and Delhi. Whilst there, they will be training instructors in both cities as well as holding open classes for the public during the week of April 21^st.

Not only is their business expanding from city to city in the US, but Priya and Kajal have also had a YouTube channel up for quite some time, spreading the Doonya message to the world, with more than 3.5 million views! The channel, www.youtube.com/doonya, has been visited by people from all over the globe, giving people motivation and strength in this boundary-less world of one.

With Instagram, the Doonya movement has continued to spread in video and picture format, You can join the Doonya world by hashtagging OneWorldOneDoonya, or by following their page, DoonyaWorld. Social media is a fantastic medium, especially for expanding businesses of today. What’s even more fascinating, I believe, is the fact that Priya and Kajal aren’t simply promoting their company through various platforms on the internet, but also the important and inspiring messages of which their business stands for.

Priya and Kajal are promoting equality, no judgment and celebrating the oneness of all cultures. These two powerful businesswomen have together shaped Doonya into the successful company it has become, with the help of their team of course, but they didn’t stop there. I think it says a lot about them as people when hearing about their aspirations for their company and their futuristic views of a united world, which they are fighting towards creating. I think that is beautiful. I think their ambitions are pure and strong, I, therefore, encourage all of you readers to check out Doonya either on their website, on their YouTube channel I previously mentioned, or on Instagram.

The Doonya classes are joyful, challenging and will give your body a great workout, as well as your soul. Priya and Kajal encourage everyone to try Doonya for at least three classes, simply because before learning the routines they might feel a bit tricky. The most important thing is not to worry about how you might look, but about how moving your body makes you feel.

When I tried Doonya for the first time I had no expectations walking in, but when leaving the Reebok FitHub I felt energized and happy, truly happy. Don’t be afraid to try something new, because it might just be the best decision you will ever make.

Checkout Doonya right here, www.doonya.com, for class schedules and for more information about the company!