The founder of the Jalwa Dance Company is full time performer, model and actor Babushka Ferenczi.

Here is a short window onto her life till this day.
For more information, feel free to follow her on Instagram: @babushka.ferenczi
You can also read her interview for the G’Day India and Indian Weekly Magazines in the gallery 🙂

Born and Raised in France

Of a Hungarian background, Babushka was born and raised in France. From a young age, Babushka’s aim was to become a teacher. She followed her dream and at a very young age, she became a high school teacher in her homeland, France; teaching English as a second language, English Literature and Civilisation. She was simultaneously teaching the French Army to prepare them for their overseas missions. Her dedication to her craft allowed her students to improve and become more confident and independent in foreign countries while learning about different cultures which was the best reward for her.

From High School Teacher to Full Time Performer

But she had had a taste of Australia and she couldn’t forget the “Land Down Under” so she moved permanently to Melbourne in 2011. Since then she dedicated her life to developing her passion for the performing arts. She turned her hobbies (dancing and modeling), into her full time work to be able to dedicate all her time to it and become an expert. Her training in France covered Break Dancing, Hip Hop, Argentin Tango, Salsa and Fire Twirling and Bellydancing. Once in Melbourne, she performed to an Indian wedding as a bellydancer and fell in love with the culture as much as the community fell in love with her. Since then, Babushka has not looked back: the Indian styles of dancing have become her favourites along with the Middle Eastern styles and they are the core of her current work.

The birth of the Jalwa Dance Company

Although Babushka originally had no ambition to become an entrepreneur, she couldn’t find a dance troupe in Melbourne, in the genres she loved, which had the high standards and professionalism she was seeking. Before long, she made such a strong name for herself that she was encouraged to open her own dance company: in May 2014, The Jalwa Dance Company was born. Before the troupe was even formed, she already had shows lining up and clients waiting. After her bold career change, this was an other big step but as usual Babushka put her whole heart in it and made it thrive very rapidly. Babushka carefully handpicked professional performers with a three year full time dance training luggage in hand, trained them in the specific styles and started creating beautiful, in sync and extremely entertaining pieces to provide Melbourne with stage and floor shows, rich in culture and colours, which people would remember.

Bridging her two passions together

The live entertainment aspect of the dance company being well settled, Babushka was then missing her role as a teacher. Being a part of someone’s growth. Sharing her passion for cultures and helping others appreciate and open themselves to different ways of thinking and behaving. This, combined to the many requests from spectators who had just watched one of her performances on where they could learn from her, in 2016, Babushka opened a physical dance studio in Oakleigh South. It provided her with a beautiful environment to take others along on her colourful journey, teach children and adults the beautiful artform of cultural dances. She has also been bringing this material to hundreds of kinders, primary schools and colleges around Victoria by providing them with rich cultural incursions.

What do the Indian celebrities say about Babushka?

After watching one of her performances at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne, when interviewed, Vijay Krishna Acharya compared Babushka to Katrina Kaif.
The next year, Kabir Khan who had also just watched her dance, was reminded about Vijay‘s statement and when asked if he agreed, Mr Khan replied: “Babushka is Babushka, if anything, next time I will see Katrina, she will remind me of Babushka”.

Babushka, Jalwa & Indian celebrities

In the short time that she has been in Australia, Babushka has already worked with a great number of highly regarded Indian celebrities.

Model and Personality:

From lighting the Lamp with Sir Amitabh Bachchan at the opening ceremony of the IFFM, and presenting him with his award, to walking the ramp alongside Sonam Kapoor and more.

On Screen actress:

Lead or supporting actress in many Punjabi Video Clips: Jassi Gill (VIDEO), Gippy Grewal, Mankirt Aulakh, Gagan Kokri, Mofolactic, etc.

Lead Actress, Dancer (alongside her troupe) and Choreographer of the Gujarati super hit Char Bangadi Wari Gaadi (over 1 Million views despite the many copies of the clip, having even more views). VIDEO

Dancer – Live Performances accompanied by Jalwa:

On stage with the artists themselves: Sunny Leone (Melbourne and Sydney), Kanika Kapoor, Harshdeep Kaur (and several other Punjabi celebrities at the Virasat Punjabi Film Awards of Melbourne).

Supporting act during celebrities concerts: Arjun, Arijit Singh, Arbaaz Khan, Dharmendra …

The benefit of dance for other activities

When she is not on the runway, on stage or on set, Babushka spends her time practicing extreme sports in the beautiful wilderness of Australia. She believes, her ability to adapt to sports that most wouldn’t even consider undertaking, comes from her background as a dancer. The strength, coordination, flexibility, sense of timing that she was able to expand via dancing is the key to her skills developing in paragliding, motorcycle riding, kite surfing, rock climbing and much more.