Dance knows no language, no religion and no boundaries. All it knows is passion,” says Valerie Green, an international dancer and choreographer, as she takes seat at the UT Guest House for a conference. Come all the way from New York to learn and teach dance forms, “I will be holding a workshop on contemporary dance techniques with Chandigarh Institute of Performing Art and would also be learning folk dance forms like bhangra, ghoomer, dandia, kal belia and chou,” Green tell us that she has been following her passion for 33 years now. With her first dance moves learnt at the age of three, “My parents introduced me to the art,” she recalls.

Green’s choreography has been presented at festivals in New York city and she has spent several years working on the international circuit, teaching and performing dance in Albania, Canada, Italy, France, Serbia, Bosnia, Greece and Russia. “As a guest artist, I have received commissions from Texas State University, BITEF theatre in Belgrade, theatre alternative in Tirana and LaGuardia community college in New York,” she says, this time round shifting her attention to India. “The Indian culture has always fascinated me. As for Chandigarh, the clean, green zones is something that will always beckon,” Green smiles, happy with Hindi lessons that she is taking.