Puja Amin
Nominated for the award: Arts and Culture
Company: Sanskriti Arts
Position: Artistic Director
Biography: Toronto Based dancer, choreographer and teacher, Puja Amin established Sanskriti Arts in Toronto in 2003, bringing together students with a passion for dance and extreme drive to explore their potential. Puja Amin has the distinction of receiving the Kesri Youth Award 2005 in Canada for appreciation of support and help, to impact and make a difference in the lives of youth. She is a veteran of TV & film; an internationally renowned Bollywood, Folk and Kathak dance performer and educator; Owner and Director of Sanskriti Arts in Toronto and President of Bollycore!
‘Sanskriti’ means ‘culture’. As the name suggests, the Sanskriti Arts Ensemble exists to raise awareness of the various forms of South Asian dance, spread Indian culture and ethnicity through traditional and contemporary dance and music performances. In 2010, Puja embarked into a new realm of dance and pushed forward into dance-fitness to launch the new dance-fitness program, BollyCORE, teaching at various locations across the GTA.
A few of Amin’s film and TV credits include: Giselles Backyard, A million ways to move, Latest Buzz and Badhai Ho. Puja Amin has choreographed for Bollywood personalities such as Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit on film sets and directorial campaigns. Her choreography has been displayed in concerts and music videos for Falguni Pathak, Boman Irani, Lisa Ray, Shibani Kashyap, Sukhwinder Singh, Praful Dave, Vino Russo, Ila Arun, Kamaal Khan, Sandrine, Lata Mangeshkar, Priyanka Chopra, Shahid Kapoor and commercials for Town shoes and Rogers. Puja has trained Miss India Canada Worldwide 2007, Miss India Canada 2008, first runner up; Beauties of Asia 2011 for their talent and all of them were awarded best talent.
Media has featured SAE in the Toronto Star, Vaughan Citizen, Brampton Guardian, Toronto Sun, CMR and TVi, Snap, Gujarat times, Gujarat Abroad, the Voice, That Channel Canada AM, City TV, CBC news and Television Omni TV and CHCH. Puja was featured in the Toronto Star article for So You Think You Can Dance, Canada.