Pune, January 10: I BELIEVE the only thing that stops a person from dancing is his will to dance,’’ says Shiamak Davar who was in the city on Sunday to attend a presentation of the winter batch of Shiamak Davar’s Institute for the Performing Arts (SDIPA).

As a teacher, Davar believes in the spiritual importance of dancing. “It is not about being fat or thin or tall or short, dancing should drive your soul. It is not only the mind and the body, but the spirit is also elevated through dancing,’’ he explained.

As a child, Davar was not trained in dance. ‘‘Since God has given me the gift of dancing, I want to share it with others,” he says of his passion. For Davar, dancing is more than a mere means of artistic expression. “It teaches you a lot of discipline and also imparts physical and mental training,” he avers.

You can see his choreography next on screen in Subhash Ghai’s Kisna, scheduled to be released next week and Davar promises, ‘‘It will be as memorable as my earlier work in Dil To Pagal Hai and Taal.”

In fact, Davar elaborates, ‘‘It is in Kisna that I feel I have expressed a different form of aesthetically creative dance in the song Wish comes true by A R Rahman, picturised on British actress Antonia and Vivek Oberoi. My 20 year dancing experience comes through in the dances here and tries to blend a Western form of dancing with a spiritual Indian touch.”

Alongside, what keeps Davar busy are his workshops with physically and mentally challenged children and with HIV positive children, which he often personally supervises.

“Under the theme ‘Dancing Feat’ we are making efforts to bring a new meaning of life into the lives of these kids,’’ adds Davar.

Speaking about his long association with Pune, Davar concludes, “Pune is a culturally conscious city. I enjoy coming here.’’