A state-level hockey player, selected in top 16 for Goa’s football team, this master of footwork has come a long way. David Furtado is a household name in Goa whenever one mentions dancing or choreography.
The kids adore him, the youth look up to him, and the seniors wish they could follow their dreams the way David has. He has an array of accolades to his credit, and his long line of experiences working with Bollywood stars and prominent institutions like Jindal and Tata Steel has earned him lot of respect. Despite all the fame and success, David prefers to keep a low profile. A thorough disciplinary artist and gentleman, he is focused to do bigger and better. His dedication and determination towards his art are inspiring.
Here, David opens his heart to us and shares his journey from a sportsman to a dancer and choreographer.
All about the Footwork
Since his school days, David actively participated in extracurricular activities and joined his school dance group. He has won many awards for his school in inter-school dancing competitions. This multi-talented man never limited himself to just dancing, he also took part in sports like football and used to practice regularly. Seeing his hard work and interest in football, his coach encouraged him to become part of the school team. As the key player, David won many inter-school competitions. At college level too, he played hockey and was chosen as the captain. David was also selected in the top 16 football players at the state level.
After a distressing knee injury, David had to give up sports and all activities involving high-level workout and had to undergo surgery and intense physiotherapy thereafter. It was a huge setback for such an active individual. It was after overcoming his injury and therapy that he got the opportunity to connect to dancing, holistically. “Dancing, in a way, rehabilitated me after being bed-ridden for almost a year,” David shared. He started working at Hotel Taj Vivanta in Goa as Coordinator – Entertainment Activities, where he planned and choreographed activities for corporates, weddings and even high profile events involving celebrities.
Gradually, his interest in dancing grew into a passion, and David eventually took up choreography as his career after seeking success at his workplace. People started putting forward their preference for David to choreograph their events. He became the choice of many big brands and celebrities for composing and choreographing their shows.
Tapping his way up
Goa is widely known for tourism; a paradise people come to for a break, away from the monotony of life. What everyone misses out on, is that Goa is also home to a number of talent and budding artists. David is considered the pioneer in the field of performing arts. No one before gained such admiration and popularity in the field of choreography. He is one of a kind – a trendsetter – in dancing. He is the perfect example of courage and determination, where he used his injury as a springboard to jumpstart a new mission in his life. And that is how David Furtado the choreographer was born.
In early 2000, David became well known in Goa and in Mumbai as well. He visited Mumbai to enter many contests where producers and TV shows called him. Boogie Woogie was one of the most hit and popular TV reality shows based on dance at that time, where David participated and came out as a winner of the show. After his win, he was noticed by many big names in the industry and later was called to conduct other reality shows and films. He later choreographed TV shows like Splitsvilla – Season 8 and Captain Shack for MTV. He has choreographed large-scale Bollywood shows in Goa with Suniel Shetty, Akshay Kumar and Shaan. He has choreographed many TV advertisements for brands like Big Bazaar. David conquered the movie biz too by choreographing for Marathi movies like ‘Prem at First Sight’ featuring Kevin D’Mello.
Apart from orchestrating big shows, David has also directed and choreographed many music videos in Goa. He started teaching dance in renowned schools of Goa with a team of trained instructors.
David Furtado Dance Academy
After achieving success in films and the entertainment industry, David decided to direct his focus on training and coaching aspiring dance performers. He opened an academy for dance and aerobics – The David Furtado Dance Academy – in the year 2007. He believes that to keep the heart and soul alive and in rhythm, it is necessary to dance and exercise your mind. He has helped many youngsters fulfill their dreams by training them into becoming skilled instructors and performers. Today, many dance schools teachers and instructors in Goa who got trained under him some point in time, have become successful. “It only makes me proud,” said David with a big smile. He conducts classes not only in Goa but also arranges training workshops in different cities of India. Most of the elite schools and colleges in Goa and other cities now have regular dance classes conducted by instructors trained by him around the year.
In a unique show organised by Goa Kala Academy, David Furtado’s academy students performed for 100 minutes on various genres of music over a mix of 30 songs. There were 200 dancers of varying ages who shook a leg to Salsa, Jive and swayed to Bollywood and English numbers. In the same event, three of David’s students were awarded, while some parents were honoured for the support they provided to their children. The highlight of the evening was the final performance by David’s trainers. Both his students and trainers gave astounding performances, which were a treat to watch.
Today, for any large scale event by big corporates or world-famous celebrities that happen in Goa, David Furtado is one name that is called-in every time. That is the respect David has gained for himself, after rigorous hard work and many sacrifices he made to reach where he is today. David continues to aim for helping and improving training methodology for performing arts in Goa. Being a disciplined and dedicated person himself, he educates his student on the same. He says, “I truly believe that if one needs to be successful, they need to respect two things – time and the artist. Rest everything will follow, whether its money, fame or success.” And till date, it holds true in David’s case.
