kids

“Doesn’t sound like a great ROI. Why not just teach a few dance moves and call it a day?”

A small business coach said this to me at a networking event. I had been gushing about my multidisciplinary approach to teaching Indian culture through dance, folk art, language, stories, and hands-on experiences when that ROI comment landed.

Here is the truth: teaching “a few dance moves” has never been my mission. What I’m trying to build goes far beyond choreography.

Let’s be realistic. How many of my students will grow up to be professional Indian dancers whose full-time career relies on Bharatanatyam, Garba, or Bhangra? The honest answer is probably none.

But do you know what they will grow up to be?
1. If they are South Asian, they will always remain South Asian.
2. If they are not South Asian, they will always remain part of a beautifully diverse world.

This is why I teach the way I teach. My goal is not just to create dancers. My goal is to help nurture humans who are curious, culturally aware, and connected to the world around them.

A powerful integrated arts approach brings this to life. Some kids enjoy movement. Others connect through visual art. Others through stories, language, or sensory play. Every child has a different entry point. Why would I ever reduce cultural education to a single doorway when culture itself is a vibrant and multicolored landscape?

If dance became the only path into learning, I would be shutting out countless kids who might absorb culture more deeply through another medium. That would be a disservice to them and to the mission itself.

So no, I don’t measure ROI in dollars per hour or lowest-effort output. I measure ROI in the number of children I can reach. That will always be my north star.

And I’ll never “just teach a few dance moves”.

During one of my classes, I was about to introduce a mythological story. Before I even began speaking, a student glanced at the picture in the curriculum and said, “I hate it.” The comment was unexpected, and it stopped me for a moment. I simply replied, “But you don’t know about it yet.”

That pause turned into an important discussion about the word hate. We talked about how quickly we sometimes use strong language for things that are unfamiliar.

My favorite moment was when the other kids started adding their own thoughts about how important it is to be open to learning something new, along with “Ms. Ajanta, I think ‘hate’ is a bad word.”, “Ms. Ajanta, my teacher told me to never say hate about someone else.”

I asked the class what “hate” really means and whether it can apply to something we have not yet explored. The students shared examples from their own lives – foods they thought they disliked before trying, books they assumed were boring, or activities they avoided until someone encouraged them to give it a chance.

The moment reinforced a simple truth. Kids mirror what they see around them. If they learn early that it is normal to dismiss something at first glance, they will carry that habit forward. But if they are taught to pause, ask questions, and stay open, they build a mindset that helps them thrive in school and in life.