How Sania Jain got her groove back

Susan Bland

21 Aug 2025

Sania Jain, a young woman with dark, straight hair, dances in her socks on a stage with her arms raised, wearing a loose t-shirt and cargo pants. Another dancer is partially visible to the right, and a musician plays a hand drum in the background while others watch from folding chairs. — Sania Jain (at center) moves to the rhythms provided by a drummer with the West African ensemble Cirque Kalabanté during a workshop hosted by the Center for the Arts. Photo courtesy of Lev Birman.

When the schedule’s packed and stress is running high, students look for ways to recharge. Some hit the gym. Others take reflective strolls around the Duck Pond.

Sophomore computer science major Sania Jain’s outlet is dancing. And while it took some searching, she’s discovered the perfect place to move, breathe, and reset. Through the Center for the Arts' free student workshops, she’s found a powerful source of joy, balance, and community — all through dance.

Jain joined her first dance class as a toddler, and her childhood was filled with practices and performances. In second grade, she started learning Bharatanatyam, a classical Indian dance style known for its precise movements and expressive storytelling. She has practiced Bharatanatyam for 11 years and during her senior year of high school, had an arangetram — a two-hour solo performance where she showcased her skills and mastery of the dance form.

“It's almost like a black belt ceremony for taekwondo,” Jain said.

She was also captain of the Bhangra team — Jain likens Bhangra to Indian hip-hop — at her high school, which she admittedly chose to attend because it had an Indian dance team.

Yet when she began her first year of college — a place full of possibility — she found an unexpected absence. Dance was missing. So she set out to find it.

She scoured the university’s student events calendar. She connected with some student dance teams, but the vibes just weren’t quite right. She joined the Indian student organization, which has some dance-related activities throughout the year, but she wanted more. And then she discovered that the Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech offers free workshops, some specifically for Virginia Tech students, throughout its performance season.

By the end of the 2024-25 academic year, she had attended every movement-related workshop the center offered, including:

An accessible movement workshop with CanDoCo, a professional and inclusive dance company based in the United Kingdom that integrates disabled and non-disabled dancers in its work. Open to all and led by Candoco's Co-artistic Director Dominic Mitchell and teaching artist Paulina Porwollik, participants with different abilities and dance experience moved, explored, and learned together.
A deep dive into African dance and drumming techniques with members of premiere West African ensemble Cirque Kalabanté during an interactive workshop led by founder Yamoussa Bangoura.
A Raï dance workshop led by Algerian American dance performer and educator Esraa Warda, the center’s guest performing arts curator for its 2025-26 season. Warda guided attendees through an exploration of Raï — a defining musical genre and counterculture of North Africa — including its origins, rhythms, movements, and signature cathartic groove.
A movement workshop led by a member of visionary contemporary dance company A.I.M by Kyle Abraham. Emphasizing four of the company’s core movement values — exploration, musicality, abandonment, and intuition — the workshop started with a warm-up sequence, progressing to challenging, creative, and invigorating phrase work.
An opportunity to explore the art of cirque during a workshop with company members from Circa, a pioneer of the new wave of contemporary Australian circus. Participants learned skills and movements featured in the company’s spellbinding work “Opus.”

A large group of young adults in the Center for the Arts' Cube forming a human pyramid, smiling and posing for the camera under stage lighting with black curtains in the background. — Participants after a workshop exploring the art of cirque led by company members from Circa, a pioneer of the new wave of contemporary Australian circus. Sania Jain is on the far right of the top row. Photo courtesy of Ben Jewell-Plocher.

For Jain, the workshops have become a meaningful form of self-care, and she encourages other students to make time for these kinds of experiences, especially when school feels overwhelming.

“Everyone needs a break sometimes,” she said. “You need something that you can do that still activates and uses your mind without just being the one subject, the one discipline that you're used to.”

For her, dance brings some calm to the chaos of college. More than just movement, it’s a moment to breathe — and the center’s workshops have been a source of renewal.

“There are some days where I have this big project due the next day, I have a lot of homework, but I'm like, ‘You know what? It's an hour and a half, I need to take a break anyway,’” Jain said. “So rather than sitting on my phone, let me go and do this. You're in a space where there's so much going on, you don't even have the time to think about whatever you have to be stressed about because you're just focused on the dance and what you're learning and the music. I think it's like a really good escape and mental break and then, you know, it doesn't hurt that you get some exercise.”

For Jain, the workshops don’t just fill a gap, they are a highlight of her Virginia Tech experience. She hopes other students find their own restorative reset, whether through dance or something else that brings them joy.

Find more information about upcoming engagement events on the Center of the Arts website.