Photos by Alli Hayes

By Alli Hayes
@bunnie604

As I step into the cozy, Moroccan restaurant Moltaqa on Hastings Street, I spot Nargis Dhirani in the back at a table for two. We are grabbing pastilla and stuffed aubergine before we head to Booty Freedom, a twerk and choreo class hosted at Karma Teachers Yoga studio beside the restaurant.

Dhirani is rocking fresh stiletto v-tip nails, a sporty cheetah print mesh crop top, and what could be Nike Air Max Tailwinds in a neon gradient. She describes herself as more of a dance facilitator than a teacher, having created a beautiful level of community at the weekly class.

Dhirani co-founded Booty Freedom alongside a crew of friends that have contributed different dance elements over the years. Three years later, Booty Freedom is still going strong. 

Dhirani graduated from the yoga teacher training program at Karma Teachers Vancouver in 2012, and has infused her love for dance into the program ever since. 

Born and raised in Dubai before moving to Canada, Dhirani would accompany her mom to yoga class from a young age, starting her love affair with movement. 

“My mom used to have to sneak me in to class because the [yoga studio] said I was too young,” she laughs. 

Diagnosed with a rare connective tissue disease, doctors told Dhirani that she would never be able to do yoga or dance. But, through lots of strength and holistic research, she is more empowered than ever, taking street dance, heels, and hip-hop classes herself. Graduating from Karma teachers was just the beginning for the Booty Freedom teacher, and it gave her the foundation she needed to make her class the weekly self-love session that it is. 

“Everything felt so fast. I was trying to be aware of everyone,” she admits, “but now that the community has grown, everyone is taking care of everyone. They help set up the room after the [previous] yoga class; they check to make sure the door is locked; they ask if ‘that girl in the red, did she leave?’”  

Each week brings new flair, but Booty Freedom focuses mainly on accessible, hip hop-inspired choreo and twerking. Slow jams and faster tracks alternate from week to week, and are often inspired by current music, throwbacks, or seasonal fun. 

Whether you’re a Booty Freedom devotee or new to class, each session always begins in a circle, where students take the time to acknowledge each other. After working on the choreo in different groups, class wraps up in a “soul-train,” where pairs of students dance it out down the aisle to pump each other up. Class ends as it began–in a circle–giving students a moment to express how they are feeling in that moment. 

“I’m really focusing on Booty Freedom being such a community force, now it’s about trying to bring everybody together and really share their talents and their skills about what they’re doing,” says Dhirani. 

As she began to open the floor up in her own curation over the years, dance attendees started sharing what was going on in their own community.

“It’s become a force that’s so much bigger than me. Students want to make merch, and this and that, but I can’t do it all. Someone saying that they are a designer and [they] know silk screeners, this is how we are going to thrive,” Dhirani says.

Dhirani started to tune in to those coming to class, as well as those who were following Booty Freedom on social media. She was gaining whole new inspiration for song choices and started having fun showcasing her music picks for the week.

“I started putting up votes, putting a poll up on my Instagram story saying ‘DM me with your requests.’ Now, I have a playlist full of requests that I go through, then I’ll shout out to someone and say, ‘Hey, remember a couple weeks ago you asked for this? I’m going to do the song this week’, or birthdays, you know? It just makes it more fun,” Dhirani dishes.

Booty Freedom is one of those dance classes that you will hear all kinds of Vancouverites talking about; it’s a word-of-mouth activity that has quickly become a legendary weeknight session. 

“Look at who’s in the class, it’s reflected in the street. It’s so open that I hope it brings someone in that’s like ‘I’m a big girl, too, I saw your videos and it made me want to move, too.’ I get that a lot in my DMs. I want them to move. Let’s get our big fat asses together and move!” Dhirani affirms, unapologetically.

She’s seen the power of holding space for others that are learning to move, to grow emotionally, and to strengthen themselves inside and out.

“Someone came up to me [and said] that they’re having a really hard time doing class because they feel they look so big in the mirror. Why is that a bad thing? Why don’t you take up space? Take up the space of the whole fucking mirror. That’s okay, that’s who you are – don’t hide it,” she says, popping black olives into her mouth. 

Over the past few Booty Freedom anniversaries, Dhirani has collected anonymous letters, some of which express emotional sentiments of gratitude and love, and stored them for safe keeping in the studio’s Booty Box.

“You can’t always tell the way of people’s journeys, but they are there. One person wrote that this was the first time they showed their belly in public after giving birth, one person wrote this was the first place they came to dance after having been assaulted.”

With that, we’re about to go next door for tonight’s Booty Freedom class, and students are already waiting at the studio’s front door as we settle the bill. This week we’ll be dancing to Kitty Kat and Beyonce circa 2009.

Booty Freedom is “Heart-centered, booty-focused liberation through booty movement and dance for every body, gathering community to shake ass since 2016.”

You can book for Booty Freedom on Eventbrite.

Alli is a wildcard. Faux fur is her wingman. She is constantly moved by art, cool parties, and independent film, and continues to create her own projects. She wishes her photographic memory did her Instagram more justice.  Check out her blog at thewildcardwins.com