Anu Ahuja works behind the scenes, so you can sit back and enjoy the show...

I am: A fashion choreographer and coordinator for fashion events

The stepping-stones: During my modelling career, I got closely acquainted with several top designers such as J J Valaya and I ended up working with him for a while. That taught me about the technical and business angles of fashion. Then, I got the opportunity to work on the Femina Miss India contest for three years in a row, where my job was to groom the contestants and be an associate choreographer of the show. That's when I realised that from all the aspects of the fashion world, I enjoyed choreographing and coordinating the most. So, I went on to seriously pursue fashion choreography. Thus my company, 'Anu Ahuja Inc' was born. I choreographed Femina Miss India contest 2004 by myself and it felt wonderful. Unfortunately, this career is still unstructured. There's no formal training or course to become a ramp choreographer yet.

This isn't just about telling models how to walk : It is so much more. It involves putting together an entire show and my work begins much before the actual day of the show. The first step is conceptualisation of how the show should be and in what way I can project the client's product so it gets maximum exposure out of the show. Then there's planning and coordinating the stage design, lighting, music, the designer for the model's clothes, model selection, and other extras that one might need, in order to make the show different and more exciting. All this preparation goes on for weeks and sometimes even for months, before the actual show. Then of course, there's the last-minute chaos and backstage madness such as clothes fittings, ironing, unexpected cancellations and goof-ups (sometimes models may have confirmed but cannot make it because of emergencies, or the stage design doesn't come out the way you visualised it, or the music doesn't feel right). So much so that sometimes, you feel like you just won't make it through the show, but the it all works out and that is a great high. The pay depends entirely on who you're working for and if it.

Dealing with star tantrums: This depends from person to person. Fortunately, I have been in this field, so most of the models have been my contemporaries and I have a great rapport with most designers as well. So generally there is a friendly, congenial atmosphere. Of course, some people throw their weight around but you learn how to handle it.

As told to Nitya Alwani-Satyani