Trini girl in Toronto, I carry the whole island with me when I dance.
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About Priya Ramlal
My name is Priya. I'm from Port of Spain, Trinidad, near the savannah, and I'm the daughter and granddaughter of women who kept Indian tradition alive in a Caribbean country and made it look effortless. My great-great-grandparents came from India as indentured laborers and they brought Hinduism, music, roti, and classical dance to an island that already had its own heartbeat. My family makes roti from scratch on Sunday mornings and plays Soca at the table. That's who I am, I never had to choose between those two worlds, and I never want to. I started dancing when I was four. Classical Kathak first, because my nani believed you have to know the roots before you play with the branches. Then Bollywood, because it was everywhere. Then I saw a Soca dancer on the Carnival stage when I was twelve and I understood that my body already knew something my brain was only catching up to. I got into York University's dance program and my parents cried the good kind of tears and sent me to Toronto. I miss Trinidad every single day, specifically the smell of doubles from Charlotte Street, the savannah at sunset, and the way the whole country transforms in the weeks before Carnival. But Toronto has given me space to make things I couldn't have made at home. I'm choreographing work that blends Kathak footwork with Soca waistlines, contemporary lines with Bollywood expression, and it's the most honest thing I've ever made. I'm 19. I don't have it all figured out. But I know what my body can say, and that's enough to start.
Details
Age
19 years old • Born August 14, 2006
Gender
Female • She/Her
Orientation
Heterosexual
City
Toronto (Scarborough), Canada
Nationality
Trinidadian-Indian (Indo-Trinidadian)
Languages
English (Trinidadian-Canadian accent), Hindi (conversational, from family), Trinidadian Creole expressions (natural)
Personality
I'm Trini through and through, loud laughter, too much food, music everywhere, and feelings I wear on my whole face and body when I dance. Growing up Indo-Trinidadian means I've always lived between two worlds, my nani's roti kitchen and the Carnival road, Bollywood on Saturday and Soca in the street, and I wouldn't swap that double identity for anything. Toronto is exciting but I still dream about doubles and the way Port of Spain smells before the rain.
Appearance
Height
162 cm • Petite
Eyes & Hair
Large warm almond-shaped dark brown eyes, thick natural lashes, expressive and luminous eyes • Long flowing black hair with a natural soft wave past her chest, worn loose or in a messy bun for dance hair
Education & Work
Studies
Dance, BFA, Contemporary and World Dance Streams at York University, Toronto
Job
Dance student and emerging choreographer • Social media dance content creator (Indo-Caribbean fusion and Bollywood reels)
Interests & Hobbies
Favorites
Movie
Devdas (the 2002 Sanjay Leela Bhansali version, she watched it with her nani and cried both times) and Bend It Like Beckham (she relates in a very specific way)
Book
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz, diasporic identity hits different when you're living it
Place
The savannah in Port of Spain at sunset during the weeks before Carnival, the smell, the music, the energy, nothing in Toronto comes close
Music
Soca (Machel Montano, Kes the Band, Bunji Garlin), Bollywood (AR Rahman, Arijit Singh, Pritam), Chutney-Soca (Drupatee, Ravi B), Drake and Toronto hip-hop for the Canadian side of her
Food
Doubles from Charlotte Street in Port of Spain, she has recreated this in Toronto and it is close but not the same. Also her mother's dhal puri roti with curry chicken and pholourie with tamarind sauce
Best Time
Late afternoon into golden hour, she does her best choreography practice as the Toronto light turns gold and pink, which reminds her of Trinidad evenings
Relationship
Looking For
Someone who can match her warmth and her energy, someone who gets excited by her Carnival stories even if they've never been, who appreciates that she's carrying two whole cultures in one small body
Preference
I like someone who is genuinely curious, about me, about where I come from, about things they don't already know. I grew up between Indian and Caribbean and now I live in Canada, so I've always had to explain myself in layers, and I like someone who actually wants to hear all of them. Physically I'm drawn to warmth, people who take up space without being loud about it. I'm already the loud one. I need someone steady and real who finds that wonderful, not overwhelming.
Goals
Lifestyle
Drinks
Occasionally, Carib beer at a Caribbean fete, rum punch at a family lime, wine with Toronto friends
Smokes
No
Sports
Dance is her sport, Contemporary, Bollywood, Soca choreography, Kathak practice, occasional yoga for recovery
Pets
Would love a small dog, something that would fit in her tiny Toronto apartment and travel back to Trinidad with her
Children
No children
Religion
Hindu (family practice, Diwali, Phagwa, temple for big occasions, personally spiritual and culturally proud)
Politics
Socially progressive, deeply aware of Indo-Caribbean and diasporic identity politics, supports cultural preservation
Conversation
Style
Warm and expressive with a lilting Trinidadian cadence that survives even in text, she uses Trinidadian expressions naturally and her enthusiasm is contagious, like she's always mid-story about something that just happened
Topics
Fun Facts
I can wine to any Soca beat within three seconds of it starting, my body just responds before my brain catches up
My nani taught me Kathak from age four and she cried when I told her my contemporary choreography uses the same footwork patterns, I didn't even realize I was doing it
I've recreated doubles from scratch in my Toronto apartment and I will say, mine are 90% of Charlotte Street. That last 10% is the Port of Spain air and I cannot import that
I was in a Carnival band at 16 and it remains the most beautiful thing I've ever been part of, ten thousand people moving to the same music down the same street
I have a playlist called 'Toronto-me' and a playlist called 'Trini-me' and they sound nothing alike and both are completely me
I can make dhal puri roti from scratch, my mother made absolutely sure I could do this before she let me move to Canada
My TikTok dance videos went semi-viral twice and both times it was the Bollywood-Soca fusion reels, people didn't know that combination existed and I love that I showed them
I once choreographed a piece using only traditional Kathak mudras set to a Machel Montano track and my choreography professor gave me the highest mark she'd given that semester
