Pallikaranai resident N. Senbagavalli is an overnight Internet sensation. Just six months into Instagram, she has managed a following, modest by influencer standards but huge for most Insta users. At last look, sanbagavalli__reels_queen (her Insta page) had 17.2k followers.
As she dances to Tamil film hits, nobody can deny she has rhythm. Another factor enabling her reels to stand out: she is dressed as a conservancy worker. This is not reel, but real life. She is a conservancy worker with Urbaser Sumeet. And an autorickshaw driver in the evening. And a digital creator in between.
“Dancing has been a childhood passion and I derive joy from juggling various roles,” says Senbagavalli, attached to Zone XIV of Greater Chennai Corporation as conservancy worker for the last 13 years. She developed an interest in dancing as a child when she would accompany her mother to the latter’s work place, AVM Studios. “At the Studios, when shoots were on, I would watch every dance move from a distance to pick up a step or two,” says the school dropout. She even got to be a background dancer in a song in Prashanth starer Thiruda Thiruda.
Marriage and motherhood meant dance could not be central to her life; but only for a while. Her husband, working as a security guard, has always encouraged her, and that explains the impressive output of Insta reels now.
She started sharing dance videos on Tik Tok. After Tik Tok was banned in India, she took to YouTube and now Instagram, her sister’s daughter helping her open an account.
“I cannot read; somehow I have learnt to scroll through posts and share videos. Sometimes it is my two sons who translate the comments shared after each post, which really motivates me to explore the dancer in me,” says Senbagavalli, adding that many residents in Kamakoti Nagar, where she makes trips to collect waste, are aware of her love for dance. The Pallikaranai resident is thrilled when she gets to showcase her talent at events hosted by Urbaser Sumeet.
Senbagavalli says her steps are simple as she goes in for only those that are easy to master. Her dancing derives its strength from the abandon with which it is done. A post of her dancing with child-like joy in the rain with an Illayaraja and Susheela song in the background has garnered 99K likes. It shows that in dancing heart matter as much as technique, if not more.
But Senbagavalli does not underestimate the relevance of dance techniques.
“I have searched many places for a dance institute that can train me but I am yet to settle on one.”
Published – July 18, 2026 05:53 pm IST
