With a bindi and a colourful cloth wrapped around her hips, Tatjana Wegner begins with a short warm-up session.

Participants dance barefoot to the score from an Indian movie. They snap their fingers, swing their hips, practise mudras (hand gestures) and stretch their arms into the air.

It's obvious that Tatjana puts her life and soul into dance while she teaches at her "Bollydance" class. Bollywood dance is a cross between classical Indian dance, jazz, modern dance, oriental dance, hip-hop and Indian folk dance called bhangra.

The ballerina from Ukraine has discovered the delights of Indian dance and brought it to Germany where she has helped popularise it.

"My profession is my life," says Tatjana. This delicate looking woman from Ukraine bubbles with energy when she talks about dance.

"My mother dragged me to figure skating school when I was four," she recalls. But when the talented young girl saw her first ballet on television she knew what she wanted to grow up to be. "I wanted to do that and nothing else."

With her training as a ballerina and ballet teacher completed, Tatjana went as a 19-year-old to Germany, where her mother and sister already lived. Her career as a ballerina and musical dancer eventually brought her to the Hamburg production of "The Phantom of the Opera".

"I have lived here for 14 years. Hamburg is my kind of place," she says. Above all she is taken by the city's multi-cultural atmosphere.

But how does a ballerina from Ukraine come to start a Bollydance class?

As a seven-year-old, Tatjana discovered India when she went to the cinema in Odessa to see Bollywood movies that were very popular even at that time.

"The costumes and dance movements impressed me greatly," she recalls. Immersing herself in Asian culture was a way to break free "from the difficult daily routine of a dancer".

An operation on her foot ended her career as a ballerina and she decided to widen her knowledge of Indian culture. Along with Yoga, Tai Chi and Qi Gong, Tatjana also conducts workshops in classical Indian dance.

Tatjana created her own version of Bollywood dance - Bollydance - by linking her knowledge of the forms of dance she already knew about.

"Bollydance is fun. It should make you feel happy," she explains. The faces of the course participants confirm this. All of them are smiling.

When Tatjana began teaching her course in a Hamburg fitness studio, Bollywood was just becoming trendy in Germany. Eventually, however, it took off.

In the meantime the name Bollydance has been copyrighted and Tatjana is building a show company. She is training Bollydancers from home and abroad to teach it. There are a few men learning to dance as well.

Tatjana has returned to Ukraine on just two occasions since she left the country but she is sure Bollydance will be a success in the country. She dances a lot and she likes to dance at family festivals especially.

"There are a lot of Mongolian, Turkish and Georgian influences in Ukraine. Ukrainian dance resembles Indian dance quite closely. Everyone beams with happiness," she says.