Lacking a pedestal

It takes an athlete to dance but an artiste to be a dancer’— a statement that every dancer will agree with whole heartedly. Irrespective of the genre and the platform, every one who takes to this art form is an artiste and that is how they want to be seen by the world.

In a country where respectability is an attribute still attached mainly to the classical arts, a group of determined men and women are trying to break the stigma attached to belly dancing.

Says Payal, founder of Payal’s Dance Academy, “I have always been keen on learning various dance forms but it my mother who actually encouraged me to go for belly dancing, after seeing a performance on television. It took me quite some time to find a teacher but once I started learning, I picked up pretty quickly. I was doing my graduation in engineering at that time but I took up belly dancing as a profession.”

Nivetha Shree, a tribal fusion belly dance teacher and performing artiste working with ‘Natyalaya’, agrees that it doesn’t take long for this art form to grow on you.

“I was intrigued by this dance that was created by women for women. It didn’t take long for the hobby to transform into a passion and then my profession. Fortunately, my father was a dancer who knew the difference between how belly dance is portrayed and what it is. So my parents were supportive of my decision,” she says.

A lack of knowledge is what causes many parents to be reluctant about sending their children for belly dancing classes, thus accentuating the prejudice against the art, adds Payal. “Most people judge the dance by the look of it or by the costumes we don. They think it is not a respectable craft and is more suited for clubs or pubs. But if that was the case, my mother wouldn’t have asked me to learn it. I wish people would see a proper performance, not the ones we see on television — they are highly commercial — and then make up their minds,” she says.

Talking about some of the common reactions she gets, Payal explains, “I have met many parents who tell their children they can learn the dance but cannot perform it anywhere. Then there are others who tell their wards they can learn it as a ‘timepass’. Some ladies come up to me and say they want to learn the dance for their husbands. At the end of the day, it is an art form as respectable as any and I wish people wouldn’t degrade it. That’s why young girls lie at home, telling their parents they are going for yoga class or so, and come to me to learn this.”

“We do get a lot of comments and unwanted attention from the audience when we perform at events,” says Nivetha.

 “But we are trying our best to raise the dignity of this art form by going only for corporate events and avoiding things like get togethers, bachelorette parties and so on,” she elaborates.

“For most people, it is just a bunch of women baring their midriff,” says Deepthi Shetty of ‘Tarantismo’. “So we have to be extra careful. But my fondest memories of taking to this art form are also linked to audience reactions; where I have had people coming up to me after a performance and saying that they thought it was a really beautiful interpretation of a concept and so on.”

 But for Deepthi, who says she took to belly dancing because it was ‘exciting and exotic’, the situation doesn’t seem to be particularly bleak.

 “There is so much exposure right now that the acceptance of this dance has grown tremendously. And now I have dancers from the age of 12 to 60 queueing up to learn this art,” she says.

“The benefits of this are many,” details Nivetha. “Most of the ladies who come to learn are very conscious about their bodies and hesitant to do the moves. But eventually, they start to enjoy the dance and love their bodies too. It is a huge transformation,” she says.

With the increasing acceptance comes increasing interest and these instructors say there are quite a few males who are willing to step into their dancing shoes and learn this art form. “They bring in a lot of masculine energy to this dance and sometimes they perform moves that even we, the women, can’t do,” says Nivetha with a laugh.

Male, female, old, young — the tribe is growing. We hope Shakira is watching!