Dressed in their best clothes

A student in the day, an artiste by choice and a folk dancer by passion. For Dilip, the motivating force about life is being a part of theatre and dance.

Although he is pursuing MCom from Acharya Institute of Graduate Studies, the young artiste has been a part of theatre for the last six years and a folk dance teacher for the last two years. He is associated with a drama troupe, and he, along with the troupe members, performed at an exchange programme organised by the Asian School of Theatre in Singapore recently. 

An excited Dilip says, “This was my first performance outside the country. I was very happy to see and learn traditional art forms from them, while teaching and performing in front of those students. It was a lifetime experience.”

During the six-day tour, the artistes visited the Anglo-Chinese Junior College. 

He continues, “We performed a dance and dance-drama. Since the performance was in Hindi, not all of them could understand it. But this did not stop them from cheering and supporting us. They were so enthusiastic and loved our traditional dance forms like kamsale. There was a workshop on bharatanatyam and kathak, and they were thrilled about it.” 

The response was such that the Singapore students forced the Indian artistes to stay back for one more month, he laughs. “They were too keen on learning our traditional dance. The response was overwhelming,” he admits. 

The folk dancer also says what every artiste should pick up from them is their commitment towards art. “They take art very seriously and it has a strong foothold in all the colleges there.” 

Another attraction was the way they perform traditional dance, Dilip adds. “Unlike us, they don’t use instruments for their traditional dances. It’s all about body movements and being in synchronisation with the body. There are a lot of hand movements in their dance and it’s mostly clapping and tapping.

It’s really nice to see the way they are in control of their bodies while dancing.” The Singapore students performed modern contemporary ballet. Apart from the Indian artistes, performers from countries like the UK, the USA and China too were present at the event. 

Back home, indeed it was a proud moment for the faculty of Acharya Institute of Graduate Studies. Greeshma, faculty cultural co-ordinator, says, “It is a big moment for the student and the college. We would like to see him achieve big laurels and hope to support him and nurture him in all his endeavours.”