International Dance Day 2023: Mumbai classical dancers dwell on the challenges amid the Bollywood dance craze

"They want to dance like Katrina Kaif and Alia Bhatt," says Aneri Sheth, city-based classical dance teacher, who has been teaching school children Mohiniyattam for the last two years, continuing, "But, do they even know the names of any of the classical dancers and how many classical performances do they go and watch?" she asks. "There is a very intense influence of the entertainment forms, so children find classical dance very slow and boring and structured," adds the Juhu-based dancer. Having been a student of the dance form for over 10 years, Sheth, who is also a fine artist, is completely in love with it, and that translates into her wanting to teach it to the younger generation. However, there seems to be a challenge.

Every year, International Dance Day is observed on April 29 to celebrate the art form in different ways. Over the years, globalisation has led to many Indians learning different dance forms from around the world. Even as India boasts of many different dance forms, there is only a section of society that loves watching Indian classical dance performances or performing them. It is left up to teachers like Sheth, and other proponents of many Indian dance forms to constantly promote it. However, they believe that the lack of awareness, initiative and increasing demand to learn popular dance routines to perform on stage is a hurdle that hampers the popularity of classical dance.

Creating awareness among parents
Sheth explains, "Parents are not keen on children learning them due to the lack of awareness of these dance forms and the seriousness of it because they cannot be taken casually." It is the same aspect of parents that Dadar-based Kathak dancer Rupali Desai has observed over the years. In the first two years, she says, they are impatient, and want their children to perform within six months of learning the form, whereas it takes years for many others to even take to the stage. "They don't even want to come to watch the performance," she shares, while adding that they are mostly busy with work, but want to see their children on stage, without understanding the dance form.

While this is usually in the first two years, Desai, who has been running her dance institute in Dadar for 25 years now, has seen a change, for the better. She explains, "Over two years, they realise the kind of effort needed to perfect the art form, and just like the children, they get moulded into it. This is a positive." In fact, Desai isn't the only one who has seen a change in approach from parents over the years. Vashi-based Bharatanatyam dancer Alka Lajmi has also seen a difference in the way parents are taking to the dance forms. Lajmi not only teaches at the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya in Navi Mumbai, but has also been running her own institute, Nrityasamved, where many parents come to enroll their children, and once she meets them and talks to them about the dance form, they realise how there is much more to the dance form than performing on stage. "It takes a good two years to actually get to a dance composition and perform it on stage and more parents are understanding it," she adds.

While Lajmi and Desai believe parents are understanding it, the latter says it is important for children to also look beyond instant fame in the Internet age. The fact that they spend more time on technology also hampers any seed of interest that has been developed towards classical dance forms. "Many children these days also think that if they enter a competition and do not win, they are a big failure," explains Desai, who also has her own dance school Sanskruti Nritya Kala Mandir that has as many as 200 children learning the dance form. However, she believes all is not lost because even those who beat the hypnotic abilities of technology and learn Kathak from her, use it to promote the dance form through their technology skills that allow them to make videos and reels of the dance form, and even promote it.

Onus on educational institutions to take the initiative
While Sheth still has her reservations about parents and students, the 29-year-old doesn't blame them because she believes educational institutions aren't doing enough. "Schools are reluctant to include these dance forms as a part of their curriculum because they expect fast results. You learn dance so you can dance on the annual day. It is not only the seriousness but also the value system that nobody bothers to understand," she adds. So, Sheth puts the onus on schools to inculcate these very values of preserving classical dance forms but believes that there is still a long way to go, at least till they treat it as a mere activity for a "cultural programme", or like an afterthought.

In fact, Mohiniyattam dancer believes most schools take these very cultural programmes also in a dogmatic sense. She explains, "It is very like ‘kuch cultural kiya' but what is cultural - what is the value system, why is it a value system - All of these things are what nobody goes into. It is a very sad scenario." It is this very attitude that she believes makes heads of institutions look at Indian classical dance art forms with a lot of judgement rather than an education that has to be given. "They feel dance and music should be entertainment, like "Bohot padhai karli, chalo gana gaa liya, dance kiya, toh bacche light ho gaye'. They don't see it as education. So, if their attitude changes, then slowly there may be a change, but it all starts from the head of the institutions and their attitude to change, and that is difficult."

Lajmi does agree with Sheth but says there is more to schools not paying enough attention to the dance forms. "The time given to the Indian dance forms in schools is less because it takes a lot of time and many years to teach students," she explains. The Bharatanatyam dancer says for a person to learn the dance form, out of school, through dance classes would mean that they at least need to practice for two hours every week, and with students so busy with their school, tuitions and juggling life, it is often difficult for them to allocate time to these dance forms, unless there is special interest from their parents to pursue the dance forms.

Beating the challenges
Lajmi, has been a teacher for more than 25 years. While lack of awareness and resources may be two of the reasons, the classical dancer, having previously taught the dance form in a school in Pune roughly two decades ago, says the school did take interest in teaching students. So, even though she herself was called regularly to teach students for the school annual day, it is not like there aren't schools including classical dance forms as a part of their curriculum, but the number of them promoting them is far lesser than needed. It is also dependent on the approach they take in their syllabus, which is mostly the same in most of them barring a few.

So, what should schools do to promote Indian classical dance forms? "It is important to create awareness in an effective way to promote the dance forms. At the school level, there should be lectures and demonstrations to help the students learn about it," concludes Lajmi, while highlighting how there are so many from the younger generation, who are actually thinking out of the box while still being within the tradition, and that is encouraging.

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