To Dance Or Not To Dance

By Urvi Kishori Dasi

The announcement just got over. Pin drop silence prevails all over the auditorium. Suddenly, a single beat of the maddalam fills the air. Other instruments start playing in tandem. Now the music fills the air and it creates an atmosphere to welcome something, rather someone. That is when she enters the stage, with the traditional “Nada” and a confident smile on her face. Little did the audience realise the thrilled 14-year-old girl behind all that jewellery and makeup. That girl was me. It`s just two years since that memorable day of my Rangapravesha!

For some people dance is a hobby which they would pursue during their free time. There are many reality shows in which the participants twist their bodies weirdly like gymnasts. I mean that’s fantastic in a way! Not going to lie. But, well….is that dance? It doesn`t seem like to me. Since I had joined dance classes, three varied classical dance forms, as a little child, I could identify a singular aspect which was common in each of those dance forms: that is grace! So personally I believe that twisting your legs and hands weirdly at best can portray flexibility, but it also shows that you have skipped a few evolution updates.

I bet everyone would be aware of tiktok. Does it help you with dance? Don’t ask why! Because there is a large crowd of intellectuals out there who dispense their artistic skills on TikTok - a very tough style of dance form I should call it. And guess what… these “TikTok Stars” have such sweet diehard fans who pay thousands to dance with these stars (swaying hands in a weird manner which make them look like electrocuted dead pigeons). (How qUiRqY!)

Oh yes yes! U.S.A has a bright future!

See! These stereotypical people term anything and everything as dance. There is hidden humour in these incidents, but on a serious note, there lurks a problem with the perspective of lay people towards dance.

On one hand there are people who treat dance as mere entertainment. Whereas on the other hand, there are thousands of talented dancers of various classical and folk dance forms all across the world for whom dance is a huge part of their life.

It is a sad truth, that even today, when we are in high school, we are under the pressure to take up science or commerce.

The other day, a neighbourhood aunty asked me, “Child have you opted for science or commerce?” I was not surprised that she did not mention arts, because you know nosey aunties are supposed to be like that! I told her that I have taken Arts, as I want to pursue my passion. She gave an expected reaction (a sad sigh…).

There are actually so many societal and intra-industrial problems in the entire art industry, which have to be dealt with.

It is funny how there are millions of people who pay quite a lot for a movie ticket to watch their favourite actor (who may have had at least 15 plastic surgeries) and a dozen takes to bring authentic acting on his face.

On the other hand there are hardly 50 people in the audience of a dancer in her Rangapravesha, one of the milestones in her career.

Watching this take place, I, an aspiring dancer am actually thinking more than twice, if I have to actually make it a career! In fact not only me, there are several other aspiring kids out there who actually stop dreaming and start studying just to get a 24/7 job (fancy way of saying “work like a donkey”) with a salary of a decent figure in the future.

The choice of Art is difficult, and it is surely not for the weak ones. When we choose art, hopefully, art will choose us.

This world is definitely a very exciting and fun place to live in, but as students we need to make the right decisions and, of course, we are in this together.

By Urvi Kishori Dasi