GURUGRAM: Prince, 20, performs a grand plié at the barre, leaping forward and breaking into a graceful pirouette as he joins other ballerinos in a crisscross formation. Shivam, 21, is clad in a bright purple leotard and nude
ballet slippers. He attempts a jeté in a sylph-like manner before joining the
batch of 10-odd boys at the Central Contemporary Ballet School in Gurugram on a cloudy Friday morning. These are ballerinos who have embraced an art form that is habitually brushed off as ‘female centric’.
Bunking classes to practise dazzling leaps and tricky splits proved fruitful for Prince, who in 2014 was shortlisted by the Kirov Ballet Academy, Washington, with a 100% scholarship. “I used to practise yoga before joining ballet, but I attended one session of this dance form and was hooked,” Prince, whose family lives in Pitampura, Delhi, told TOI.
Prince’s father works as a supervisor in a factory, and his mother is a homemaker. He said they never objected to his interest in dance. Prince was in Class XI when he was offered the scholarship. He stayed in Washington for a year. His accommodation, education, dance training and other expenses were taken care of by the ballet academy.
Five years down the line, his repertoire includes Don Quixote, Le Corsaire and Don Juan. “I left school to practice classical ballet full time. (And) my family has always been supportive.”
With access to
YouTube videos, and performances of Rudolf Nureyev, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Natalia Makarova and Julio Bocca (among other masters of the dance form), many students have started looking beyond jazz, hip-hop and Bollywood, though boys are still hard to spot in ballet classes because not all parents think the way Prince’s did (Prince’s school, that way, is an exception with at least 30 boys practising alongside him. It is run by a ballerino too).
In 2015, two lads from the chawls of Mumbai, Manish Chauhan, 21, and Amiruddin Shah, 15, made headlines after they were awarded full scholarships to study dance for a year at the Oregon Ballet Theatre School in Portland, USA, and the Royal Ballet School in London, respectively.
According to Rafi Khan, artistic director at the Imperial Fernando Ballet Company (IFBC) in Delhi, ballet productions are in huge demand across Delhi-NCR, with between 20 and 25 shows staged annually. “The ratio of ballerinas to ballerinos might not be equal but the number of boys learning the dance form is certainly on the rise,” revealed Khan, who has been associated with IFBC for 18 years. And because it’s very technical, ballet, he adds, is also pursued by athletes and dancers learning other dance forms.
Meanwhile, at a quaint city studio in Gurugram, the boys train meticulously for at least five hours a day, eyes and ears alert to the commands of Sanjay Khatri, their instructor and director. Khatri’s bio on Instagram claims he is India’s first ballerino. This 35-year-old believes ballet has come a long way from the days when there was no formal training in the country.
The trailblazing Khatri received his big break when he got to perform at the American Ballet Theatre, and with Korea’s Universal Ballet Company. But the journey hasn’t exactly been a cakewalk. “It was discouraging initially but family members relented later, realising my passion,” he recalls. “I am happy the present generation does not have many apprehensions.”
Danseurs do well as they are more determined, Khatri explains, but after learning for anywhere between eight and 12 months, they want to open their own dance studios — understandable, because money is short. To reach professional status, one needs to train rigorously for at least four or five years. “Having practised six hours a day for eight years, you clear the eight grades of ballet – you have to work out every single day,” he adds, stressing the physical effort that ballet demands.
While a strict protein-rich diet is important, skinny people do not always make the best dancers. “A body structure with long arms, long legs, small torso and small head, is considered ideal, but dancers from South Asian countries have changed the rules,” points out Khatri. Indeed, a lot of ‘plus size’ people, he says, are more agile and flexible than skinny persons, proof that contemporary dance is breaking stereotypes. Ballet may take a lifetime to master but whether you’re a boy or a girl, or slim or chubby, all you need is passion and perseverance. Just ask ballerino Sanjay Khatri.
