Thursday, March 26, 2009

THE SLUM DOG NAUTCH KIDS

This article appeared originally in Mumbai Mirror, of the Times Of India group.

LOK NRITYA

This self-taught dance troupe has evolved within a Koli Basti to win many a dance competition, finds Rishi Majumder



"Dancing is a state of concentration where bodily movement and facial expression unite. Yet dancing is letting go. Dancing is Riyaaz…"

Veer into a Koli colony on the Mahim Causeway Slope by the Mithi river on a Sunday evening. Bleak narrow passageways (You have to stride sideways at times). Bare brick and mortar houses crammed together. The tin and concrete tarpaulin-ed roofs on either side merge, letting barely any sky (or air) in. Then you hear music. A hundred square feet Ganesh temple courtyard is packed with teenagers and twenty some-things moving in synchrony to diverse beats. They rock to Western. They sway to Indian Folk. They top crescendos with a human pyramid, shaped in a many-bodied leap. "Dancing Mera Pehchaan Hai, people wouldn't know my name if I didn't dance," ends 21 year old Vaibhav Patil, co-former of the four year old Ganesh Packers. The other founder, 22 year old Sashekh Mittal explains: "Ganesh because of our rehearsal area and because we weren't trained – so it's God Ka gift."

The rehearsal starts with a 'Namaskar' from traditional Koli Folk. Then Vaibhav shows seven youngsters a new folk dance step he wants them to begin with as Sashekh arranges them into a hexagonal formation. "I started dancing at 10. I'd just gone for time-pass as an 'extra' dancer to this group in a neighbouring locality. They insulted me and threw me out," Vaibhav remembers. "I went to my uncle and cried my heart out." The visiting uncle, who knew some Koli dances very well, resolved to teach the boy: "So I formed a group with my brothers and sisters. We went on to win school competitions." Then came teaching others to dance and hence having to learn other styles as well: "I gleaned steps from videos and Television and sometimes merged it with folk styles." Sashekh had TV as his mentor from the beginning: "First it was Govinda. Then Prabhu Deva and Michael Jackson. Then Hrithik Roshan. From the age of 6 I've been watching TV to replicate the steps. I still don't know what fascinated me so much..."

They move from folk to Hindi patriotic numbers now. Vande Mataram – a dance mix to win the group many first prizes starts as a play. "We've based it on details about what happened during the 1992 riots in our basti," informs Vaibhav. Then the dancing kicks off with A R Rehman's version of the national song. "We start slow then go faster with Rind Posh Maal from Mission Kashmir. Get to a frenzy with Suno Gaur Se Duniya Waalon as in Dus and form an 11 person human pyramid as it eases back to Vande Mataram," elucidates Sashekh. With the small brightly orange temple as background, the Ganesh Packers shift from folk to western and back.

Sashekh and Vaibhav decided to form this group when they met during a dance video recording: "We lived in the same area, but didn't know of each other as dancers till then," they smile. After winning first prize in the ETV Marathi competition, where their work was telecast, the group's popularity grew manifold. "Though we don't really charge much for shows (fees range from two to five thousand, depending on the performance) many people want to join our troupe because of the Izzat they receive," Vaibhav boasts. They have an in-house make-up person: "One of our dancers worked in a parlour!" For some traditional folk styles, one of the founder-duo pay an expert to teach him what he passes on to the troupe. Otherwise their dance style and structure is self taught and formed: "We have a 'duet' where one or more couples dance both traditional and western styles; we have solo performances with a mix of break-dance and acrobatics to Techno music; and we have folk dances ranging from Punjabi and Maharashtrian to Tamil folk even."

Three of the groups performances are instant hits with audiences from Bohisar to Dadar and Mahim: "Well, one is this take we did on Ram Gopal Verma's opening sequence for Bhoot – with make-up etc. Some girls claimed they were so scared they fell ill!" Vaibhav lists. So they juxtaposed it with some 'comedy': "This fast Madrasi track we'd heard somewhere. Since then boys in Dadar and Mahim call me 'Anna'", grins Sashekh. Also

Very popular is this solo performance by their youngest member – a seven year old. "She joined us when she was five. She does a folk number. But the audience love her because she actually reacts to them and improvises!" one of the thirty odd troupe members, mostly from Koli backgrounds, tell us.

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