BENGALURU: A mention of an all-male classical dance troupe and the response is that of surprise. And for the artistes, it’s apprehension. “It’s very rare to get classical male dancers. And when you do, they themselves have pre-conceived notions, including not wanting to take up feminine roles,” says Mithun Shyam, whose all-male troupe will be putting up a Bharatanatyam dance, Gandharva Abhinaya, on Sunday.
Shyam, who has grown up learning the dance form, decided to quit his full-time IT job in 2010 to pursue dancing. At that point, he himself was subject to the various gender stereotypes ingrained in society. But Shyam knew dance was his calling and went ahead with his decision. “It’s a female-dominated career and is difficult for men who want to make the switch. There is non-acceptance both within and outside the field and many feel a sense of embarrassment when someone asks about their career,” he admits.
The first six months after he quit his job and started his dance institute in Banaswadi, Shyam had only one student. “I’ve used every opportunity to perform, even if it has meant dancing on the street. In fact, when I started off, there was a Ganapati idol on the streets where I performed even as buses were passing by. That’s when I got six students, until then I had only one,” says Shyam, adding that Banaswadi didn’t have as much of a cultural scene as south Bangalore, and there was scepticism about a man teaching dance. But over the last nine years, Shyam has come a long way, now teaching 500 students out of which 20 are male. “That is considerable success considering the apprehension,” he says.
At the upcoming performance, seven of his male students, between the ages of 14 and 22, will be performing. Nine episodes from the Mahabharata will be enacted during the one-hour show. “My aim is to put across a show with non-gender biased dancers. But it’s been challenging to train the boys to play strong female roles of Kunti, Shikandi or Draupadi. The challenge has been to get them to express themselves – whether it’s the scene where Draupadi is being disrobed or Kunti’s maternal instincts. I explain these scenes in detail to them. Imagine Draupadi, a married woman in her 40s being dragged by her hair in public. Imagine her anger and frustration. I tell them to imagine someone being dragged on the school grounds to help them evoke the right emotions,” he says. Gandharva Abhinaya will be staged on September 29,at Seva Sadan, Malleswaram, at 10am.