After Bollywood films, classical Indian dance has caught the imagination of the Chinese, with a young woman in Beijing actively promoting Bharatnatyam.
BEIJING: After Bollywood films, classical Indian dance has caught the imagination of the Chinese, with a young woman in Beijing actively promoting Bharatnatyam among her compatriots, especially the tiny-tots.
For 33-year-old Jin Shan Shan, it has always been a passion to become an exponent of Bharatnatyam and to pass it on to the younger generation.
While Bollywood films, Indian cuisine and yoga have become popular in China, learning classical Indian dance is also gaining ground here, Jin said.
Realising the potential, Jin is imparting her knowledge on Indian classical dances and Indian culture to her compatriots by establishing a school for Bharatnatyam here.
Around 50 Chinese children, most of them between six and seven years of age, are attending classes every week to learn the intricacies of Bharatnatyam.
Asked why she started the school to teach classical Indian dance, Jin said the situation was ripe for such a move since Bollywood and its music are becoming popular among the Chinese people, especially among the youngsters, who could play a vital role in future in promoting India-China cultural linkages.
At the same time, she is concerned that most Chinese equate Indian culture with Bollywood.
"I would take every opportunity to tell my countrymen that Indian culture is much more than Bollywood," the Jawaharlal Nehru University alumnus said. Now, Jin has company at home.
Jessie, her seven-year-old daughter is learning Bharatnatyam from her mother and has already performed for some India-related events as well as on state-run China Central Television and Beijing Television.
"I feel I was born to dance," Jin, who speaks Hindi fluently, said.
To realise her dream, Jin said she got enrolled at the prestigious Oriental Song & Dance Ensemble here and learnt a variety of dance forms, including Bharatnatyam, Arabian, Japanese and Latin American dance.
Though her love for India and its rich culture was growing by the year, Beijing did not offer any opportunities for Chinese to learn Indian classical dance in the 1980s.
Jin enrolled for a degree in Hindi and Indian Culture at the elite Peking University here and started applying for scholarships that would enable her to travel to India.
In 1994, she secured admission at the JNU for an advanced course in Hindi. Later, she learned Kathak from Pandit Birju Maharaj. During a second trip to India in 1998, she secured enrolment as a student under noted Bharatanatyam exponent Leela Samson.
Jin mastered the entire dance repertoire in just nine months and even managed to stage her 'arangettam' (solo public performance) in May 1999.
Recently, Jin performed Bharatnatyam before a group of 100 young Indians in Beijing led by Minister for Youth Affairs and Mani Shankar Aiyar, who lavished praise on her command over the classical Indian dance form.
"I must say that she is truly an Ambassador of Indian culture in China," Aiyar remarked.
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