Of rhythm, art and aesthetics

Dressed in shiny costumes and wielding equipment like balls, ribbons and hoops, the trio can be easily mistaken as performers of a dance group.

Kshipra Joshi, Akshata Shete and Pooja Surve are in fact exponents of Olympic sport rhythmic gymnastics, and are going to represent India at the Commonwealth Games. These three teenage girls from Mumbai wowed the audience at Bombay Physical Culture Association in Wadala on Wednesday.

Performances in rhythmic gymnastics are judged on a number of factors such as the difficulty of the poses, the choice of music, grace and expressions. Pooja, a student of DG Ruparel college says, “I have learnt Indian Classical dance forms, which help me with my expressions and grace.”

Just grace and ability are not enough, says Akshata, the current national champion. “We have to follow a very strict diet, not only to maintain our flexibility but also because we have to fit in our tight costumes. We have to give our family doctors the WADA’s banned substances list so that they do not prescribe medicine that has any of the chemicals.”

Their coach Varsha Upadhye is realistic about what they can achieve. “In countries like Russia and Japan they start training at the age of five. We do not start to seriously train our children until they reach a much older age. So currently we are behind those countries but the determination that these girls have shown has given me hope of a good showing at Delhi.”