On 'pointe', ballet dancers stand tall

With the Kirov enthralling the audience at the NCPA, ballet may yet see a renaissance in the city

Khushcheher Dallas had been learning ballet from the age of five. She wore her pointe shoes at 13 — students are not considered ready for en pointe, the act of standing on the tips of one’s toes while performing steps using pointe shoes, unless they have been studying classical ballet for five or more years. At 19, she completed a teachers training course on a scholarship from the Royal Academy of Dance in London.

Khushcheher’s mother, Tushna, didn’t want to be anything but an ice dancer, ever since she saw the Ice Capades as a child, on a trip to America. That wasn’t possible in India, so she decided to take up ballet. Finally, at 16, she went to the London College of Dance, where she trained to become a ballet teacher.

Tushna and Khushcheher’s labour of love is The School of Classical Ballet, which first opened its doors in the Cathedral and John Connon Infant School in Malabar Hills, in 1966. Tushna started with four students. By 1993, when it shifted to its current location at Blavatsky Lodge, word had spread about this ballet school, and Khushcheher had returned from London to join forces with her mother.

In recent years, there’s been a renewed interest in Western art and dance forms, and the ballet school seems to have benefited. At the latest audition workshop she held, Khushcheher received about 90 enquiries. Last year, she got 60.

This year, the school has enrolled 100 students at their south Mumbai centre. Another 30 are learning their steps at the Bandra center, which opened in October, 2007. Apart from ballet, students also learn modern jazz and Latin dances. Says Khushcheher: “Our strongest point is ballet. It is the basis of all dance. Children who want to pursue other dance forms also need to do ballet.”

Learning ballet, says Khushcheher, isn’t like making instant coffee. “It is a disciplined art, involves long-term training, and takes many years to master.” This is probably a reason why some students leave within a year of joining, when they realise that they would not become instant ballerinas.

It also requires an early start. Five, she says, is the right age to join a ballet class. The Dallas duo focus is on making the course exhaustive. Ballet depends on turnout, or how much you can turn your legs out from your hip socket. “We just don’t teach steps,” says Khushcheher. “We help students master the technique.” 

Many students start at five and continue till college. Not only, says Khushcheher, do they master an art, they also learn about life. “Ballet gives people a sense of inner discipline, poise, and grooming,” she says. “Students also become aware of space and learn how to use it.” Many students of the school have indeed benefited, earning extra credits for their dance courses in colleges abroad. Many of Tushna’s students, including Shaimak Davar, Perizaad Zorabian and Ayesha Dharker, are prominent in the entertainment industry.

Once in a while, a ballet group comes into town, and Khushcheher’s students gain exposure. Some time ago, students participated in the Nutcracker staged by the New Jersey Ballet.

Despite its qualities, Khushcheher does not believe ballet will ever become as popular as say, Bollywood dance, though it has plenty of scope. “For one, it is very expensive,” she says. “To start, it requires strong infrastructure — a big studio, lots of space and a spring wooden floor to provide cushioning for the knee, back and shin. That’s basic.”

The Dallases have not been able to put up shows as frequently as they would like. The most recent performance, in 2007, had mostly jewellery companies among its sponsors.
“The Belgian consul’s wife very sweetly helped us out by speaking to the sponsors,” says Khushcheher. Expenses for a very basic show amount to Rs5 lakh.

Corporates aren’t too keen on sponsoring ballet, and the government’s response is that since the country is rich in its own art, there’s no point in promoting a Western dance form, says Khushcheher.

All this is not very encouraging for a student who wants to take up teaching ballet. But Sukanya Rangaraj, who enrolled at six, and has been a student of the school for 16 years, is determined to beat the odds. Rangaraj, who’s pursuing a Masters degree, insists that dance is her first career choice. “Once I have the degree, I am going to get back to dance full-time,” she says. Rangaraj believes ballet will have its day here, in a few more years: “I’d say that five years ago, people were not as open to Western art forms as they are now.”

Had Khushcheher paid for her training at the Royal Academy of Dance in London, it would have cost her £16,000 in 1990. And that’s only the tuition fee. Here, it’s a lot easier. At her school, students pay Rs3,000 every three months.
r_debjani@dnaindia.net