Ballet is an extremely difficult art form that is a lot of things for many different people around the world. It is the most ancient and codified dance form that shapes each muscle in the body in a very specific way. It’s a super tiring and demanding dance form with a lot of repetition, and it involves a lot of ‘not knowing what you’re doing’ …until one day it finally hits you… and then you fall in love.

It is still relatively new in India and a lot of people don’t necessarily know its past, present or future. Little girls are obviously fascinated with the ‘fairytale’ story telling aspect of it, right from the pink fluffy tutus, to playing a princess and the ‘magical-ness’ of it all, which is great to initiate them into the art form. Slightly older girls are awestruck by adult ballerinas that go on “pointe”( the tip of their toes) and their unfathomable flexibility and strength. This keeps the kids going for a few more years.

After a certain point those with impeccable family support, a considerable amount of wealth and passion for the art form choose to go abroad to train and contribute to a different form of artistic ‘brain-drain’. Leaving a void for another child to follow in the footsteps and let the cycle repeat all over again. The reverse angle to this is the hordes of teachers from abroad who come here to step up shop, can be good thing if they offer a sustainable future. Then of course there are tonnes of other teachers that prop up just because ballet is trending at the moment, but don’t know too much about it.

This brings me to the sub topic of this essay.

Why doesn’t India have a strong ballet future?

Well, the short answer to that is because there are already 8 different classical dance forms born and bred here and are still struggling to find their footing, and innumerable other small folk dance forms that do not receive or maybe receive a palty amount of monetary or social support from the people of this country or it’s government.

Next is that ballet is too expensive an art form to stand on its own. In the west an adult female dancer can go through 1 pair of pointe shoes per day, each costing about 4000-5000 rupees, 5 days a week. The dancer does not pay for these shoes if they are a part of an elite company. It’s a part of their contract to have them provided. Adding to this is the rent of a good studio space with a barre, mirrors and good flooring. In the West companies also sponsor choreographers, teachers and musicians to come and impart knowledge. Lastly, a live piano accompaniment is all but essential to ballet. Now you do the math. All levels or ranks (yes they have ranks, the corps de ballet, to a soloist and then a principal dancer) are paid a decent salary (no dancer in the world is a millionaire) but most extra costs like regular check-ups with top physiotherapists and paid injury leaves are covered. Most of this money comes either from the country’s Governments (like in Russia, China, and Cuba) or the very wealthy 1% of patrons or donors, another concept alien to this country.

The other place to look at here, is either corporate funding or Bollywood, which both come with their own set of pros and cons. They will take away from it, in their own way, more than they give to the art form. That will just further add to the erosion that is already taking place, with more teachers teaching the art form without extensive background knowledge about the body or where the art form comes from. Again, is no fault of their own because they too are stuck in a vicious cycle of no proper information being provided by a certified authority, and they are just trying to make a living at the end of the day doing something they ‘kind of’ love.

And of course there is a glamorous aspect to it all, but few people know the rigorous training that goes in. The hours and hours of training that goes in to make that 1 degree of a change in your turn out or in the range of movement of your limbs.  Some people don’t see a change in their body for years and years, but still relentlessly go on day after day because simply put, ballet just demands that of you, and you very well owe it that.

Even if, one day a prominent Bolshoi Theatre or an American Ballet Theatre does set up sort of a franchise in the big cities of our country. Offers training and the very coveted “certification” in the art form. Are Indians ready for the discipline and disappointment that comes with the long term practice of ballet? I think our population and economy has put enough on our plates. More importantly is the larger rural population of our country, find Laila Majnu controversial. Are they really ready for Frederick Ashton’s Romeo & Juliet?

 Rachita. U