Dance is a medium of prayer for many. It is sacred if you are a dance devotee. For dancers like me, dance is not just a passion, it is the very definition of life. But does every dancer share the same emotion and thoughts? This is a question I have been pondering over ever since I met a young girl from Kolkata for whom dance was a medium to earn a living.
I was told a horrifying story that made me realise that not all fabulous dancers share the same love and passion towards the art. There are a lot of things at work that may drive an artiste to pursue the art besides the usual love for the same. It could be a traumatic experience, a compulsion and many a times, even sex trade.
Every year in the month of November, the sleepy town of Sonepur in Bihar transforms into the largest cattle fair in Asia. This cattle fare is world famous, where several men gather to buy, sell and book cattle. But for a large section of the men attending the fair, the highlight is not the trade per se, but the “nautanki” that takes place every day during this time of the year in Sonepur.
Every day, some really amazing dancers perform on stage to entertain the so-called dance lovers gathered at the fair. There are around eight to ten popular nautanki companies that compete against each other to bring on the stage the best dancers. This popular show has skimpily-clad women dancers gyrating to the latest Bollywood tunes. Be it Sheila, Munni, Chikni Chameli or Jalebi bai, all are on the floor trying to out do each other. Tickets for these shows are typically priced at `50 per person.
Claiming to be dance lovers, these men strain their necks to catch a glimpse of the dancers and sometimes pay double the price to get the front row seats. Big dance companies like Payal ek Nazar and Gulab Vikas theatre have large teams comprising 40-50 dancers in the group. To ensure the dancers’ safety, the stage is barricaded with iron bars, but the security is not always up to the mark, I am told.
Female dancers are brought from cities like Kolkatta, Muzaffarpur, Varanasi, and even Delhi to perform at these shows. The crowd often turns rowdy and get out of hand during these performance, with some men trying to jump the barricade and climb up on stage. Each company hires well-built local bouncers to control the crowd. There is continuous surveillance by the police to ensure that no dancer is harassed. However, they are not always successful.
Shows are staged throughout the day during this fair period. While a few shows start in the afternoon, the more popular ones have dancers entertaining the crowds at night. Since it is common for the men to throw money and gifts at the women they fancy, the dancers too take a lot of effort to beautify themselves. The more attractive dancers are often placed at the centre by the theatre organisers. Men from the audience throw things like candles, biscuit packets and even cellphones at the women to get their attention, while others manage to go up on the stage and molest the girls as well.
Despite the presence of guards and policemen, men, who in most cases are local goons and influential persons, are allowed to get close to the dancers.
Men profess their love for the dancers and often smash beer bottles on their heads. The other regular men from the audience are often allowed to climb up on stage and dance with the girls, who even offer money to the dancers. Some rich patrons are known to have offered expensive gifts, gold jewellery or even cash amounting to thousands of rupees to the dancers they love. The dancer, however, is paid a paltry daily wage by the theatre owner and is mostly dependent on such tips for their livelihood.
As a result, the dancers attempt to seduce men with gaudy makeup. Most of them use fuller’s earth base for foundation, as they cannot afford expensive cosmetics. What’s more, the dancers are made to live in tiny makeshift rooms during their stay at Sonepur. Such is the quality of life that amazing dancers lead.
Is this nautanki in Sonepur similar to a dance bar in Mumbai? If so, then the same rule that is prevalent in Mumbai with respect to dance bars should be applied to shows such as these too. And if at all it is argued that it is not a form of a dance bar, then where is the respect for women and the art of dance? We read several cases of molestation and rape everyday. Don’t “shows” like these encourage indecent behaviour? It is time the real men stood up against such disrespectful attitude towards women.