Dancers are meant to be comfortable with their physicality. It also depends on the type of the dance form one practises and the costumes one wears. Many dance forms require the dancer to wear different types of costumes, which may require them to expose at times. A lot of dancers who follow the western style and end up exposing because of their costume style, are getting tattoos done. I’ve seen this trend rising among a lot of dancers these days.
Different designs and patterns of tattoos are a rage among dancers. The dance community was quite amazed when the World Health Organisation (WHO) recently came up with figures to show that tattoos figure among the top reasons for the spread of Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and HIV. The simple urge to get inked and to be a part of the clique has the potential to go horribly wrong, resulting in several complications.
I am writing this piece as a form of reflection after I saw one of my dancers go through a lot of pain, embarrassment and low self-esteem after her tattoo went wrong. She didn’t want to wear certain clothes that I wanted her to for a show because she wasn’t comfortable exposing that part of skin. I just feel that this loss of confidence due to a tattoo is not good for dancers at all, or any performers for that matter.
In India, few tattoo centres are fully trustworthy. “Self-taught” practitioners often use dangerous and unhygienic methods to mix the chemicals! Their needles are often shared and they do not even wear gloves. Sadly, even today there is no governmental agency in India that regulates tattooing. Do it at your own risk is the mantra here.
It would help to know how tattooing is done. The colours are a mix of selected chemicals, usually in some sort of combination. Iron gives black, henna gives green, sodium gives red and a mix of ferric oxide and carbon gives the black colour too in tattoos. Also, edible saffron is mixed with iron compounds to derive a brown shade. At first, an outline of the figure or the letters is drawn on the skin with a marking ink. The chemicals are carefully spread over the required circuit. Precision needles are used to ‘poke’ the drawn circuit. The chemical penetrates the outer skin therefore, and allows the colours to register themselves permanently. The body’s lymph system scavenges the excess chemical and expels them through the kidney system.
Problems multiply when people realise that they should be removed for personal reasons. The traditional salt abrasion technique or formic acid and phenol solutions offer patchy and painful results. Cryotherapy is a more advanced technique where liquid nitrogen at 170 degree Celsius is strategically used to remove tattoos.
So if tattooing your body crosses your mind. Just be sure you wanted to completely and then never look back.
Things to remember before a dancer decides to get a tattoo:
nResearch thoroughly and do a background check on the credibility of the tattoo practitioner.
nCheck if they are registered with your city corporation or local government, since it will make them accountable for whatever damage, if any.
nDisinfected theatres, equipped with approved chemical and good quality needles are a must.
nDo ask them to explain the various processes and chemical names of compounds involved.
nIf they do not make you comfortable and appear not well informed, walk away. It is not worth it.
nMake doubly sure that you want the decided tattoo on the decided part of your body, and once done, learn to live with it even if you get bored of it. As removal and redoing a tattoo can result in problems.
Just take care of these things and you won’t have to worry about the aforementioned problems.