When we in Goa hear of “ballet”, we think Swan Lake, we think Paris and Moscow, we think of the
stuff of fairy-tales and foreign movies – exotic and quite removed from our
reality. But slowly, that has begun to change, thanks to people from the dance
community working to make formerly lesser-known forms of dance like ballet,
accessible and real to us in every way. Gautam Nima is one among them, working
to bring ballet into Goa, through performance and teaching. In a state that has
always cultivated a passion for art and culture, he, like others before him,
has found ripe ground for a budding ballet culture to flourish.
Originally from Uttarakhand, Gautam has
nurtured a love for dance since his earliest years, and has been dancing
professionally since 2006, with the company The Danceworx, where he was exposed
to such forms as Ballet, Jazz, and Contemporary. Wanting to avoid spending his
career mired within a dance company, dancing to someone else’s tune, and
harbouring an appreciation for the importance of the body, he was led to take
up a Master’s degree in Dance at Hollins University in the USA. His career as a
performer has taken him from New Delhi, to cities across the USA, to Frankfurt,
Germany.
And finally, in 2016, he adopted Goa as
home, and has been playing a huge role in the local ballet scene since then.
He, along with his wife and collaborator Pushpanjali Sharma, have had several
performances here in Goa, in spaces such as Goa Chitra Museum, Geetangali Arts
Gallery, and HH Arts Space, and were invited to the Story of Space Festival as
artists in residence where they performed and taught a workshop in MOG.
Gautam’s major interest lies in dance education, with him teaching courses and
classes in ballet for kids and adults alike, as well as workshops. “As artists
and educators, we are interested in taking dance to unconventional spaces and
educational institutions opening dialogue around topics that are thought
provoking,” he says.
Speaking of his own experience with
ballet, Gautam mentions, “As a child, I had not heard of ballet, having grown
up in a very small town in the Himalayas. It was only when I began my journey
in The Danceworx that I got really attracted to ballet. I remember being
inspired by watching videos of dancers like Mikhail Barishnykov, a
Russian-American dancer, and Carlos Acosta, a Cuban dancer. I liked how they
could do just about anything with their bodies and how invincible they seemed
while dancing. There was something about the body’s gravity defying experience
that gave me a taste of a different kind of freedom.”
Through his work as a ballet teacher,
teaching his Ballet Creative Movement classes for children at Club Harmonia and
Chowgule College, as well as a course in Contemporary Dance at Chowgule for
adults, Gautam has had the chance to explore the potential for ballet in
Goa…and has not been disappointed. “I think there is great potential for ballet
in Goa,” he says. “Parents here are really invested in their child’s holistic
growth and are not particularly obsessed with only academic learning. Goans
love ballet, both the students as well as the parents. And thanks to the
internet that is so easily accessible now, almost every child has heard about
or seen some ballet. Nowadays, more and more youngsters are pursuing dance as a
career. I think Goa and the world in general could really use more people who
are deeply connected with dance and their bodies.”
His decision to make Goa his base, as opposed to the Indian
metros that have a more active dance scene (if not necessarily in ballet), was
a conscious one – “I think there are enough dance studios in the cities
already. I wanted to bring dance and ballet to places where it is not so easily
available and where there would be more of an impact on the lives of students. Goa
has a very vibrant art culture and people are very inclined towards performing
arts,” he adds.
Gautam has been pleased with the response his dance classes have
seen so far, adding, “Parents have expressed how much their children love
coming to these classes and how they can’t stop dancing and practising at home
also. I take it as a good sign when I’m told that my students are really
looking forward to their dance classes.”
His approach to teaching dance in general, and ballet in
particular, is one that is centred on individuality, creativity, and body
positivity. “In my classes for children, I make a conscious effort to encourage
them to express their ideas and their stories – then we use the techniques of
ballet to dance these stories out together. Furthermore, we always begin the
class with exercises where we offer love to our body, helping the kids to
develop the respectful approach towards the body that is so essential,” he
says.
“And at Chowgule, I teach a class that is designed for anyone
and everyone, my intention being to teach people an approach to dance, rather
than a particular form of dance. My students are encouraged to dance to their
own rhythms, explore their own movement, and what dance means to them, working
with the key principle of ‘body-awareness as self-awareness’,” he adds.
With all of the potential he perceives in Goa, as a base for a
ballet culture to flourish, Gautam plans to play his part in that process, both
through performance and teaching – performing in more spaces that are accessible
to everyone, and perhaps introducing a Ballet Creative Movement Arts curriculum
in different schools, either with regular classes or in workshop models. “I
strongly feel that art forms like dance can play a vital role in shaping the
children of today and change makers of tomorrow by cultivating a practice in
them that allows them to explore their inner worlds and express in different
ways,” he adds in conclusion.
If
Gautam and others like him have anything to do with it, there will be a great
number of people across the state, young and old alike, pirouetting in style,
and expanding their creativity!
