Striking the right pose, taking the correct stance

Nagpur: It needs a lot of passion to pursue art. And being a male and learning Indian classical dance can raise many eyebrows. But city-based dancer Kishor Hampiholi has never had any issues with his craft. What kept him down in the early years was, predictably, his economic condition. “My father was a foreman in the railways. We were five brothers. Learning an art form is expensive,” says the soft-spoken dance teacher recalling his early days.
Today, he and wife Kishori run a dance academy where they train around 150 students. Both are national level performers too. But in the early 80s when he first approached a panel of judges as a candidate for a dance scholarship, he was told bluntly that his dancing was not even of basic level. “I had learnt Bharatanatyam at a local dancing school for some months. But at Chennai I realized that whatever I knew was actually nothing.”
He was lucky to be directed to a private guru in Chennai. “The panel suggested that I join Kalakshetra, the school run by Rukmani Arundale. But the fee was Rs 15,000 which I could not afford. A person there was kind enough to direct me to a private teacher, Adyar Shri K Laxman.” The guru agreed to take him as a student for a monthly fee of Rs 1500.
To raise the money, 14-year-old Hampiholi would learn for a month, come back to Nagpur and sell biscuits to collect money for his fee and then return to Chennai. “I started learning from 1984 and it was in 1992 that I was trained enough to perform my arangetram,” he says. Before that he had also set up Kishor Nritya Niketan in the city in 1990. “The money came in handy to pay for my fee.”
Dance has also played cupid for him. “I first saw my wife at a dance performance and liked her,” he says of Kishori who was initially a Kathak dancer. “I had always been keen to learn Bharatanatyam and Kishor has trained me now,” says Kishori who is also an ayurveda doctor. The couple perform at various government functions and conferences.
“Since 1996 we have been presenting dance dramas, ballads with our troupe and have been invited to perform by NADT, NEERI and the Indian Air Force,” says Kishor. Their scintillating dance-dramas based on Ramayan and one inspired by Taj Mahal have been winning them accolades. The couple have also performed at Natraj Utsav in Mysore, at Ellora and Kalidas festival in Aurangabad and Nagpur, respectively, and at Chakradhar Festival in Raipur among others.
They now hope to promote dance in the entire region. “We have taken dance workshops in Chandrapur and Bramhapuri,” says Kishori. Through their cultural Trust, Swarsangam Sanskrutik Manch, they also hold various dance and music competitions in the eleven districts of Vidarbha. “Not just the city, the entire region lacks artistic environment,” says Hampiholi who has been teaching at various educational institutions in the city.
“There is no understanding of guru and what learning an art form requires. Parents want their children to learn dance as a hobby,” he says observing that many dance academies have mushroomed in the city. “But very few are teaching pure classical forms. What they are teaching is a mix of aerobics, western and Indian classical,” he says and adds that its only because he has learnt under an able guru in Chennai that he understands the true nuances of classical dance.
“Here the dance teachers now prefer to call themselves choreographers. They are only modifying the old bandish, giving it a contemporary twist and passing it off as their style,” he complains and adds, “I always tell my students learn less and practice more. There are so many traditional bandish which take years to master.”
With 150 students learning in his academy in Nagpur, Hampiholi has now also set up a dance school in Pune. “That city is more culturally inclined. The students there are actually interested in pursuing dancing,” he says. “In Nagpur, parents put their children through a dance class basically for physical fitness. I tell them that it’s not fast food and will take minimum three years to learn the basics. To be an accomplished dancer can take a lifetime.”
Commenting upon the spate of arangetrams that take place in the city, Kishori says that they have become very ostentatious. “The scale and spending is so high. But the unfortunate part is that these students give up dancing after their first solo performance. Arangetram is actually an event which announces that a dancer has competence and has the capability and talent to perform,” she adds.
The duo also finds the city lacking an artistic bent. “There is total lack of professionalism when it comes to performing arts. It takes barely half an hour to set up a stage in a city like Pune or Hyderabad. But here it can take an entire day,” says Kishor. The dismal state of the auditoriums also shows the importance that the authorities here give to art forms. “The auditoriums are in such bad state. Scientific society Hall has its green rooms in the basement. There are no clean toilets, no parking facilities. This all gets so stressful and affects the performance,” adds Kishori.
Stressing upon the need for promoting and preserving art forms the couple says that this creates positive environment in a city. “It helps to preserve traditions. Everybody has to wear kumkum and kajal when they come for a dance class. Most of the dance sequences are based on Indian mythology, so young children learn about their culture too. It helps promote physical fitness also.”
But they are disappointed by the manner in which the local civic bodies treat artists. “We have never been invited to perform at the Nagpur Mahotsav. They call artists from outside but don’t give slots to local performers. Once at the Kalidas Mahotsav our performance was stopped midway. They said that they were running behind schedule. They will not dare to behave this way with artists who come from outside the city.”
(This feature focuses on couples in the city who have made a name not only for themselves but also made Nagpur known to the outside world)