Conference on Ballet & Dance education organised in Navi Mumbai by Aartisan Ballet School on 24.2.2019

Ballet is a way of life 

(View a set of pictures of dance performance at the bottom of this post.)

Lifted postures of the body above the earth with a mesmerising grace are the signature of ballet. Ballet is not just an art, dance or routine fitness program rather a way of life. If you are a ballet buff, a characteristic demeanor, suppleness and an etiquette of body language develop in you effortlessly. And rest assured the softness in your life-style is not going to make you fragile. In fact, with ballet you grow up a sturdy physique that keeps you far ahead of others on several parameters.

So, titled as a pioneer in the game, it was proclaimed to be the First national scientific conference on ballet and dance education in the region.

While almost all of the Indian classical dances of India like Bharatnatyam, Kuchipudi, Oddisi, Kathak and kathakali etc are ground-centric the dominance of lifted body postures in the ballet places it  away from the native dance forms of India. 

In this digital age, people of all age groups are seen moving their fingers over mobile touch screens or keyboards of a laptop leaving them with very less opportunity to stretch their body and let your postures leverage on all the joints of the physiological architecture. You are less exposed to the sun making you prone to Vitamin D deficiency. Dr. Shilpa Aroskar, a practicing paediatrician since last 20 years was discussing the advantages with ballet.

Ballet benefits you also on mental and spiritual levels in a big way cooling your mind to mitigate your stress as well as purifying spirit of all the malignancy. Improving agility of muscles and raising your stamina the ballet do a very special work for you. In most of the persons only one out of two parts of the brain called the dominant part is utilised whereas ballet dance activates also the less dominant part of the brain taking your cognitive senses several steps up. A stress buster it is and you have little chance to be caught by dementia or Alzheimer disease even at the fag end of your life.

Replying on when to introduce the child to this Dr. Shilpa said even an early age of 3 years can be perfect for ballet.

The second speaker was Dr. Shekhar jambure who is mentioned as the first FIFA accredited physiotherapist of India. He clarified on whether ballet is an art, a dance or a routine fitness mantra and said it is all of the three. And it can turn into a way of life. It affects all the facets of life whether it is physical, intellectual, social or emotional. 

In a study where a football player was compared with a ballet performer it was found that ballet artist was far ahead on several indexes of works related body movements and stamina. 80  to 90 percent of muscles are used routinely in a ballet. 

Mayur Bhatt, director of an important marine firm was representing the corporate world at the conference. He laid open the corporate perspective of the ballet dance form. 

Ballet teaches you to work in tandem with team members and yet concentrate totally on your own performance without paying regard to whether others appreciate you or not. It helps you to combat peer pressure, pressure due to deadlines set by your boss and you learn to endure even the maximum level of stress. Moreover the essentials of ballet learning let you evolve a personality where team spirit, respect to others and self care are of prime importance. 

Swapnil Pawaskar, founder of Aartisan Ballet School and organiser of the event hosted conference. When asked he candidly revealed that mainly the girls take more interest in ballet here and this dance form is really much more demanding for male performers. The sensitive index in an average female is very high on matters of figure of body. It was obvious from the responses in the interactive session of the conference.  Nevertheless  India must be a forerunner in any sphere of dance form whether it is local or global. For a wholesome growth of this alien dance style male participants is vital. So we have made it a point to pitch for male students. Dedicated events will be organised for that.  

.Swapnil promises to come up with more such authentic conferences on ballet to break myths, create awareness and make ballet available to all irrespective of age group, gender since it can benefit everyone of them. It takes some 5 to 6 years to become a master of this art and yet there are decades to learn in ballet. 

Ultimately it can be said in unequivocal terms if you choose ballet you are in fact choosing an enviable lifestyle full of grace.

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Report by - Hemant Das 'Him'

Photographs by - Bejod India blog

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