Have you ever seen a toddler dancing to “Moyna cholat cholat” or “Roopban e nache komor dulaiya”? Does it make you uncomfortable? I have even seen a 5 year old twerking with a vulgar bollywood item song in an Indian reality dance show and audience seemed okay with that. I remember last year I saw kids dancing to a sensual tribal song, “gotore piriter phool fote” in one of our bangladeshi tv channels, and I immediately complained. Afterwards,The choreographer of that dance called me and said that I don’t know how to respect seniors. It’s not about respecting seniors or juniors. It’s about pointing out the right and the wrong. If we don’t allow our kids to read adult books, watch adult movies even we don’t discuss everything in front of them why would we allow them dancing to such adult words. After completing my post graduation on dance in Kolkata when I went to Chennai to do my diploma in teachers training on dance education. I had to study dance psychology elaborately and that’s when I realised how serious this issue is. After coming back to dhaka I observed the choreography pattern and realised the scenario is much worse than I thought.
I have noticed three major problems. Firstly, kids are performing in adult songs, doing adult movement and giving inappropriate expressions. Secondly, kids are being pressured to do much harder movements than their age. Thirdly, they are more into doing shows and competitions and less into learning. But why?
After discussing with my other contemporary dancers and some of my students’ parents the picture got clearer.
These days kids are mostly following actresses to be like them. Without knowing the meaning of the lyrics and movement they are just following their role models. As a result we are getting inappropriate performances with a defensive line – ‘Whatever kids do they look cute’. Also we have to keep in in mind that they should not wear uncomfortable costume and such heavy makeup that takes away their innocence.
Not only they are dancing in adult words unknowingly, but also the teachers are choreographing much harder steps for them compared to their age. As a result they are struggling with the steps and not enjoying it. I have seen very few teachers who are actually careful about the fact that the kids should learn first before performing. We often state that the kids in india performing better than our kids in reality shows. Also we have to keep in mind whatever we see in television screen is not the ultimate thing to follow. Some parents want their kids to be liked publicly. They pressurise the teacher to teach them more song choreography than basic grammars. Sometimes they ask to teach them catchy inappropriate songs so that the audience likes it more. We have to keep in mind that everything has an age. Performance is important but learning should be the first priority. Otherwise they will only become entertainers, not artists.
Many will complain that there’s not enough songs for kids. It doesn’t mean that we will allow everything that we get. If we don’t compromise, the composers will make new songs according to the demand. Also educational institutes should be very careful about their cultural events. I have seen most bizarre performances mostly in school, college or university functions. Whistling to a artist is not okay. It is as offensive as eve teasing and in competitions, judges should not allow such performances. So I have started this new project called “Dance Your Age”. This is not only for the teachers, choreographers and parents but also for the audience.The more we talk about this, the more awareness will be created. We should not take this lightly because this is not just performances, this is a part of their grooming and growing up.
Arthy Ahmed 