Dancing as an extracurricular activity or a hobby and pursuing it as a career is different because it’s not a form of entertainment. It’s a lifestyle. People might think that it’s easy because we love to do what we love the most. It’s true that we love dancing but that does not eliminate the struggle and hardships we went through every day to continue it.

From my early childhood I knew that I’m going to be a dancer and I only focused on learning rather than participating in fancy competitions or running after shows. My mother did half of the job basically. Being a working woman and having a dancer daughter at the same time is may be the hardest combination for a woman.

After my basic schooling in Chayanautt I started performing professionally at a very early age. I was very lucky to get a chance to work with such a big brand like Shadhona but initially I also worked for some other choreographers as well. The professional field was way different. The competition was higher in every perspective. Had to deal with dancers from different backgrounds and mentality but for me the most difficult part was understanding the famous ‘Dancer’s Politics’.

After completing my HSC, the reality hit me really hard. I had to choose my life direction. I got the international student Scholarship from ICCR. At that time there were very few students who studied dance unlike now. “If I study dance I will not get any other job!”, “What if I break my leg and stay jobless whole life?”, “What if I find myself not good enough for this and lose interest over the years?” – Thoughts like these crossed my mind and I was panicking to go abroad alone.

But eventually I went for it and it turned out to be the best decision of my life. I completed my graduation and masters successfully and did a one year teacher’s training diploma on dance education because I felt the responsibility in me to teach the next generation the right things. As dancing is not a very common subject, many people in Bangladesh had no idea about what I was doing in India. Sometimes I even faced questions like, “Is that even a real subject?”, but yet finished my mission.

If you study Dance you can work as a choreographer, Start a dance school, and work in schools and Universities as a teacher, be a full time performer, research, works as an administration in cultural institutions, work in a creative agency and many more.

Today I’m a full time dancer, a choreographer, an instructor and a dance activist. I’m a part time lecturer in a private university and I manage Shadhona’s administrations. Most importantly I pay my bills through Dancing. In Bangladesh taking dancing as a career is extremely risky. Uncertain income graph, constant emotional breakdowns and lack of social validation will be regular parts of your life. You might as well consider alternative career options sometimes. But you should know that it’s hard but it’s not impossible. All you have to do is learn properly, keep patience and believe in yourself.

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.

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