Breaking boundaries

After six months of grueling training at the hands of internationally acclaimed dancer and choreographer Astad Deboo, 14 street children from Delhi made sinewy synchronized movements on stage at a modern dance performance on April 13, 2009. Titled "Breaking Boundaries,” the performance comprised five inter­linked pieces which helped the dancers break many boundaries, literally and metaphorically, reported the Deccan Herald (DH) of April 15, 2009.

The teenage dancers were selected from the Salaam Balak Trust, an NGO (non-governmental organization) formed using profits from noted film director Mira Nair’s movie Salaam Bombay to help street kids get ahead in life. "They had no dance training, a wary attitude and lacked discipline, but it was absolute joy watching them grow and develop into such talented performers,” Deboo revealed to the Afternoon Despatch and Courier (ADC) of April 29, 2009. The ADC mentions that Deboo’s work with deaf dancers both from Calcutta and Madras has made him a legend.

Astad Deboo (top) trained these street children to dance

Almost all the youngsters are runaways from home, DH reports, and while some have re-connected with their families, they are reluctant to return home. This performance, the dancers say, has not only helped them learn how the human body can be utilized to the fullest possible extent, it has also made them more confident about themselves.

"When sir (Deboo) started our workshop six months ago, we found the whole thing very strange,” admits Anil Kumar, who had run away from his Rae Bareili home when he was just six years old allegedly to escape his father’s beatings, "but now we realize how we can use our bodies to perform very unique and difficult maneuvers.” Another participant, Priya, elaborated, "Initially our bodies would ache like anything after the strenuous movements, but now we have got used to them.”

The dancer informed DH that he is "looking for sponsors to take this very talented bunch of youngsters to other Indian cities… and possibly abroad also, like all my earlier shows have been.” In an e-mail to Parsiana the dancer bemoaned: "What is really so sad is that I still have such a hard time finding funds for my projects.” He is proud of his proteges not merely because of their performance but also because of their "hunger and thirst” to do something in life.

Deboo is currently in the USA, addressing the Gallaudet University in Washington DC, the world’s largest university for the deaf. He then plans on mounting a new dance of six dancers in Seattle who will perform with him at the Seattle Needle, which is going to be the open air teaching assignment in Bangor, Maine. He will also be discussing work to be performed at the Metropolitan Museum in the new year, the e-mail mentions.