‘Reality TV has popularised contemporary dance in India’

Choreographer Ashley Lobo, who has worked with some of the best production houses in Bollywood, speaks to Preeti Singh about how contemporary Indian dance is going global.

by the government. This style also reflects a modern or globalising India. Hopefully the people in charge will see that it can bring audiences and will think of giving it some support. Q. Is India exploring enough in terms of new dance genres as compared to the West? A. Dance in India is mainly traditional or Bollywood. I believe there is a certain support but it is limited and that too for only what is purely Indian traditional dance. If you are from another country then you have to be an Indophile to be interested in it. Q. Do you think India is taking dance seriously now? Earlier it was just taken up as a hobby rather than as a full-time career? A. Yes, the interest has grown considerably. I think it’s mainly due to the TV shows that dance has been brought to the public eye. It has become something of an aspiration. There is still a lot to change but I am excited. Q. How have reality shows changed the perception of dance in Indian society? A. I stated earlier that TV has made dance a thing of aspiration as well as created some awareness. Some of it is accurate and some are all wrong and populist. But any awareness is good. Q. But is Bollywood giving enough space to choreographers who are given their break by reality shows? A. Not sure about it as I have not really looked into that. I think irrespective of that, if you have the talent and have something to say artistically and loudly, people will hear you even if it is Bollywood. Look at me. I am hardly the Bollywood type choreographer. Yet I have done nearly 30 films. Q. How easy/difficult is to judge a reality show? A. It’s fun. Not at all difficult as the talent is so much. I struggle with the Hindi though. Q. You have also started a contemporary dance repertory company, Navdhara Dance Theatre, which had its second show in Delhi. Could you please tell us about it? A. Most contemporary dance that came out of India is mainly that which has come from Indian classical or folk. We had no contemporary dance born from a more global language like classical ballet to represent India overseas. This already has a built audience but we are not taking advantage of that. Hence, I started Navdhara and we are touring internationally with it. This year we are travelling to six countries with it. “Agni” is the part of this project which is our new piece and we recently performed in Delhi and it was a wonderful experience.