The pleasure principal

Nikhil Babar, 27, discovered his talent for dance early on, at school and community functions. “Beta dance karo,” adults would say, and he would readily oblige. He found joy in dancing for himself and others. He’s now doing new moves. Babar refers to himself as “India’s first Magic Mike dancer”, promoting the rather teasing style aimed at women (think Vegas clubs, bachelorette parties).

Babar, a dance and fitness instructor, discovered the “Magic Mike” style when watching the movie Magic Mike (2012) four years ago. The Steven Soderbergh film stars Channing Tatum as a male stripper named Magic Mike (his character would eventually give the moves their name). Watching Tatum, Babar says, he was blown away by how smooth, fierce and sensual the moves were. He looked for dancers in India who taught this art form, and finding none, simply replicated the moves in the movie.

Before the pandemic, Babar and his sister Neha Babar, 23 and also a dance instructor, made regular dance videos for social media. In lockdown, Babar began to choreograph Magic Mike routines for fun and his sister, seeing his passion, encouraged him to upload the videos to Instagram.

It quickly grew from there. The @nikhil_babar_ follower count has gone from 5,000 in March 2020 to over 110,000 today. “People text me all the time, eager to learn the style themselves,” Babar says.

Aspiring students, many of them men, want to learn for their partners, and Babar is thrilled by this. “Stripping and public entertainment for pleasure are still taboo in India, but at least people are becoming more comfortable talking about sex and exploring their sexuality in private,” he says.

Men don’t follow his page though, he’s noticed. Approximately 90% of his follows on Instagram and most of the comments on his videos are by women. “Men are less bold about being seen appreciating my work.”

His parents and friends see the love he’s getting and are supportive. “I was expecting a backlash in the beginning, but reactions have only been positive,” Babar says. His comments are full of emojis of hearts, flames, and smileys with hearts for eyes.

He is careful not to cross the line into vulgarity, he says. He performs with the female gaze in mind: his videos are teasing, gentle fun, rather than raw and raunchy. He sees himself as an ally in the cause of pleasure, of all genders and sexualities.

Babar plans to teach and perform his new moves offline too, as venues open up. He receives requests to dance at bachelorette parties, but is worried about performing in an uncontrolled environment. He wants to promote the moves as performance that sits at the intersection of dance, fitness and sexuality, but in a more controlled environment, he says.

Everyone should feel strong, sexy, and powerful, Babar adds. His one piece of advice for those wanting to try the moves: you don’t need to be any specific body type, but you do need to be extremely fit.