This story is similar to a Bollywood movie where a guy turns rebel, leaves home to pursue his dreams, falls flat, but doesn’t give up.
Here is a story about a shy, soft-spoken yet determined guy, Vinay Sharma, founder of Dance Out of Poverty https://www.danceoutofpoverty.org/
The rebel
Vinay always loved dancing, and he was a star performer in the extra-curricular activities than academics. Due to the academic pressure and rote learning, he drifted away from studies. After his tenth boards, his parents and teachers gave upon him, and he says that it was relaxing. lower expectations from others, he could now be on his own.
A sigh of relief!
He pursued his dancing and gathered accolades too.
BPO to Bollywood
After grade 12, he started working in a BPO to earn his living. In 2008 he started his dance studio and in parallel initiated subsidised dance classes for government school children. He was amazed by the enthusiasm of these children. Few of them could not even afford the nominal fee, and Vinay was generous enough to provide free dance sessions as the dance classes bought immense joy to them.
Dance brings joy, and everyone should have their share of happiness.
By 2011 he had five dance studios around Delhi NCR, and in the same year, he got an offer to teach dance to a Bollywood celebrity. He grabbed the opportunity.
He left for Mumbai and explored his interest in the film direction. Other than dancing, he also worked with Raj Kumar Santoshi as a scriptwriter. He says that it was a great experience to work with a renowned director.
Bollywood treated him well, and he was able to expand his knowledge and experience as well.
Reality check
After spending a substantial time in Bollywood and working closely with celebrities, he was keen to do a significant event to gain eyeballs, thereby giving a platform to the underprivileged children to showcase their talent. He was not only duped by the funders, but even the people who once supported the cause backed off. His months of planning and hard work came shattering down. There were massive financial losses too. He had exhausted all his savings.
He had to take a tough call here, either go back to the Bollywood or continue with his focussed passion?
He chose the latter.
It was an arduous journey where he had no financial support, no fallback option, and not even a road map. What he had was a vision to teach happiness through dance.
Launch of Right to Dance
While his dance studios remained functional across Delhi and NCR, he came across several slum children who were reeling under abuse and violence, and few were drug addicts as well. It was alarming to see such young children falling into the self-destruction trap. It was essential to reach out to this set of children
He narrates an episode where a girl from a marginalized community, who had exceptional dancing skills was verbally abused pulled out from the class by her father.
There was a need to “reach out”.
He had to extend the reach to the children in the slums than asking children to come to the center. There were religious, communal, and logistical issues involved.
Right to Dance came into existence then. A platform to build up confidence in the children and also create change leaders in the community. It was an attempt to bring their life back on track.
He claims in all modesty that the program has successfully seen positive changes in the children. Many have left the drug addiction and taken up dancing as a profession.
He has 20 centers in Delhi and 5 in Mumbai. All these centers are run by the change leaders who then become community agents. He doesn’t have a team but works by collaboration and direct implementation.
Funding is difficult, but he says, I might take a loan rather than asking for help.
“Dance is the hidden language of the soul.”
Martha Graham
What lies ahead?
Dance — and physical activity — should have the same status in schools as math, science, and language. Psst: it may even help raise test scores,
says Sir Ken Robinson
He aims to work towards creating dance as a part of the academics. It is crucial to break the education barrier that revolves around grades and scholar badges.
He is working with volunteers and like-minded people to create a curriculum around “Teaching through dance.” The curriculum will not just involve dance but theatre and music too.
Performing arts has a vital role in a child’s development both physically and mentally, the program will focus on holistic growth.
To bring the project so far he has exhausted all his savings but now he is on a lookout for funders who can help him scale the project. He says, “happiness is underrated and each child deserves his/her share of happiness ”
He still holds his head high and says with pride that I’ll follow what I believed, even if the path is strenuous.
“That’s what I love about dance. It makes you happy, fully happy.”
Says , Vinay
Do reach out to help Vinay in whichever way possible and enable him to reach to as many children as possible, vinay@danceoutofpoverty.org
