Bharti Singh lost 4 kg, sprained her muscles, had a stiff back, cried in pain for 14 days till she got that one full body split right. 43-year-old Jayati Bhatia went home with a bruised ankle and a sore body on the very first day of JDJ 6, she was attempting a floor contemporary. She could not sit or sleep because her back hurt. Pratyusha Banerjee wanted to quit the show as early as two weeks. The final performance on TV may appear awesome and flawless but participants tell you there is a lot more to dancing than only having fun. Deebashree Mohanty tells you what lies behind these exemplary acts is die hard routines, tough exercises and a killing schedule
The moves and lifts are extremely dangerous. One wrong jerk and a minute mistake in spotting, can risk your life forever. I know many people who have gotten paralysed during dance practice sessions because they had not got it right
— lauren Gotlieb, second runners-up in JDJ 6
We may see them doing that perfect split, or that double summersault, even seen them do a triple cartwheel but are these untrained celebrity dancers risking their career and health for a reality showIJ “It may seem very easy to the naked eye but one simple full split requires 36 days of muscle building exercises at the bare minimum. Especially, push ups where the leg muscles are relaxed and strained in continuous succession. This exercise has to be done under supervision by a trained gym expert. And the dancer has to concentrate on this particular exercise till the time the thigh muscles become flexible. It may not be a traditional dance move, but a split is a very essential feature of any form of dancing,” Remo D’Souza, ace choreographer, director and a passionate dancer tells you.
D’Souza has been the judge of a dance reality show for the past five years and he has only one advise to give all participants — loosen up exercise for three hours every day is a must, followed by breathing exercise, drink water four hours before the practice sessions, eat nutritious food, avoid alcohol and, keep it simple.
When Pratyush Banerjee was approached to be a part of JDJ 5, that was the happiest day of her life. But the high soon changed into exasperation. She had not expected to be thrown into a rigourous training right from day one. “It was exercise and dance practice in that order for the next three months. There was a time when I thought I couldn’t even walk anymore. I wanted to crawl. It was fun to rehearse the moves with music in the sets. But the strict routine before it was a nightmare. I was lucky to get an understanding choreographer in Deepak who pushed me to do the basic minimum. But that was too much for me. My day would begin at 7 am with a compulsory 3 km jog (I am a walking person). Then after a bath and some breakfast I would be in the JDJ studio for loosening up exercises. From 10 am to 2 pm we would do dance related exercise — push ups, dumb bells, rolling ball and a lot of aerobics.
“After a break of 45 minutes Deepak and his partners would introduce me to the first two steps of our dance. And we would keep practising that step (ground step) for the rest of three hours till I’ve perfected it. This would continue the next day as well. On the third day, the exercise became more focused — if I had to lift my partner then there was a wrist exercise added to the routine. Third day, was dedicated to lifts and learning nuances of that particular dance form. It only got worse with the competition,” Banerjee says, adding that a participant needs to be mentally prepared to give her 100 per cent to make a reality show a success. Presently in Bigg Boss season 7, Banerjee is seen fighting it out with her other inmates.
like their international counterparts, Indian dance-based reality shows don’t have a fixed regimen on paper that they distribute to the participants. It is solely up to the discretion of the choreographer who after careful examination will share his plan of action with the celebrity. In reality shows featuring non-celebs like Dance India Dance and India’s Dancing Superstar, the scene is no different. “With celebs (Nach Baliye and JDJ) we really can’t distribute a pamphlet saying that a particular exercise is a must and what the celeb should eat and how much time they should dedicate towards the show per day. It is up to their choreographer to access the strengths and weaknesses of his partner and advise them to follow a specific routine. In India, we cannot press the celebrity to do anymore than he/she is willing because they are doing multiple shows while participating in a dance competition. It is their call. They are aware that if they are not conditioned for a certain level of dancing than they could seriously harm their bodies,” Farah Khan who has choreographed for more than 100 Bollywood films, says.
Here’s an example: If the participant is a Delnaz Paul (she was seen in Nach Baliye season 1) then along with push ups and rolling ball, an additional cardio workout is also included in her training schedule. Paul needs to put in at least two hours more than any other contestant. Paul is also given dietary recommendations like intake of fruits and lot of proteins. She is also advised to have sweet pulps which will give her instant energy. In toto, if a Rageshwari Sachdeva put in eight hours of dance (that includes exercise as well) then Paul needs to put in 13 hours if she merely wants to survive in the competition.
“Every person’s body is different. I have seen many obese people with a stamina that could put a thin constitution to shame. Ganesh Acharya is a perfect example. He can move, skip, do an aerial split and even his latkas are to die for. He has not developed stamina overnight, it has taken him years of practice and exercise to condition his body for the steps he does. To achieve his kind of posture and command over steps, a non-dancer would have to dedicate four hours daily for the next 10 years,” D’Souza says.
But while there is a fixed practice routine that Indian classical dancers follow, with the new forms of dancing slowly making their way into India, is there a rule book to abide byIJ “Unfortunately no. I cannot tell my students that they need to do jazz routine every day for some hours. Because the dance forms in itself are quite limiting. It is no rocket science to master jazz hands and feet. It hardly takes a few weeks to get your feet pointed upwards, to get your posture right, etc. But if you want to be a good dancer than you must always keep your body prepared to learn different dance forms. The basics of a salsa, hiphop, breakdance, broadway, contemporary, jazz, etc are all the same. One needs to be disciplined and he/she needs to dedicate a certain number of hours to learn the next level of a dance form. It is always good to keep your body ready to take in that kind of pressure,” Ashley lobo Jazz master and judge of India’s Dancing Superstars on Star Plus, says. lobo has many dance schools to his name.
Pandit Birju Maharaj, a veteran in kathak may not have good things to say about western dance forms, but he does tell you that any form needs a lot of discipline. “A dancer is a dancer. And everything boils down to flexibility and agility. If you have the combination of these two, there is no stopping you. But to be flexible requires rigourous training. Yoga is a good option. Today’s youth also swears by aerobics. There are advance forms which help the person achieve flexibility to a much greater level,” Panditji says. For him, asanas must constitute a part of a routine.
Recently on the sets of a popular dance reality show, Pandiji was awestruck with the latest forms of dancing that contestants showcased. “I was surprised that non-dancers were capable of pulling off such stunts. Their bodies moved like water. Some postures were truly magical and some were completely unbelievable. To get that kind of a stance, one needs to be strictly disciplined. Only yoga and exercise is not enough. Trained is needed to keep their body in shape,” he says. For that, Panditji says it is best to start early — that way your body is not rigid and you can take in the rigorous routine associated with tough dance moves.
But the young wonders in JDJ, Shonali and Sumanth tell you that nothing comes in a platter. “We get up at 6:30 am and reach the studios for practice. Once there we do a lot of aerobics and some step-up warming exercises (for about an hour). Bivash sir advised us to get into dancing straightaway because we were not supposed to do cardio workouts. From 9 am to 4 pm we do pure dancing and revision of the steps to get it all right. If there are lifts then we practice till 6 pm. We are off to bed early because we are really very tired by the end of the day,” Sumanth says. He tells you that while for India’s Got Talent season 4, the duo would practice for 12 hours a day for three months, the Jhalak... journey has been slightly better.
The lifts and the swirls may look easy to the eyes but nine-year-old Shonali tells you that she finds them the most difficult. The swirls sap up most of her energy and she loses her focus completely. Earlier even spotting after the swirls was a huge problem for these youngsters but with ‘blindfold training’ they have managed to get that too.
“The upward spiralling was also a very dangerous lift which we were initially not getting the hang of. It took us over a month to get that right. It boils down to practice and training. Now, we can do hip-hop as well as we can do our salsa. The only thing we need is to get the expression spot on,” Sumanth tells you.
There is a different regimen for every dancer. While Shonali and Sumanth needed to perfect their dance moves, Mithu Chkarvarty, winner of DID Moms, was asked to up her stamina by doing exercises. The dance routine came in much later. “It was nerve wrecking to begin with. The first week I used to cry in pain. It was difficult to sleep at night because of body aches. Muscle spasms are very common feature for any non-dancer in a dance competition. Even a romantic contemporary floor routine would leave me tired and hurting. It’s definitely not flowly and simple to do for a person who has to learn and enact in a weeks time. But it is a matter of getting used to a certain kind of a routine. Towards the end of the show I could easily dedicate eight hours towards dance routine without feeling tired and low in energy. I stuck to a vegan diet which also helped in keeping my body in shape,” Chakravarty who has now become a pro in salsa, tells you.
A diet does matter at the end of the day. Many professional dancers stick to a low carb and high protein plan ahead of a competition. And when the show is heating up, these dancers step up their stamina by including a sugar diet to the plan as well. “For professional dancers, the key to a good performance lies in being body-ready ahead of a show. I’ve my personal diet plan which I adhere to come what may. When I’m assigned a partner on JDJ, I make it a point to share this plan with them as well. Isha added it to her plan immediately while Drashti took sometime to come along,” Salman Yousaf Khan, choreographer and actor, says.
For him, Isha Sharvani is the most disciplined dancer he has ever met. Having learnt kathak, chhau, kalaripayatu and pole mallakhamb for over 15 years now, Sharvani feels that the Indian body isn’t made for learning tough dance moves overnight. According to the 31-year-old actress and dancer, for a non-performer to become a good dancer it takes years of disciplining. “When I started practising mallakhamb, I would have a lot of accidents. Stiff back and slip discs are common. To just get the posture atop a hanging rope is a Herculean task. If you’ve rigid upper body then don’t attempt the pole mallakhamb. Stick to the basic rope dance. One needs to do wrist and thumb exercises and be a grader in yoga. The same goes for Kalaripayatu,” Sharvani tells you.