Sreelatha Menon

While the nation mourns the passing away of tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain whose life and work cannot be confined to any religious barriers, many Muslim artists are embracing classical art forms due to their love of art.

Bharatnatyam dancer Ajeesh from Manjeri in Kerala is a case in point. Though from a Muslim family, he started learning Bharatnatyam from a very early age as many children in Kerala do.

Kerala schools conduct youth festivals every year. And all students come forward to take part in them and win prizes. This has created a sort of positive atmosphere for all art forms in the state.

Ajeesh Manjeri benefited from this. So despite growing up in a Muslim-dominant town like Manjeri of Mallapuram district, his grandmother did not think twice about sending him to the only dance teacher in the area. She happened to be her close friend’s daughter.

“So that helped too,” says Ajeesh describing the first steps he took in the field of dance.

Guru Ajeesh Manjeri dancing

After tenth grade, the question arose whether he should go and do what everyone does or do something that will help him earn his livelihood.

“I wanted to start earning quickly and my dance was my greatest strength even at that grade X level,” he recalls.

He toyed with the idea of teaching dance as a profession. “My teacher advised me to go to Kalakshetra to qualify. My parents had no problem and I don’t know if anyone else in the community would have had any problem. I did not go around talking about my plans and just left for Chennai and joined the degree programme at Kalakshetra,” says Ajeesh.

Kalakshetra Foundation is an arts and cultural academy dedicated to the preservation of traditional values in Indian art and crafts, especially in the field of Bharatanatyam dance and Gandharvaveda music.

Once he finished his seven-year programme, he joined the institution started by Rukmini Devi Arundale as temporary staff and continued to teach for 12 years.

He later married a Muslim and faced no opposition from anyone. “Dance is just a profession like any other. It is a form of expression, a language and anyone can use that form. It does not exclude anyone. Hence it is not the sole monopoly of any religion. It belongs to the dancer.”

The content of the songs composed for Bharatanatyam traditionally is mostly drawn from Bhagawatam (Bhagwad Gita), Ramayana, and other Hindu texts. But this does not discourage Ajeesh Manjeri.

“It is part of my job. I don’t carry this as a personal baggage. When I have to perform inside temples just I don’t go there as I don’t want to offend anyone. But if it is outside the temples I stage performances,” he says.

At Kalakshetra he has had peers who came from Russia and Kazakhstan to study dance. “So if they can why can't I?” he asks.

One of the Muslim alumni Sajana Shamsuddin is teaching there now, he adds.

Ajeesh Manjeri

One of my class mates Shabana was the daughter of a famous Muslim Bharatanatyam dancer from Kerala Usna Banu. Today, her husband Shafiq is teaching Bharat Natyam at RLV College in Trippunithura in Kerala.

Ajeesh has a logical explanation for his belief that classical art forms are not exclusive. “The dance form does not exclude any community. If it were to exclude Muslims, it would exclude Brahmins too,” he says.

“The dance was performed by devadasis in the past and so it cannot be acceptable to higher castes either. But today we find that Brahmins also perform the form. So the dance is just a language, and it can be used by anyone to express themselves,” he says.

“The themes used in the dance can change. In Kalakshetra itself Shakespeare’s plays have been performed using Bharatanatyam,” he says.

There is a Christian father who dances on compositions based on the life of Jesus. So there are no barriers when it comes to art forms, says Ajeesh who is himself a choreographer.

He says that community or gender is not so much a barrier in Kerala. But in Tamil Nadu where Ajeesh runs his dance academy called Omkara Art Foundation Centre for Bharatanatyam, both gender and religion are barriers to learning classical dance.

So in his academy where he has around 100 students, just two boys have enrolled themselves. Two Muslim girls had enrolled in the past but were pulled out under pressure from relatives and community, he says.

As for his academy, it is thriving. The demand for dance classes is high as dance is now included as an academic subject at the intermediate level in all schools. ``So elective students come to teachers like us,’’ says Ajeesh.

Ajeesh is also known for his contribution to the famous Rajnikant movie Enthiran in which his dance movements were captured and morphed using motion capture technology.

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Ajeesh says he is happy with his choice. “I have no regrets. I believe I managed my life well as I was a bit cautious not to attract unnecessary attention.”