Toronto (Jan 18) – Visitors to the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) during the holiday season were treated to scintillating Bollywood dance performances by Sufiana Dance company.
Part of the ‘ROM for the Holidays’ activities, the two Bollywood performances were well received according to Sufiana’s artistic director Kanushree Jain.
“I was invited a second time to perform Bollywood dance for the holiday showcase 2023 at the Royal Ontario Museum,” Jain told CanIndia News. “Representing Indian culture in a multicultural environment with diverse artists on the roster, I am proud to say that the audience thoroughly enjoyed the two shows – a dance medley and a Bollywood musical.”
The Bollywood musical in particular was a super hit with people not only gathering to watch but snagging a seat on the floor several minutes before the show and a “hollering applause afterwards”, according to Jain.
Dance Now – the Bollywood Musical marked Jain’s debut as a writer, producer, director, and lead star in a modern narrative that centers around finding courage to pursue your authentic desires and dismantling conventional gender norms in the arts world.
“It (Dance Now) encourages men to embrace their feminine side, which has become a critical topic in our current world as women push to take their power back,” Jain explains.
The story revolves around Kavisha (played by Kanushree Jain), the artistic director of a dance company who finds herself in a precarious position when her male lead dancer cancels just a few days before the opening night at the Mirvish theater. Faced with a scarcity of male dancers, Kavisha resorts to requesting her costume designer, Vikram who secretly adores her, to step in as the replacement since he has good dance technique. Vikram vehemently refuses as his family strongly believes that “real men don’t dance.” With no choice left, Kavisha boldly decides to curate an entire new show with only female leads despite the immense time pressure.
Jain says that ‘Dance Now’ is unlike other Bollywood musicals performed in Canada that retell stories from Hindu mythology or Bollywood movies. It has an original storyline featuring modern layered characters grappling with traditional ideas.
“Another unique aspect of this musical is that it’s a story within a story where the characters are performing a stage show on a real life stage show,” Jain states.
The Bollywood musical included several styles such as folk dancing, semi Indian classical (Kathak), a jazzy Bollywood routine and a Waltz-Bollywood fusion. The almost 30-minute show featured four dancers including Kanushree Jain.
Delighted with the response, the museum has booked Jain for another performance on March 22 as part of the ROM after Dark event. Sufiana’s artistic director says the festival of Holi (being celebrated on March 25) will be the theme for her new show.
