Have you ever seen a group of dynamic young boys and girls performing the bhangra with gusto? Of course you have. But they were not hearing impaired children, were they? You must never have heard of victims of cerebral palsy performing the chariot dance of the Sun God on stage, leave alone watching them dance, per se. Or, patients of a mental home, learning to extract joy out of the simple exercise of standing in a queue and throwing their hands up together to music, if they could. Special children, victims of violence, mentally challenged children, and children from the disadvantaged sections of society took to the stage to dance gracefully, with a smile on their lips, eyes shining brightly, bodies undulating, swinging this way and that, footsteps keeping time and harmony to music. All of them have learnt how dance can make a difference and change their lives. All this and more were presented to celebrate International Dance Day on April 29 at the Max Mueller Bhavan, Kolkata.

The programme was organized by Kolkata Sanved, a NGO that has pioneered the use of dance as an alternative approach to recovery and healing that could go a long way towards the psychosocial rehabilitation and mainstreaming of victims of violence and trafficking. The NGO joined hands with the West Bengal branch of the World Dance Alliance and the Eastern Zonal Cultural Center to present this programme. A group of young girls and a boy - Khateja Lhatun, Sudeshna Bag, Laxmi Khatun, Sabita Debnath, Nasima Khatun, Jhulan Sarkar, Ashley Fargnoli and Bappa Ghosh, trained in dance by Kolkata Sanved as trainee-teachers, train the inmates of other NGOs like Anjali, ApneAap Women Worldwide, All Bengal Women's Union, Nirman-Baruipur, and New Light.

World Dance Alliance is an organization of dancers, dance critics, scholars, teachers and dance lovers who provide a primary support group for dance. It is an independent, non-profit, apolitical organization founded in the name of Asia Pacific Dance Alliance in Hong Kong in 1988. The WDA-West Bengal, a regional chapter within India active since December 2004.

Legendary danseuse Amala Shankar inaugurated the programme, and stayed on till the end. Three short films were also screened, one on Kolkata Sanved made by Ananya Chatterjee, one on teacher-trainee Jhoolan Sarkar's work with the inmates of two Kolkata mental homes, and one showing dancer-choreographer-teacher Alakananda Roy's workshop with prisoners. Anjika Centre for Manipuri Dance and Movement Therapy presented This is My Life, a dance performed by victims of cerebral palsy, trained by famous Manipuri dancer Preeti Patel since 1990. Children from the Oral School for the Deaf, choreographed by Suman Sarawgi of World Dance Alliance, Bengal chapter, presented a Bhangra number.

The evening celebrated the power of dance with eight items called Dance in Outreach, the theme this year. Each item came with a brief introduction by the teacher-choreographer of the group. Sohini Chakraborty, Director, Kolkata Sanved said, "Kolkata Sanved began as an experiment within a shelter home for rescued victims of trafficking and sexual abuse. This experiment grew into a movement for using dance therapy as an alternative to traditional counselling now practiced by over 30 partner organizations in India, Bangladesh and Nepal. Our Sampoornata curriculum includes processes that enable individuals to come to terms with their situation and their bodies. We have directly worked with 2500 individuals across South Asia and the movement ha had a direct impact on the lives of over 5000 people. Kolkata Sanved aims to help each individual participant of its programme to reclaim her body and life through a new-found sense of freedom, peace and confidence."

Every item presented a concept of hope and fulfillment. The opening item by trainee teachers called Energy, was full of soft, fluid movements executed in abstract style but pulsating with a life of their own, spilling over from the spirit of the dancers. Said Preeti Patel about her students of Anjika Centre for Manipuri Dance and Movement Therapy, "When I began work with these children, disabled by cerebral palsy in 1990, they were small kids. One girl could not get up from her wheelchair. Today, she travels freely in public transport and carries her cell phone with her. These are children who are born without the natural rhythm mainstream people like us are born with. I had begun with the aim of treating them towards health and well-being. 18 years on and I feel that the treatment has been on me and not on them. It is my life that is enriched."

Alakananda Ray, who works with children of Inspiration Foundation, presented Spring, performed by four girls with movements and steps based on the Odissi style. About her work with prisoners, she said, "When I began training these 50 men and 10 women inmates of the prison, there was no smile on a single face. Around 75% of the participants are serving life imprisonment. After some initial resistance, they warmed up. We held a show after a phase of the on-going training to great applause. This training will not change the term of their prison sentence in any way. But it has brought back that missing smile. Today, they make me smile when I am not smiling."

"I have been dancing for the past 67 years of my 89-year-old life," said Amala Shankar. "But this is dance that is truly Life. It is not just an art form. I have never seen anything like this in my life." It is not necessary to look for perfection in these dance performances. Because for these children, dance is a way of life they carry with them in body, in spirit and in soul. The perfection lies in their commitment to rise above obstacles they are in no way responsible for. Their perfection lies in their determination to change their lives in and through dance. This was a rare show where the mainstream audience walked away, feeling disturbed and enriched at the same time.

*Shoma A. Chatterji has been writing on cinema and gender for nearly three decades. She also writes on television, theatre, fine arts, human rights and does celeb profiles. She has authored 16 published books and has won two national awards, one state award, one institutional award, two research fellowships and has just submitted her Ph.D. thesis on cinema. She is 64 and is based in Kolkata. This feature was first published in The Statesman in May 2008.