Rwanda now has its first classical Indian dance institution, giving training to Rwandans in “Bharatanatyam,” a major form of Indian classical dance. Indigenous to the people of Tamil Nadu–Southern India, Bharatanatyam dance is one of the oldest classical dance traditions in the Asian country, and it is famous for its sophisticated style that features a blend of movements of legs and knees, combined with spectacular footwork, and a classy vocabulary of sign language based on gestures of hands, eyes and face muscles. The Rwanda-based dance program dubbed “Shivalaya” was established last year by Milcah Aziz, an Indian teacher who is running it under a juniors’ school she owns, called Blooming Buds in Kacyiru. Since last year, the school has been doing some work in training a few youngsters as part of its first cohort. So far, the dance students under the program are all Indians, however, according to the school administrators, Rwandans have also shown interest in it, and are getting enrolled into it soon. Aziz said that she had originally held the idea of starting it as a way of assisting Indian youngsters in Rwanda to have a touch of their culture even when they are in a foreign land. “The reason why I felt like starting the school is that I have been away from India for almost ten years. My children don’t know how to speak Indian languages, or even write them. So, I thought I could bring in this traditional dance,” she said. Shiva, an Indian dance instructor at the school, says that the dance requires lengthy time to learn, and ideally it can take about three to four years to perform completely. Children can start learning at four years. Arti Vasudev, the Second Secretary of Culture and Education at the High Commission of India in Rwanda, said initiatives like this promote culture, and called for exchanges between Rwanda and India in the spheres of culture. “Our own Indian community members can learn and stay connected to our roots; at the same time, we encourage synergies with the local Rwandan community as well in terms of culture, and we hope to see some Rwandan community members coming forward to learn our culture just as our Indian community members are also learning the Rwandan dance and culture,” she said.
