On the occasion of the death anniversary of the great tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain, one can look at his life and see that the art has no religion. Instead many Muslim artist Ajeesh are again resorting to classical art forms because they want to art as well. Ajeesh is one such brilliant artist that hails from Manjeri, Kerala and is a master of the ever popular Bharatnatyam dance form. Like most children in the state, he started practicing Bharatanatyam from a tender age.
Pro- Art Environment
In Kerala special seasons are conducted in schools, where students exhibit their talents in various art troupes and vie for championships. This fosters a positive environment for innovation. This environment was in fact beneficial to Ajeesh. He originally grew up in a large Muslim-majority town and his grandmother had no qualms about supporting his dance venture. She enrolled him as the only dance instructor in the vicinity and she was a friend’s daughter. Ajeesh says, “That helped me take my first steps in dance.”
After finishing tenth grade, Ajeesh faced a choice: continue on the traditional route or pursue a dance career, the movie moves along at a good pace. He craved to be paid, as young as he was, and since dance was his forte that would be the best way to do it. He once thought of becoming a dance teacher. Once upon a time his teacher asked him to join an art school called Kalakshetra in Chennai. Thus, with parental blessings, Ajeesh slipped out for Chennai to get enrolled in the degree program.
Dance as a Universal Language
Having spent his seven year course in Kalakshetra, Ajeesh continued to work in the institute for twelve years. He later on married a Muslim lady, and did not encounter any resistance from anybody. He knows that dance is like any other job and that it is an art that is inherent to everyone, when it comes to religion.
Despite the fact that compositions from Hindu scriptures are often incorporated into performances of Bharatanatyam, for Ajeesh that does not represent an insurmountable difficulty. Although he dances outside temples, he honors traditions while at the same time celebrating dance as a language. He has come across fellow students from different countries learning dance and he opines that there is no minority restriction to any classic arts.
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