In Uttar Pradesh, orchestral dancing is becoming a profession like playing with fire. No one knows when a sudden shower of bullets turns the whole world into mourning. These orchestral dancers have to face threats of life, intoxicated people, molestation and sex threats. Recently, an orchestral dancer was shot in Chitrakoot by an intoxicated person. Now this female dancer is unable to speak nor eat anything. Her whole life has become hell for now.
Pooja, who has been in this profession since the age of 12, says, 'My mother-in-law taught me that when you go up on the stage, you are not there for yourself. People want to celebrate and you have to let them. If something goes wrong, you have to face it. ' After her mother-in-law retired from this profession, Pooja's turn to go the stage and feeds her family by entertaining people.
These girls, belonging to the Nat community, get married in their teens and become mothers by the time they reach the age of 18. Older women say that only the 'married' woman becomes a dancer because she has to run her own family. Shanti, 70, says, "This is the way to live life and they are ready for it." Pooja visits Hamirpur twice every year from her village in Badaun where she dances during the wedding season.
Dancing and spending money on makeup are part of the routine of female dancers. During this time, their children move around with them and their husbands are busy in negotiating on the phone. Pooja, who has been dancing for a long time, says, "Men can do anything when they drink alcohol, while Heena Devi took a little break while dancing, a person shot which hit her jaw. This made her beautiful face soaked in blood. Now she is not same ever even after treatment of millions of rupees.
