Even before Prabhu Deva could come out and tell us through his movie, we all knew that anybody could dance. Based out of Bengaluru, two siblings are trying to preach the message of inclusiveness and break the taboo around dance.
Vishnu and Vishal Soman are the founders of Tandav, India’s first community driven dance festival and the only one for people with disabilities. As they seek to raise funds for the third edition happening on December 11, we caught up with them to see what keeps them on their feet – and dancing!
Through this festival, they have been spreading the message of inclusiveness for over two years now, and this, will be the third edition. “Last year, we saw a lot of people with disabilities come in and join us. Towards the end, when we were all socialising, one of them came up to me and said that this was the first time he’d ever danced in his life,” recounts Vishnu Soman, validating what keeps him going.
He and his brother bring together volunteers from different organisations to prove their point of togetherness. An engineer by education, at 29, Vishnu confesses that he wasn’t great at his job in the UAE. “But what stuck was how my brother and I had volunteered throughout our lives,” he says about not just doing something good and feeling great about it, but also being given the opportunity to learn from their mistakes.
“I’ve always supported my brother no matter what. And when he wanted to take this up, I was on board,” says 26-year-old Vishal, who moonlights as a photographer.
Tandav's third edition, Rudra-Tandav, will cater to kids from children homes, persons with hearing and impairments, those with cerebral palsy, wheelchair and calliper users, those with autism, experts from the disability sector and corporate employees.
“We regularly launch talented people with disabilities too. Last year it was a group called Attam and this year, we are introducing Shifad, a hearing-impaired dancer,” they say, even providing dance practice sessions to those who want to be prepared!
Of their goal of about three lakhs, they have raised their first, all thanks to their volunteers. “It’s really challenging to find a venue, arrange for food and transport. Transport especially is vital because we need to ferry around kids from orphanages and homes, else they won’t be able to make it,” say the brothers, who have now collaborated with the Shankara Foundation as venue partners.
“Going forward, we hope to train kids professionally in different styles of dance and even send them to reality shows. They are all so enthusiastic and talented,” beams Vishal.
