Male artistes on freedom of expression, and challenging gender norms through dance

Artist Jainil Mehta’s #meninskirts choreographies that have been making headlines over the last few months open the conversation to freedom of expression and challenging the culture of machismo in dance

Recently, a video showing Mumbai choreographer Jainil Mehta dancing on a street in New York dressed in a ghaghra won the hearts of social media users. He chose the massively popular Saami Saami song from the movie Pushpa: The Rise for his act. For Mehta and his ilk, dance is more than performance; it’s a form of expression. He elaborates, “Dance is an added language that requires no words to communicate. And, people relate to what I’m saying through it.” In performing artiste Abhijeet Mudgerikar’s (better known as Moodzi) case, dance offered the freedom to first explore, then express and continue understanding identity. “Learning dance and understanding my sexuality happened simultaneously. Through movement, I was able to understand myself and my body better,” Moodzi says. Dancing also helped choreographer and performer Kian Gupta express confidence that revealed itself on the dance floor. He says, “Most people know me for my confidence and sass in dance, though I was shy while growing up.”

However, heteronormative thinking around dance are still prevalent — dance is perceived as a feminine art form, and men making it their hobby, field of education or career is thought to go against the definition of masculinity. These artistes are standing up against cisnormative thinking not just through movement, but also through the dance styles they choose to  communicate in. Mehta, who is also a dance teacher and influencer, saw his act trend under the hashtag #meninskirts. The videos are beautiful, energetic, and filled with flair in movement exuded from his smiling face. Dance, he says, helped him showcase his true personality, embrace social media to celebrate and share his art form, and coin his own style. He says, “People message me to share that they have changed their perception of who can wear what, and are inspired by my videos to explore freedom in expression.” 

Kian Gupta. Pic/Ranveer Dua; (right) Moodzi. Pic/Jigar Dholakia

Mumbai-based Gupta talks about the edge and confidence that comes with slipping into high-heeled shoes and dancing in them. He continues that through them, he can challenge society and the way it looks at gender constructs: “I don’t believe in labelling things like clothing or identity with gender. Society has always decided what is male and female and we grow up with that thinking, but what we forget is that there is a little bit of both in every person.”

Breaking free from labels, Ahmedabad-based Moodzi, who dances forms including vogue, waacking, jazz, and hip-hop, says,  “I do what I do to challenge gender confinement norms, but also for myself and my own expression.” While even the dance community continues to update its perceptions about masculinity and gender stereotypes, Moodzi tells us that we have come a long way, as now — to cite an example — cisnormative thinking is replaced by an appreciation of skill in dance battles.

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