Words by Imala

For as long as we can remember, dance has always been an important part of celebrations, ceremonies and entertainment. Dance is a form of art that shows its creativity with their carefully accumulated moves choreographed which tends to touch the deepest strings of an audience.

We see so many talented artists at every corner we turn that captivates us with their different forms of dancing. Hence, for this week’s special feature the team of Kaleo met with two incredible dancers in Maldives who portray different stories through their dancing.

“It was initially Naail and me who started Dionysiac in 2015 with five other people. But after Naail passed away, it came to a stop for a bit since everyone else got busy with their lives and Amny also left abroad for her studies. After coming back, Amny and me restarted the whole thing in-order to introduce different dance styles to the community. We are trying to create experimental, movement theater pieces that depicts a story for the audience.” Nuha stated.

Nuha continued the conversation with, “We are trying to bring something new, something we hope people will find interesting. Contemporary dance has been one of our main styles recently and that style of dance is not very common here. We have a lot of talented hip hop dancers in our country. Hence, we are experimenting different dance styles and concepts hoping local audiences can find something to connect with in our work.”

Amny also added that, “We are always in the process of teaching ourselves and becoming better dancers. We studied dancing abroad and the dancers there have had the privilege of having started foundational styles like ballet from an early age. Unfortunately in Male we don’t get the same opportunities.”

“I had started ballet when I was 15 years old and since then I was learning dance and I was 19 years old by the time I went to Switzerland. I had done one year foundation in Srilanka and four years in Switzerland. When I met Amny she had started her ballet training in Maldives with me. But unfortunately the classes closed down quickly. It is difficult to become a professional with such limited opportunities in Male” Nuha disclosed on the difficulties of teaching dance professionally in Maldives.

As for learning and experimenting on their own, Nuha professed that, “We are teaching ourselves on a daily basis as dance does not have a level that you need to reach for it to end. Everyday you have to train your body. As you age, the muscle structures in your body keeps changing. Keeping that in mind, you have to train more and more to maintain that strength physically. With dance you have so much space and capacity to improve yourself. There’s no limit to it. Even if you stop you will see a huge difference in flexibility and movements.”

When quizzed whether anyone can dance, both Nuha and Amny had to say was that, “Absolutely anyone can dance. And we would say that its really good for the body. Some people think that if you don’t have beat, you cannot dance. Actually, you can train your ears to catch the beat. By doing that, you can find your beat. So, anyone can dance. And for that you would need a very good teacher.” Amny concluded with a smile.

“Recently, contemporary dance has picked up aspects of commercial and hip hop. So its like very fast and sharp movements with sudden slow movements. It has become a very blended form of art now. Before it used to be mostly ballet techniques as contemporary was initially a branch of ballet itself. So it was very similar to a ballet piece. But now its mixed up with different cultures and different forms of dance. For example, we can use contemporary in context with our traditional culture. It has a lot of possibilities, because it has evolved so much from how it had started. So, it’s a good foundational base dance style to have since you can branch into any other style you want to.” Nuha and Amny shared their knowledge on contemporary dance in current times.

As Nuha and Amny chatted animatedly about dance, it was evident that dance was a huge part of their lives. Their passion to show what they can portray was conspicuous.

They shared their latest projects that they had completed with Baiskoafu who had provided them opportunities to attain a number of projects. “We made this project called Maazyge Hadhiya with Baiskoafu. It’s a three-part series that portrays a women’s place in society and their expectations. But stylistically, we experimented with contemporary and some traditional moves like boduberu to try to bring a more dynamic style which was our main goal while doing the project. And even now, we are in the process of working on a different piece using our traditional dance moves mixed with contemporary. We have also done a number of pieces for Baiskaofu which you can watch through their app.”

When inquired how they learn their choreography for each piece, Nuha replied with a grin saying, “We have so many books that have been filled up with choreographic and conceptual notes. And also, we record our practice sessions. Normally we write down the ideas and then we start discussing those ideas on the kind of style we want to portray. After those decisions are made, we start choreographing and we video it before we end the practice session to track progress and analyze. And we keep improving it as we go on with our practice sessions. Hence, it takes a lot of time to choreograph one routine to workshop and edit till the end product. For me, it takes approximately 4-5 hours to choreograph a 30 second video that is of good quality with a narrative. People have this misconception that you just put on a song and start dancing. It doesn’t work like that. For us, we always have a story to tell through our dance pieces.”

Nuha and Amny also shared some information about their dance classes for the public started and how it was being conducted at the moment. “From Mid October of this year, we have partnered with Time Academy to teach ballet and hip hop for kids, and a contemporary class for adults. And soon we would be starting salsa classes as well. Those are the dance styles we teach for now. But if we get a high number of individuals to join, we would be able to have more classes with different dance styles.”

If anyone is to ask why do you dance, “For us it’s a form of expression. Everyone has their art. For some it’s film making or writing something or playing music. For us its creating movement that tells the story we want to tell. And that is a form of emotional release and it gives us a direction and purpose.” Amny explained.

“Personally, if I am going through something, I prefer to make a dance piece and perform it. And it feels like a relief for me which makes a huge difference for me. We prefer to use dance to express what we feel.” Nuha expressed her feelings on why she dances.

“If you are angry or sad you can just let it out. You don’t have to hide it or pretend that you are okay. For some others it is a form of fitness. When you dance you are using your full body, there wouldn’t be a single muscle you would not be using. It improves blood flow, flexibility and muscle strength and it is also good for your brain because of co-ordination and remembering choreography, and very very good for mobility. So we would recommend it for anyone who enjoys dance! There is no age limit for dancing.” Amny continued.

As for their future plans, “We want to establish an environment that can create more dancers here in the Maldives and for them to get a good income so that people would take dance as work. We really want to prove the skeptics wrong because I have been surviving solely through dancing for the past 20 years by conducting dance classes. So If I can do it, the next person also can do it. But right now, there are limited opportunities. Even for me, I am creating my own opportunities. And we really want that to change and provide that opportunity for future dancers. There are a lot of talented people here in the Maldives and what we lack is the opportunity to learn. It’s a shame having so many talented people unable to go forward due to lack of resources. And so, we want to try to change that. We have also been working with the Beatz crew kids who are so very talented and creative.”