Ballet budge

Photo: Bhagya prakash k.

GRACE PERSONIFIED Jin-A-Lee leads the way

As soon as you walk into Mother Tree for a session in dance therapy by Jin-A-Lee, you are struck by her beauty. Gentle in her speech and movement, everything she does looks like a dance. She greets you with a slight bow and says a “namaste”.

Then she takes her students to the dance studio on the first floor.

She starts the session with some warm ups. We start with the head and neck and move on to the shoulders, arms, and finally bends and stretches with our palms touching the floor… or at least our ankles. As for me, the bend did not progress beyond the calf muscles! To encourage us she puts on some real good peppy music.

“Try and make it look more like dance. Let your eyes follow your hands and move your body feeling beautiful and sexy,” she says and makes us do the stretches again. We try and make the movement look like dance, and try harder to make it look more sensual.

“You’re doing great,” she claps and says with a smile. “Now let’s try a little dance.” She makes us take the basic ballet stance and shows us to keep the hands in a particular angle. Not satisfied with the result, she says: “Ok. Let’s imagine we have eggs under our arms,” and bingo, our hands are in the perfect position. Working in the kitchen did come to our aid. Jin-A-Lee is happy.

We do a few basic ballet moves and guess who performs her best? Ahem, yours truly. Jin-A-Lee looks at me and says: “You must be a dancer.” A little embarrassed, I acknowledge it, and say that it was once upon a time. “You still have it in you. Come on and stand in the front and lead the class.”

Now that is what I call a boost to your confidence. Suddenly there is nothing and nobody who can stop me and am ready to set the dance floor on fire. From now on it is just me and the music. But, alas! The instructor will not go forward without my classmates who are a bit slow. “They have never danced. We have to help them get over their inhibitions,” she says and patiently guides them step-by-step. Then she holds their hands and makes them move with her. She makes me repeat the same steps till they pick up. By the end of an hour she has managed to teach us three dance steps! Though a bit frustrating for me, it was amazing to see the kind of patience she has.

Jin-A-Lee is also a yoga expert and tries to combine dance and yoga and heal people through movement. “It helps those with anxiety and depression. I have been working with a lady who has social phobia and you should see her progress through this therapy,” says Jin-A-Lee. For details call 41649044.

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