Jai Chavan's "Dance-Sport" Email : [email protected] Or General Mailer

Many Inquired

There's a lot more that does not meet the eye initially and many will never, which are equally responsible for a project or an undertaking of practically any sort.

Following is my reply (date: 03/Mar/2000)
Before starting the development of the site I had sought advice from my relations and close friends regarding the conception, development and the help that they could offer. None of them were really happy about it, since there would be no monetary gains and also the planning for the site was really rudimentary. In my project there doesn't seem to be any light at the end of the tunnel, so every one had discouraged me from wasting time on such a project. Nevertheless I have gone ahead with the project because I know that this project is definitely going to be a grand success. The small hitch is that the blossoming of this project could be after my lifetime. But that is acceptable to me, as it will tremendously help many others.

Your letter contains exactly the same comments as put forth by my own people, however the difference is that yours is very courteous and it is on "paper". So I had decided to write a proper reply when in the right frame of mind.

Since last five years I am doing quite badly in terms of earning from the dance. And last three years were really terrible. Now the times seem slightly better than earlier, although I have no savings left, and my bank balance is the bare minimum needed to maintain the account.

Operating under such conditions if difficult. If the subject is Dance I am able to put all my troubles behind and do a fair justice. But if it is anything else then doing justice is quite difficult. For example, now a day from morning to evening I do not have any students so I am quite frustrated. In the evening when I have my class with a small number of students, I feel at the top of the world whether I get the money that day or not, and as usual I can forget the time and myself. The mood after the class is very optimistic, as better days are always tomorrow. I do not see replying to your letter as a part of dance, but instead as a re-evaluation of the progress made and of the achievements to my credit, which is dismal although I have progressed considerably. So I was looking for the right time to write with the right frame of mind.

Gurukul is a universal concept followed through out the world one way or the other. In India the concept was given an identity, so it is a part of Indian philosophy. Knowledge cannot be gauged in terms of money, however it is necessary for the sustenance. Thus in the Gurukul system the teacher is expected to give the knowledge unconditionally and the student is suppose to pay unconditionally for the knowledge received. In the earlier times the students would be staying with their Guru or the teacher, and would be working for him till the period of education. After this period the teacher would demand Dakshina from the student which was not binding. The student could pay as per his capacity, either the full amount or in instalments. If the student failed to fulfil the Dakshina then he is expected to propagate the Guru in his own way.

My command on the English language is poor. This again takes up a lot of time when writing and editing. I make use of the spell-check utilities. And I will try to be more careful.

Following is the explanation for the reason for my site and why it is intended to be free.

Me and Dancing
Once, when I was very small, even before my first day at school, my father had taken me for an English, black-and-white film that had dancing. Many couples dancing together had almost fully occupied the whole dance floor. The women were dressed in white gowns and men in white shirts and black trousers and tailcoats. The dance moved like waves and had captivated me, and that's all that I remember of the film.

About seven years later, I was lucky to be studying in a school that arranged dance socials quite regularly. Here I got to know a little bit more about this dance although everyone would be doing a disco. Some teachers very occasionally would dance ballroom. But they were unable to teach me and neither could the musicians who would be playing for the occasion. So I had no option but to experiment with ballroom dancing, from what I had seen in films and others social dancers.

Then ten years later, when I was working I decide to learn this art seriously. At the time in Pune there were four dance teachers. I had been to each of them at least twice, but they refused to teach me since I couldn't take a dancing partner with me for learning the dance.

So after about three months, disillusioned, I took the decision to teach myself through the books. Then it took me about five months to get the book. None of the big bookstores in Pune and neither in Bombay, the next important city nearest to Pune, had the book. Leave alone the book the majority of the assistants at the stores had no clue of ballroom dancing. Luckily I found a book in a library.

Studying from the book, The History and Practice of Ballroom Dancing by Victor Silvester, took me about ten months to study. Yet I was not sure.

Then luckily I came across Mr. A.M. Gonsalves, a 74 years old trim and tidy man, who had retired from teaching ballroom dancing about 15 years earlier. So grabbing this chance I went to him. However he too refused, as I could not get a dancing partner along. So I would go to his place every Sunday. After about 14 tries he relented and then started to teach me. In the process he realised that I knew quite a bit, and had studied from the book that he called the bible for ballroom dancing. Thus from the second month he started to teach me how to read and understand the dance language. After the third month he told me to start teaching, the only solution to get a dancing partner and to improve further.

A year later my teacher passed away. And I had no one else to help with the technical problems. So I would check myself whenever the opportunity arose. Like dancing with students from other school, dancing with ladies who have never done ballroom earlier, going for lessons to other dance schools, watching the dances of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, etc. and continuously evaluating one's self.

I had no qualification concerning the dance. In India it is not necessary to have such a qualification as a prerequisite to teach ballroom. However it always helps. So I wrote to many councils. The only reply I got was that my case was special and that they needed time to consider it carefully.

Now about ten years later I have tried again for the membership/qualification, and the reply is the same. I do not regret this as I have limitations to. I cannot travel abroad, it's just to expensive for me presently, also the examination fees seem to be quite on the higher side for me. The disparity in the value of the Indian currency and that of the currency used by the councils exaggerated the inability much further.

So now I have decided to get the qualification through research. However by the time my research work get completed and I am awarded the qualification, a lot of time would have passed. I would be better experienced, and so in the end I would not be valuing the qualification at all and thus it would not help me in any way. Hence this research would be just waste as far as I am concerned. However when much work goes into a job it has substance. So I am leaving it open to others so at least they benefit.

Like me there would be a few others who are deprived of this art due to the lack of finances, teachers, books, music, videos, and the public acceptance in their area, etc. This is where my "research" will help, for a better progress. This is just one of the reasons for doing the research and making it free.

Astrology
When I was about 17 years old, a friend and an astrologer told me that a) I would never be successful in a job. So I would need to do a business, in a kind of profession that has wheel or it's like that goes round and round.
b) I would always run short of money.
c) I would be getting about 10% value for the efforts put in.
d) And that I would have three children, two girls and a boy.
e) However some money will keep coming in.

Now I am 40 years old and all of the predictions are just happening. Irrespective of whether I challenge it or not. I had worked for seven years in the three engineering industries, but I failed miserably. Prior to teaching dancing as a full-time occupation I was already teaching it as a hobby. Later I switched to this line as the only option available due to bad financial conditions. About the children part is also right since I have one daughter and one son, and one child died prematurely.

I do believe in intuitive dreams and have a couple of experiences. On two occasions I have tried to change the course of events that I had dreamed and would take place. I had enough time to plan to avoid these events from taking place. However when the events eventually started taking place all my efforts went waste. There was nothing I could do, I was totally helpless and awe struck.

So now I have started believing in the predictions, yet not fully. I need to work more to get a small benefit. So also is the reason for my research. The finances due to me will be less than what I would require. And that this benefit will come to me regardless of whether the site is free or not. So why not make it free and let more people benefit.

I Believe
Ballroom dancing belongs to all the people, and all dance subconsciously. It is the necessity for the balanced growth and development of every individual and society.

A parent through out the world invariably does a lot more with an infant in the arms, a few cases of which are listed below.
a) Walk b) Turn, c) Sway, d) Sing, etc.
Later when the same child grows it's not possible to carry the child for long time as was possible earlier. So the child walks holding the parent, and all the above listed cases are repeated. Many times the child steps on the parent's feet and they walk about.

All these actions are nothing but the fractions of ballroom dancing done subconsciously. The most important part here is not just the movement or the dance, but the hug, the touch and the warmth that contribute to the emotional development of a child. We will call it the emotional foundation, since it starts at such an early age and it carries on for a few years, at least, with fairly good regularity.

This emotional foundation gets firmly entrenched in the child, but being very young it is not understood and as one grow this part is totally neglected. As the child grows there would be other emotional problems that are really small and simply pile up on the emotional foundation. Since these other problems are on top of the emotional foundation it is noticed more easily and readily. Any way the emotional foundation remains the firm base none the less.

To explain this lets take a case of a grieving friend whose loved one has died. In such cases, a majority of the times the words seem to be just hollow to express sincere sympathy. The only thing that can really help is the hug, the touch and the warmth, that can do miracles. By these actions we are simply bolstering the emotional foundation, which were built during the childhood times.

Plainly the hug, the touch and the warmth is fine, however exploring ones own self by delving deep into the emotional foundation and getting the feel of the various shades is more fruitful. And Ballroom dancing is thus the only tool for the rediscovery and maintenance of this emotional foundation.

When living or growing we come across various emotion problems, which are small and pile up on the emotional foundation. So sometimes there are chances that these small problems come to the fore in the subject of ballroom dancing. However they are small and get blown away very easily and then what remains the emotional foundation and this is when the true strength of the dance is realised.

The conception of ballroom dancing as the activity by a certain group or in any particular country is totally wrong. It is only respected better in certain countries. The concept of ballroom dancing is just as old as the human race itself. For example the history of rumba is quite recent. However it seems like a rumba type of dance already existed in the times of the Pharaohs. Following is an article from an encyclopaedia, the name of which will be included soon.

"There is considerable agreement that the belly dance, now performed by dancers from the Near East, is of African origin. A report of the 4th century BC from Memphis in Egypt described in detail the performance of an apparently rumba-like couple dance with an unquestionably erotic character. The Egyptians also knew acrobatic exhibition dances akin too the present-day adagio dances. They definitely were aware of the sensual allure of the sparsely clad body in graceful movement. A tomb painting from Shaykh'Abd al-Qurnah, now in the British Museum, shows dancers dressed with only rings and belts, apparently designed to heighten the appeal of their nudity. These figures probably were intended to entertain the dead, as they had been entertained in life."

The classical Indian dance, Kathak, has certain basic movements similar to Rumba.

Now lets talk about the animals, mainly the mammals and the birds. They too have rudimentary ballroom type of dance movements. When dancing they sometimes guide by the hold or a nudge and the activity of hug, touch and warmth, which is required for the basic emotional foundation is fulfilled.

This is again one of the reasons the research and to keep it free for all.

Bad Times
Since last three years I have been going through very hard times. Presently I see only the dark clouds. But then every cloud has a silver lining. My bad times are definitely going to go one day. But till that time I have to keep developing myself, so that when the better day come I am well prepared in my field to reap the harvest. So again is the reason for the research.

There would be sponsors and others who would like to help me in this process. But to get the finances, assistance from the computer professionals, the copy writers, editors, photographers, etc. I need to have at least some substantial work ready.

So I have to do all the development work alone. Thus to produce a professional product at the present is impossible. As my main priority is Dancing, so I spend just enough time on the other skills that I would need to develop this site.

So my conscious does not permit me to charge people coming to pick benefits from my site.

Olympics
As per my information The Dance-Sport is an exhibition sport in this year and that it would be an open sport from the Olympics of 2004 onwards. If this is true, we as Indian and many others whose culture curtails this art and the sport form, have barely any time to be able to compete successfully.

So the maximum knowledge needs to be floated as quickly as possible, it need to be free so that it is readily absorbed and made use of for the benefit of all.

Ending to this letter
I have tried to be as brief as possible. And I will end here for today.
However before I end I would like you know that I am still happy, proud of myself, I have no regrets or complaints against anyone. The better days are tomorrow and I would be carrying on, and I am going to be a success.

Thank you and with regards,
Jai.