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Dance is an art that uses movements and steps to communicate and illustrate a culture and art form. It is infused with aesthetics and symbolism and is considered a pleasurable and joyful expression when done in a social situation.
In contrast, dance may also be seen as a theatrical art form. A complex choreography is followed by preparation on many different levels, such as costume design, stage design, scenery, and many others, to create a production.
As a result, you can learn a specific form and become an expert in it to pursue dancing as a career, or to see it from a broader angle, a lifestyle.
The Financial Express reached out to Ridy Sheikh, a renowned professional dancer, to see dancing more closely from the eye of a professional dancer.
"Any profession is good if you have passion for it. I have both love and a passion for dancing. Dancing is tough as you can face some consequences, like how other people take your profession, your perspective, your dance culture, and how they understand your hard work," Ridy shared her take on making dancing a part of life.
There is a challenge in doing something or anything in a developing country like ours. But it is interesting to see how rapidly our country is growing, and you need to develop your dancing or any new skill that rapidly to cope with the phase."
Should one choose dancing as a profession?
Choosing a profession means choosing a lifestyle. And choosing dancing as a profession makes it even more attached to life.
Ridy Sheikh believes that choosing dance as a profession depends fully on our desire. She loves dancing; that's why she could gain success and popularity with hard work and dedication. Not to mention, a dancing career is challenging and requires one to blend it into their lifestyle as they need to master the perfect expression, camera fronting, attire, looks, costumes, camera lighting, and so on.
Ridy Sheikh is a versatile dancer who loves to explore different dance forms. According to her, even two to three years ago, there was no answer to how bright a dancing career could be in Bangladesh.
As the country's cultural scene is changing, getting wider and more enhanced, dancing is getting popular, and scopes for professional dancers are widening.
"I worked as both an online and offline dancer. I got acknowledged by social media for online dancing. I was not a first-line celebrity initially. If you want to stick to your profession, you must be hard-working and dedicated to developing your skills and have passion accordingly."
Ridy's dancing career spans more than twenty years now, and when she looks back, she finds dedication as the vital element that has brought her here today.
"There is no limit where you can reach. You never know where you can go if you have the dedication," she said.
Best time to start dancing for your career
Ridy thinks one can start dancing at any age. If you truly want to be a professional dancer, the earlier you start, the easier it will be for you to embrace dancing in your core lifestyle.
Ridy reminded the crucial fact that your sole instrument for dancing is your body. So it is essential to maintain your body and keep yourself healthy and fit.
The more you train your body, the more flexible it will be to let you emulate any challenging dancing steps. She scraps the idea of 'god-gifted' talent and believes it all depends on practising. Once you start practising, you'll know how you should carry on.
Ridy suggests starting with classical dance and going through the base. Classical help to form your posture and make you more flexible. You can include ballet and hip-hop side by side. After being skilled in classical dance, you can choose and start whatever type of dancing you want.
How she looks at the neighbouring country's dancing picture
"The lack of proper training facilities and dedication on an individual level are the main problems our dancers face. We need more schools and trainers to get more skilled dancers. It should include cultural training as well," she added.
According to Ridy, dance reality shows are a good thing to bring out more professional dancers. She also stressed having more flexibility for the dancers and society's acceptance of them.
"Our neighbouring country India has a bigger and strong entertainment and dance industry; also, they have huge participants. Our country is going in the same route but a bit slower and smaller scale than theirs. Our movies are getting more foreign attraction these days."
These things make Ridy happy. She believes more Bangladeshi dancers will also gain international popularity soon as there is no lack of talent and potential. If the country's entertainment ecosystem sustains the positivity we now see, dancing will reach newer heights.
Being a professional
Ridy was raised in Moscow. She started her dancing journey with waacking dance - a form of street dance. During her training in Moscow, she learned to embrace things. She realised that whatever form of dance she was learning, she had to believe that she'd excel. With a firm belief in mind, one can ascend to professional levels within even a month. However, she mentioned longer training adds value to one's professional career.
"Since I was five, I have been dancing. I never said myself a dancer; rather, I used to say that I dance. I finally accepted after my first reality show when I was eighteen years old. I was never focused on only one form as I kept trying various forms of dancing to develop skills," Ridy remarked regarding how personal belief can shape one's career trajectory.
Struggles of a female dancer
According to Ridy Sheikh, there are some social stigmas for dancers; however, a male is judged less in a dancing career. Conservative societal outlook, coupled with career concerns, keeps most girls away from dancing professionally. There are backward thinking and stereotypes that lead people to assume negative things about dancers, especially female ones.
Ridy was fortunate enough never to have faced such issues from her family.
"My family loves art, but as a parent, they had thought if dancing would be better for my career or not. They were worried about whether I could do my study and dance together. But they were very supportive to help me in my work and build my dance career," concluded the dancing prodigy.