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'Doctor'
of Dance
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| Heal
while you jive: Kaylo (right) on Calcutta. |
Therapy through
dance? It beats the analyst's couch anytime. When "movement analyst"
Janet Kaylo was in Calcutta for a three-day workshop hosted by the British
Council, the city's dancers found out what she does: the 41-year-old heals
through dance. When Kaylo was 10, she signed up for ballet lessons in
the US, but the strictly regimented lessons killed her creativity. Dance
therapy helped get her imagination back, says Kaylo, who now teaches at
the Laban Centre for Dance, London. Over the years (it takes 900 classroom
hours to become an 'analyst') she's healed the physically challenged and
the elderly, and helped others overcome trauma. "This is very popular
in schools, hospitals and rehab centres abroad," says Kaylo. In Calcutta,
she made students think more about their bodies, less about poses and
postures, also making them draw things out and do "touch-feel"
exercises. Says Kathak exponent Amita Dutt who attends the workshop. "A
lot of it deals with the preservation of the body." And it's definitely
better than popping pills to cure the blues.
-Labonita
Ghosh
Killing
Cupid
Mumbai's
Marine Drive has always been a favourite with lovers. But not anymore.
Last week, in a sudden fit of moral indignation, the policemen at the
nearby Azad Maidan Police Station banned the coochie-coo. The directive:
"Basa. Pan chuman gehu naka, aani godi var basu naka." (Sit.
But do not kiss or sit on each others' laps). Accordingly, uniformed and
plainclothes policemen have been patrolling the area to enforce the new
law and "inspect" potential offenders. Predictably the cuddlers
were not amused. "There's an entire underworld out there waiting
to be tackled while these wimps pick on harmless couples," says Rajiv
Rai, a B Com student and Marine Drive regular. In fact the policemen's
moral concern seems to have legal backing: Section 110 of the Mumbai Police
Act reserves their right to interfere whenever someone is "indulging"
in "disorderly behaviour." But following protests in the local
press, the force turned sheepish, and withdrew its draconian decree. "We're
not against couples expressing love for each other," clarifies police
pro, Assistant Commissioner P.H. Benalkar. "Its only that private
demonstrations should not become public." Never mind if the rest
of the city is a seedy, sleazy slum.
-Farah
Baria
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If
the markets don’t recover in the next 48 hours expect the worst, says
V Shankar Aiyar in 
