Sounds from silence

Established in 1973,the school has more than 80 students from the lower middle class and underprivileged families. “They can’t hear the song to which they are performing. If they miss a step,the whole performance can go awry. So,literally hours and hours of practice are done to put up a five-minute performance. But the smiles on the faces of the little ones,once it’s over,make it all worthwhile,” dance teacher Nilashree Ganguly said with a big smile after the performance.

Nilashree,who was standing on the right wing encouraging and instructing her students,has been a weekly visitor at Care and Counselling Centre for the past 10-odd years. Apart from being a full-time dance instructor,she also teaches these special kids and also takes classes for underprivileged children at Basti Welfare Centre in Ballygunge,where she has been sent by an NGO,which sponsors artistes to many needy schools.

“I have all kind of students,which include the so-called mainstream children,physically challenged,mentally challenged and even underprivileged kids. However,these special students of mine put in a lot more effort and determination in learning steps and routines,” she said.

Purba was all smiles and refused to get out of her costume after the performance. “She wants more pictures of hers to be clicked. Though slightly moody,she loves to dance,” another teacher who was with the students said.

The mime teacher at the centre,Ashim Pal,has been working with challenged children for nearly 28 years. This Salt Lake resident has even worked with mime exponent Jogesh Dutta’s academy and has travelled around the globe performing with him.

“The challenge is to make the challenged children remember the postures,steps and expressions. However,with regular practice they pick up and put up very good performances. The hearing impaired children are much more intelligent than us. And miming comes quite naturally to them. All their lives they create and recreate a language through gestures and try to express themselves and interact with us. Their grasping power is amazing,” Pal said.

He also recounted an incident when one of the children didn’t turn up before a performance and how the rest of the cast got his replacement and instructed him about the part to play. “They did it so fast with gestures and eye movements it was just amazing.”

At the end of their performances,cheers and claps greeted the students. Most of them,however,couldn’t hear them. That didn’t matter. Their faces had a glow out of the happiness of being able to do a perfect dance routine.