On a Roll

Limaye is not the only one around in Pune; there are others like Odissi dancer Kanchan Musmade and Kathak exponent Rama Dholepatil. All of whom practise draped in shiny, traditional finery, getting their sequences ready for the Classical Dance on Skates round of the Roller Skating Federation of India’s ongoing National Championship in Visakhapatnam.

The girls spend hours at the city’s skating rink every day, and then sit glued to the television screen, watching roller skating and dance VCDs.

But despite the punishing schedule, Class VI student Kanchan has decided that Bharatanatyam on skates is just not enough. She’s opted for Odissi this year. ‘‘Last year, I won a bronze at the nationals. This year, I want the gold. And later, go for the Asian Games too with this specialisation,’’ she says.

But just how did it all begin? For that, we’ll have to travel around 12 years back into the cosy home of Krishna Swetha Gummuluri in Visakhapatnam. Gummuluri, then nine, was struggling into her roller skates when somebody turned on the music—a Carnatic song. And the next she knew, Gummuluri was in the middle of a Bharatanatyam number, still in her skates.

And so it was a combination of serendipity and accidental innovation that put classical Indian dance onto roller skating rinks.

Now in her final year of MBBS, Gummuluri says the fusion works because it’s graceful and its rationale is perfect. ‘‘There are more people who’d watch Indian traditional dance performed on skates than just any classical dance performance,’’ says the dancer whose fusion attracted attention at the national championship four years back. The Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyam danseuse now has to her credit continent-hopping performances of her art.

Says Limaye, a three-time gold medallist at the artistic skating event, ‘‘It’s all about balancing. Once you can do that on skates, dancing is not much trouble. Just work on your footwork,’’ she advises.

Meanwhile, the skating federation’s Secretary-General Rambabu thinks that purists of the country’s various dance forms needn’t worry. ‘‘Any dance can be performed on skates, and with our rich and colourful attire, the style will appeal to international audiences,’’ he says. It is an innovation which, he adds, will keep tradition alive.

While the traditionalists and the skating body feint and thrust, people like Gummuluri are happy doing their own thing and having fun. Like 18-year-old Dholepatil says, ‘‘Who cares about the tumbles and falls when there’s so much fun at hand? Once I’d figured out how to match Kathak bols with roller skating, there was no looking back.’’