Last year or so, a video of three men in heels dancing at a studio in London took the Internet by storm. Yanis Marshall of Studio 68 with his two dance partners swayed to Beyonce’s Single Ladies in a very few ladies can claim to. Recreating the idea of boogying in heels here in Mumbai is Mrigakshi Jaiswal. The 29-year-old quit her lucrative career as a marketing professional to pursue her passion for dancing. “When I thought of starting a heels class in Mumbai, I knew it would gain traction because it is new to the city,” says Mrigakshi who has trained under choreographers in L.A., who’ve worked with the likes of Chris Brown, Rihanna and Beyonce.
Dancing in heels however isn’t as simple as it looks. “It is very essential to warm-up because one needs to mobilise the joints and muscles before putting those stilettos on. Our warm-up regime focuses on the calves, hamstring muscles, stretches, cores and the glutes. That is done only wearing sneakers or shoes of course. Heels come into the picture only later,” says Mrigakshi emphasising that the classes, which go on for about an hour, begin with a warm-up that lasts up to 20 minutes. Those who want to continue wearing regular shoes are allowed to do so.
So who are these takers for dancing in heels? “We have a lot of men from the LGBT community who come in to learn the art form. I have also seen male belly dancers wanting to try this form. We’ve had women from all walks of life coming in too,” she says. Norden Sharpa, one of Mrigakshi’s students says that enrolling in a class that caters to this dance has always been a fantasy. “I’m a ramp choreographer but dancing with heels was a different ballgame altogether. Whenever there would be a pair of heels missing in my house, my family knew it was with me. Dancing in them was indeed tough, but I loved it because it gave me a chance to explore my feminine side,” Norden says.
High heel hotties
Setting a trend in the field and taking dancing in heels to the stage from inside the studios is Kamlesh Gade. Gade and his troupe hold regular day jobs — he is a architecture and design lecturer himself, and has a doctor in the team as well. But by night, they turn into fierce stiletto-strapped dancers or as they call themselves, High Heel Hotties. Speaking of the stint he says, “We performed at the 6th Kashish Queer Film Festival wearing 4.5 inch stilettos and the response was phenomenal. It was more of a gender bending initiative for us because heels are often associated only with women, but do they have a gender? No. Then why is it so that only women can wear them?”
Sharing his initial apprehension he says, “We had our doubts but later we saw Yanis Marshall flawlessly dancing with heels and we knew it was not impossible. Initially we faced a lot of difficulties because these are four-inch heels and maintaining our balance was tricky, but we managed with regular practice.”
