Meher Malik: Reclaiming respect for belly dancing

Belly dancing has long been cast as a less than respectable art form. Not any more. Not for much longer, anyway. Meher Malik, the best known name in belly dance in India, is on a mission to change that perception of the dance form, with her unrelenting efforts at bringing its true beauty and significance to everyone. 

“Belly dancing is believed to have been passed on from mother to daughter to prepare the womb to give birth”, she says. There does seem to be a rationale to it, given the fact that belly dancing strengthens and increases flexibility in the core, pelvic floor and thigh muscles in particular. Interestingly, Meher points out, that at a time when size zero is the rule, belly dance encourages women of all sizes to dance. Some of the other associations attached with belly dancing include “a celebration of Mother Earth and warding off evil spirits”, adds Meher.

This is in sharp contrast with the popular image of belly dancing, which, she says is seen as “just a source of entertainment, which is not supposed to be taken seriously and which, money could buy. Sadly, it is also seen as synonymous with vulgarity.”  Relatedly, she mentions how the Bollywood image of belly dance is “highly misconstrued”. “I have been offered item songs umpteen times, but I haven’t worked so hard to change the image of belly dance to then succumb to the "item song" opportunities” she says. Adding, if that is what she really had to do “What am I even fighting for then?”

Meher started teaching belly dancing under her banner – Banjara School of Dance – in 2007 after training under in a teacher in Delhi. She received private lessons, and says that those lessons are responsible for a lot of her present day knowledge. She also gives credit to her formative years in Muscat, Oman. Living in the Middle East for 17 years, she was exposed to belly dancing performances at weddings and social gatherings. She says “I learnt a lot by just observing. Informal learning is the best kind, you see things in their true essence”.

Even though she wanted to be a fashion designer up to that point, and had enrolled at the prestigious National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), she dropped out soon after to pursue her passion for dance. It was a shocking decision for her family, of course, but she felt like she had found her calling. “I think what spoke to me was the kind of women I met in this field. They were, strong, self- made and believers. I immediately felt like my space was with this community. I believe everybody feels like they want to be part of something that is bigger than themselves, something which validates their own existence. And belly dance does that for me. It empowers me. I rejoice in my body and enjoy who I am as a woman. And it is a sisterhood that encourages women to be who they want to be. It gives them complete control on their own bodies and minds. ” says Meher.

After she decided to take up belly dancing professionally, there was no looking back. In two years of starting Banjara School of Dance, Meher participated in the TV show, India’s Got Talent, where Indians from across the country participate to showcase various kinds of talents. Meher says “Everything changed after that”. Today, she finds that “people have become extremely open minded regarding belly dancing and women of all age groups, shapes and sizes are coming to learn the dance. Now, so are men.”

Meher’s fame has grown overtime and Banjara School of Dance is now spread across all metros in the country. The journey has had its iterations and fine tuning to the Indian environment, however. She says “To be honest I did have to adulterate the dance a little bit to make it appeal to the Indian masses. When I started teaching in 2007 I was teaching people authentic Sharqi style since that’s where my training lies. But the students couldn’t relate to the music at all. They asked me if we could do the same things to Indian music. That’s where my journey of fusion began”.

Her students’ feedback not only encouraged her to explore a fusion dance form, they also brought her to an epiphany of how to make belly dancing big in India. When she started teaching in 2007, she says “I saw some very talented, hard-working students showing up to learn belly dance with all their heart and soul. That’s when I realized if I wanted belly dance to be big in India, I need a team of individuals who believed in it as strongly as I did”.  

But everything that she has attained so far, is hardly the achievement of all her goals. She says that “Now Banjara School of Dance is India's largest belly dance school and teaching and performing takes us all around the world! Our future goal is to constantly create and contribute our part to the dance community so we may leave something for the generations to come. And we're very proud of putting India on the global belly dance map”. More power to you Meher!