Even though in several aspects India is an embodiment of diversity, one thing that is common to different cultures and societies in our country is how we love to put things into boxes. You know how short hair is for men and long hair is for women, skirts are for women and pants are for men, piercings make you effeminate and riding a bike makes you masculine and so on and so forth. We are so preoccupied with making and following these divisions that when we come across somebody who refuses to fall in line, throwing them out of society comes more easily to us than accepting them.
Indian male belly dancer Eshan Hilal is here to break one such box and is using his talent to break free of these shackles society binds us in. He says belly dancing help him connect to God an oh boy is he brilliant. If you too are of the opinion that belly dancing or in fact dance all in all is an area men should not venture into, I’d say do watch him once you get over that notion of yours.
Hilal who is a practicing Muslim, is also trained in Kathak, Kalbelia and Ghoomar and chose to be a belly dancer because it’s spiritual for him. He tells us how his father once beat him up so badly for his career choice that he had a fracture and had to be taken to the hospital. None of this broke his spirit though and his love for the art form triumphed all.
His hardwork and dedication have sure paid off. Every time he jerks his belly, he has all us ladies green with envy thanks to the grace and suave movement. It’s not difficult to imagine what the man must have gone through all for the sake of his talent, but one look at his video and you will agree it was not in vain. In this video uploaded by India 101, Eshan and his talent make us realize how it is nothing short of daftness to lose such talent to the gender stereotypes we hold so dear to our culture. It’s only when you see him that you realize what an epic belly dancer we would have lost had he given in to society.
Watch Eshan Hilal break stereotypes as smoothly as his movements flow and we bet he will leave you waiting for more!
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