Saisha Srivastava (centre) and her friends teach students at the Calcutta Blind School how to find joy in dance. Picture by Sayantan Ghosh

Left leg agey agey, right leg peeche peeche

Some followed the instructions enthusiastically, others made up steps and a few others sang out loud.

The 40-odd children at the Calcutta Blind School may have missed a beat or two, but it was impossible to miss the smiles that lit up their faces as they danced to Dance pe chance mar le from Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.

The widest smile of all belonged to 18-year-old Saisha Srivastava, their trainer.

Coached in ballet and jazz, Saisha, who wrote the ISC exam from La Martiniere for Girls this year, wanted to spread some cheer in her hometown before boarding a flight to New York next month for a course in international politics and economics at Vassar College.

Saisha had been a regular in her school’s dance team and long wanted to conduct a dance workshop for children with blindness. Some research and brainstorming with friends and fellow dancers later, she placed a proposal with the Calcutta Blind School last April.

The five-day-a-week workshop was scheduled for July 15 to 31 but given its popularity, talks are on to extend it till the first week of August.

Such is Saisha’s involvement that she comes in on Saturdays too to conduct some “extra classes”.

The students from classes I to XII who are part of the workshop couldn’t be happier.

“Most of the students here don’t get to enjoy life. Many come from troubled backgrounds. I just wanted to share a very important part of my life — dance — with them. I did not want to conduct a serious dance workshop. I only wanted the kids to have fun, and Bollywood beats can be the best stress-buster,” the teenager told Metro.

Since many of the boys hadn’t danced before, Saisha had to be patient and innovative while teaching them their first steps.

“My emphasis is on physical movements meant to loosen them up. I teach with a lot of clapping, clicking of the fingers, and we have also named a few steps so that the instructions become easy to grasp. We know the importance of touch for these children and try to be as gentle as possible,” Saisha said.

She and the friends who have joined did some “homework” before starting the classes to make sure they were prepared for the challenges of teaching children with blindness.

“We practised steps blindfolded to see how easy or tough that would be for the kids,” said Paloma Majumdar, a second-year student of comparative literature at Jadavpur University.

Priyanka Chowdhury, a Class XI student of La Martiniere for Girls, Sona Iqbal from Calcutta University, Mohini Gupta from St. Xavier’s College and Sayar Chattopadhya, who wrote his Class XII exam from St. Xavier’s Collegiate School this year, make up the rest of the team.

For Tapan Biswas of Class XI, dancing with the girls to Hindi numbers has been an exhilarating experience. “I have never experienced such happiness before. I can pick up new steps easily,” he said with a smile.

Mamoni Bhattacharya, also of Class IX, can’t wait for the classes to start every day. “I had never danced before. I only sang in school but dancing feels great. I feel happy and confident,” she gushed.

The teachers at the blind school have been supportive of Saisha’s initiative. “A workshop like this had never been held before,” said teacher Sapna Bhattacharya.

Music and Braille instructor Lisa Banerjee added: “We would welcome more such efforts. They make students happy and encourage them to take up music as a career.”

For Saisha, the reward is seeing the children open up. “A boy who didn’t even move on Day 1 came up to me and whispered, ‘Didi, it’s my dream to dance like Salman Khan’. He then jumped, clapped and danced to Dhinka Chika all by himself. I can finally see the difference the workshop has made to their confidence and daily life,” said the 18-year-old of her Mission Accomplished.

What message do you have for Saisha Srivastava and her students? Tell ttmetro@abpmail.com