CENTRE STAGE: Shaimak Davar rehearsing with his students for his upcoming show.

Shiamak Davar's troupe is rehearsing in the St Columbas' School auditorium for their big show on May 17 and the whole set still screams of make-do.

Polyethylene pipes covered with a shimmery silver fabric make up the structure for a bench-cum-swing. A steel trunk in one corner, is overflowing with Stetsons and coats which met the same fate as the pipes. And yards of similar shining tissue in various shades are being thrown up in the air by the dancers as they start moving to the song, `Vogue...Strike a pose'. Most of the costumes are from previous shows and Shiamak grimaces as he acknowledges the fact, "We still haven't got a sponsor for the show on the 17th. But we are going ahead anyway because I refuse to stop just because people don't really appreciate modern dance." But this attitude is not new to him. Probably the only man in the country who practices modern dance, he has faced recalcitrant audiences before. After graduating from the Gilford School of Acting and Dancing, Shiamak came back to Mumbai 10 years ago to set up an institute for performing arts. "There was no place where you could learn modern dance if you wanted to," he says. And apparently a lot of people wanted to. His classes became popular very fast, but mostly among the young fit and firm chic of the city -- who take to it more as an exercise class than a pure dance form.

And at 35, Shiamak's anger has reached a boiling point. He is fed up with his art being seen as everything but art. Compared to Indian dance which is very symbolic, modern dance is abstract and aptly described by Paul Taylor as, "Something like moving poetry". The difference also comes in the costumes. The Indian dancers remain wrapped up in yards of brocade and heavy make-up but modern dancers can get very experimental with what they wear on stage. From minimalist Japanese costumes to body stockings to shreds of chiffon, dress is as much a form of expression as the movements. And this experimenting is probably the essence of modern dance. And of late, Shiamak has been performing less and less of this modern dance he loves so much.

Though the shows are still called Shiamak's shows and he still choreographs and is present at each and every rehearsal, he hardly ever gives solo performances anymore. Most of the time, Shiamak prefers to let his students dominate the show to bring new talent forward. And now, he wants to move further behind the wings as far as dance is concerned. "If I remain stuck in my groove, people will just say I am an old man doing modern dance," he says. In a big step for him, he is choreographing Yash Chopra's next movie.

Shah Rukh Khan, whose wife Gauri is one of Shiamak's students, talked him into it. "All this while I too was snooty about Hindi movies. But I had been given the wrong impression. But Shah Rukh sat and explained things to me," he says. Now Shiamak is quite excited about the movie though he is very tight-lipped about his work as he is not supposed to talk about it. Predictably he is all gaga over Yash Chopra, "Yash Uncle has really looked after me. He is my god father in the industry."

But Shiamak is keen to break the shackles of his old image in all aspects of his life. At Gilford, as a student, he was rated as an actor-singer first, and then a dancer. A decade later, he wants to fit that tag. His first album, which was in English, Survive, could not live up to its name. Not one to give up easily, he's back -- having succumbed to the tidal wave of Hindi pop. Shiamak's next album, which will be released in October, Mohabbat Karle, is as the title suggests in Hindi. "My music is just entertainment. I am not into the natak of spreading messages and arousing the masses," he says bluntly. As for acting, he is auditioning for Deepa Mehta's Earth which is second in the trilogy of Fire, Earth and Water. Shiamak is trying out for a part of a young husband. He also wants to do some theatre. But dance remains his first love. "I won't stop dancing. It's what I do best. I'll only be doing it less, that's it," he says. Shiamak Davar and his troupe will perform at St Andrews on May 17, 1997. Time: 7.45 pm.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.