Gender no barre

Male ballet dancers are tiptoeing around taboos, training hard, and taking the stage, head held high. Meet four young men taking this leap of faith. See what it means to stand out among women, land a role and own it

- Reem Khokhar

Think of it as an Inception-style dream within a dream. India has only a handful of ballet schools - there are barely a few hundred trained ballerinas. Male ballet dancers are even fewer - who'd dream of a job that is punishing on the toes, demands lightness, rarely puts you in the spotlight and draws sniggers?

Yet, in several cities, young boys are signing up for ballet lessons, even when they're the only male in a class of 30. They're stretching muscles they didn't know they had, unlearning hip-hop moves, correcting body alignment, appreciating ballet's technical precision. Along the way, they're realising just how different ballet is for a male. Dramatic leaps, dizzying pirouettes yes. But also lifting ballerinas (who can weigh as much as 50 kgs) but making it appear effortless.

It's a gamble from the start. But it offers a better stab at success, more international gigs. See how four young men stay committed and dream within their dream.

Tejas Saraswathi, 19, Bengaluru

Saraswathi started taking ballet lessons when he was seven. The bullying started shortly after. Boys in school would make fun of him for "dancing like a girl". Saraswathi almost gave up. He only kept at it because his grandmother urged him to, and his ballet instructor, Yana Lewis, encouraged him to. Ten years on, "the kids who teased me come to my shows and cheer me."

Still, it's been a tough journey. He studied ballet via the Lewis Foundation of Classical Ballet's outreach programme at his school. He put in the time and the sweat, winning 99/100 in an international ballet exam, and winning this year's edition of the Great Indian Ballet Competition in Mumbai.