Dancer-choreographer Jainil Mehta’s #MenInSkirts motion defies gender norms

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Jainil Mehta
| Picture Credit score: Particular Association

Over the previous few weeks, a video of a younger boy in a vibrant skirt, swaying to ‘Jhume Re Gori’ on the streets of New Yorkwent viral on Instagram. The artiste, Jainil Mehta, is a choreographer from New York however his roots are strongly grounded in India.

The 23-year-old is now within the highlight for his #MenInSkirts motion that defies gender norms by dance sequences in flowy skirts.

Jainil Mehta

Jainil Mehta
| Picture Credit score:
Particular Association

Jainil explains how, as a toddler, he was fascinated along with his mom’s vibrant skirts. “Light-weight skirts with a big flare and vibrant hues, including drama when swirled round are my favorite,” says the dancer who has collaborated with budding Indian designers corresponding to Rupa Thakkar, and Archana Kochharo for the fantastically sewn skirts seen in his movies. 

The professionally educated garba dancer, who additionally dabbles with hip hop, ballet, modern, and Bollywood, provides that he’s additionally the curator of J-Stream, a dance type he has created primarily based on his conceptual experiences. Together with his posts hitting 1,000,000 views, he says that the method of making a video begins with constructing a imaginative and prescient, following which the placement, outfit, and actions are sourced.

He says that his life as a dancer was not at all times as exhilarating as it’s now. “There have been days the place my ardour and selection have been questioned to their biggest extent”. Going ahead, Jainil plans to provoke a college-level dance programme centered on gender neutrality, and host workshops throughout nations.

He concludes, “I felt my greatest in a skirt though the selection of donning a skirt was unpopular, and with this motion, I hope to encourage different males to observe what their coronary heart says moderately than being lab rats to societal norms.”

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