Research in motion

Rashid Ansari's movement class isn't just any old class. It's a class with an attitude, much like the teacher who helms it. And it's also a class that's guaranteed to make you slimmer, fitter and nimbler than you had ever hoped in this lifetime at least.

Ansari is a master at pretty much everything that was ever invented (I kid you not, if I were to list the entire lot of achievements that he has managed in this life, this word count would be too less), be it dance or martial arts, and throw in a bit of theatre as well. He now runs a movement class in Delhi, a class like no other.

The class takes inspiration from a variety of disciplines that Ansari has learnt and taught like classical dance, butoh (this is a Japanese-style modern dance form), South American, ballet, contemporary, Persian folk and various martial art forms as well as theatre and voice training. It all comes together in this movement class.

Says Ansari about this unusual class that takes place thrice a week in the morning in Delhi's Shahpur Jat, "Each class is different. The elements in each class vary. I like to use movement as a medium." The class is open to performers as well as novices.

But whether you are a novice or a seasoned performer, Ansari's class isn't for the faint-hearted. Starting at nine in the morning, the class is rigorous. For two hours, the normal duration of a class, students are put, literally, through the paces.

Starting with a deceptively light warm-up, the class progresses to Ansari's prodding, done mostly with light-hearted banter and humour, the students used to his jabs and tongue-in-cheek remarks. The beat is provided by a foreigner and is played constantly through the class. For Ansari, this class is, "an experimental laboratory".

Ansari's fame, which is considerable, is such that though the class follows no structure, there are students from multiple backgrounds that come to him. This, when there is no one dance form or martial art form that is taught. Why did Ansari eschew that approach to teaching? He explains, "I found that to restrict oneself to any one dance form was too restrictive. I enjoy experimentation." He adds, "You need to go into a discipline deeply to be able to get out of it." And with Ansari getting deep into something isn't really a problem, since he has mastered so many art forms.

Ansari started dancing as well as learning martial arts at the age of nine and since then has never looked back. But his own evident skill at dancing hasn't meant that he pressurises his students to reach his own exacting levels. He says, "People do what they can in my classes. There is no pressure on anyone to perform. For me, quality is something that is individual."

Statements like these, however, don't stop him from making his students, after almost an hour and a half of dancing, to then do floor exercises that include stomach crunches. There are small, good-natured protests but the students do as they are told.

Ansari's interest and early initiation into martial arts happened due to his father and uncles who were martial arts aficionados. And as for dance, Ansari says, "In the dance class I was the only guy but I continued dancing." Since then he has travelled to learn as well as teach and perform in different parts of the world and it is this knowledge that Ansari's students come to learn and imbibe.

The two hours of the class are up, the students have by this time worked up a sweat even though it's a cold winter day that seems colder in Ansari's studio. There is a sense of both an extreme workout that the class has had as well as a sense of satisfaction of having spent another day immersed in discovering one's self through movement.

Ansari, on the other hand, looks fresh as a daisy even though before this class he has conducted another class teaching Tai chi. After all the success and the laurels that Ansari has had in his long career, what is his motivation to continue teaching?

He says, "Even if someone were to give me a couple of million dollars, I would still like to teach. I find the process of teaching enriching." A thought shared, no doubt, by his students, even as they struggle to keep up with their nimble-footed teacher.