Sheema Kermani
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Her family, childhood and early career
Born 1951, in Rawalpindi
MARIAM MAGSI | I think Muslim men see my dancing as a challenge to them, says Sheema Kermani | Dawn
Adapted from Sheema Kermani's conversation with MARIAM MAGSI
Sheema’s father belonged to a well-established aristocratic family of UP, Lucknow, India. Originally the family is from Kerman in Iran and migrated to India where they settled in UP.
Sheema’s mother’s family was from Hyderabad Deccan and Sheema’s maternal grandfather was a District Sessions Judge in Hyderabad, Deccan, India.
Sheema’s father after having graduated from Aligarh University joined the British India arSheema’s as a commissioned officer. Then in 1947 he opted for Pakistan and came here as a member of the Pakistan Army. In 1949 he went back to India to get married. Sheema’s father retired as a Brigadier from the army and then was the chairman of KESC till his retirement.
Sheema was born the second of three children. Sheema has an elder brother and a younger sister. Sheema’s early education was in the convent schools of the cantonments where Sheema’s father would be posted. Because of the frequent and many postings all over the country, they as children managed to see most of Pakistan, and because Sheema’s grandparents were in India they used to travel by train every summer holidays and visit them there. So they had a great exposure to both India and Pakistan.
It was their early exposure to Indian classical dance and music that they had on their visits to Hyderabad, and to Western classical music of which Sheema’s father was very fond of, that stirred Sheema’s interest in the arts. As a young girl Sheema had studied Western classical music and read all the classical literature that was available. Sheema’s parents also gave them a wonderful exposure to the world of dance, drama and music.
They travelled all over Pakistan as well as around the globe and visited museums and art galleries and saw the best of performances in Europe and UK - she remembers watching a ballet performance with Rudolph Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn and seeing Laurence Oliver and Maggie Smith on stage. All of this was part of their education and upbringing.
Sheema is a Marxist and a feminist. She believes in the Marxist ideology and a vision of a classless society where men and women hold an equal status.
However, Sheema believes that feminism is recognition of the existence of sexism, male domination and patriarchy and the desire to change this situation. She considers herself an activist of human rights issues and strongly feels that she must do whatever she can to change this discrimination against women in their society so that [the woman] can find her place of dignity and respect. It is the values that have to change and the attitudes towards women both of society and state.
Classical dance was banned in Pakistan by President General Zia ul Haq in 1983. Ever since then it has been very difficult to perform and to exist as a dancer in Pakistan.
All the other dancers had left the country by 1983 and Sheema was the only dancer practicing and teaching in Pakistan. The biggest problem is that to hold a public performance one has to obtain a NOC – No Objection Certificate. This is a very tough and laborious bureaucratic procedure. For this one has to go through a disgusting procedure of official bureaucratic rigmarole, running to various offices and finally getting a piece of paper which states: “dancing, nudity, obscenity not allowed; Dresses of Islamic origin only to be worn; No dress so tight as to reveal the vital curves of the body not to be worn; Nothing to go against Islamic values ”.
Sheema was recently at a party where she overheard a lady saying to the other about her, “Don’t sit next to her, she is a dancer”. Often Sheema has stepped out dressed for a performance and looked around to see if someone is there to shoot or attack her.
Often when the governments are obscurantist as General Zia ul Haq’s was, then it becomes all the more difficult and sometimes impossible. As for the social attitudes towards dance- well she decided early in life to not let that bother her. She doesn’t conform.
Often Sheema has received death threats from fundamentalist groups -- a hotel where Sheema was performing was sent bomb threats. So this is something Sheema has been facing right from the very beginning.
Sheema believes that perhaps culture is the only medium that can help their country to overcome the ethnic, religious and linguistic divide. Culture overcomes barriers of language and geography and all else.
Sheema believes that dance is part of our lives – we are only alive when we are dancing! She personally does not see dance as either Hindu or Muslim; Sheema believes this would be the same as to say that there is a Hindu bomb and a Muslim bomb – does the bomb choose between Hindu and Muslim – does it not destroy irrespective of religion? ! In the same way she feels that dance should not be called Hindu or Muslim.
Besides, she is sure that dance existed pre-religion. At the time of the Mohenjodaro civilization there was much importance given to dance
Sheema Kermani: Rebel With A Cause
By Khursheed Hyder
Dawn (This article was written around 2005)
A classical dancer, teacher, drama artiste and rights activist, Sheema Kermani believes we can change society through cultural activities
“Why don’t people like me?” wonders Sheema Kermani. Then she answers her own question, “I think I’m too blunt, I don’t beat about the bush which unfortunately doesn’t go down too well with people.” Kirmani feels that people aren’t comfortable with an unconventional person. “I decided to make a different life for myself and people don’t like someone who takes a deviant road,” she adds.
Born into a well-off family, she decided she didn’t want to marry a rich husband who could provide her with material luxuries. “These things don’t make me happy. I’m happy when I’m doing creative work; it gives me the energy to go on,” she elaborates.
A classical dancer, teacher, drama artist and women’s rights activist, Kermani had a severe bout of osteoporosis some years back and the doctors advised her to stop dancing. Today she is as agile on her feet as she was 15 years ago through sheer willpower and a strict exercise regimen.
“I discovered I had osteoporosis while visiting my dentist who found a lot of bone loss in my jaw and asked me to get a bone density test done. I was in my early 40s then. If I hadn’t been exercising and doing yoga my condition would have been worse. The doctor had told me to stop everything because it was dangerous for the bones as they could break easily, so I didn’t do anything for six months out of that fear and as a result went into a state of depression. So I decided, whatever the consequences, I would continue with my dancing and my work,” she explains.
Sheema Kermani laments the fact that it is very difficult to get money in Pakistan for cultural events. She has had to beg and ask for support from the corporate sector and other NGOs. “When I am able to sell television plays, that money is put in my theatre work. It does get difficult sometimes. When we began in 1978 –– we are going to celebrate 30 years of Tehrik-e-Niswan and our theatre group next year –– there wasn’t any money and for many years we did everything voluntarily. The first play took place in 1979 in Karimabad’s Meena Bazaar, a shopping area exclusively for women which had opened just about then.
“The women shoppers loved the play and said they wanted to see more. These lower and middle class women have little time to read so this was a good way to create awareness. From there it became a cultural thing; we realised this was a good way to pass on our message to the women and the masses, and we all had an inclination towards the art, so we became a team,” she says.
Her group has survived difficult times. In the Zia period she had gone to India to learn dance, and when she came back there was a ban on dance. Elaborating further, she says, “My friends wanted to see what I had learnt. Fifty people were invited and 300 turned up. It became kind of a political activity and we began doing this on a regular basis.” They couldn’t advertise so they would pass a basket around and people would put in their addresses and whatever money they wanted, and were informed of the next performance.
Experience has taught Sheema Kermani and her team that plays should not be overtly ideological and that themes should be conveyed subtly. “We do touch on feudalism and tribalism. Fehmida Riaz’s long poem which I made into a ballet Raqs karo is all about the status of women. There was equality in this area when there was a matriarchal system in which women were given a lot of importance. Over the centuries it changed and society became tribal and patriarchal,” explains Kirmani.
Quite vocal in her presentations about social problems, Kermani still gets threats, even in the cities, not just remote areas. “We get to hear that we are bad women, but we always think positively because if we start dwelling on the negative side of this we will get nowhere. It’s such a hypocritical society; these same people will go and see a mujrah and throw money on the woman, but they will put down a classical dancer,” she adds.
“I believe in an egalitarian society. I don’t believe in a few people having wealth and the majority being deprived of it , there should be equality between man and man, and man and woman”
Kermani’s group visits low income areas like Lyari and Korangi to present their plays. They found women to be very receptive in the interior of Sindh. “We try to show these rural women that there is an alternative way to do things and they respond to that. However, theatre is very limited; we can only perform before a limited number of people.”
The reaction of the men to the plays is always a mixed one. “In one area the Qari of the mosque announced that everyone should come and watch our play. It had music and songs. And yet another Qari in another area announced that no Muslim should go and see the play as theatre was a sin,” says Kermani.
As a young person she was incredibly rebellious and independent. Her parents didn’t approve of her views which led to trauma for both sides and as a result she left the house.
She went to England to study art and was influenced by Marxism there. “In the early ’70s art colleges were very radical and I grew up in the hippy generation, the flower power period during the Vietnam movement, which influenced the world. My hero was Leila Khalid who had hijacked a plane for the Palestinian cause.” Returning to Pakistan she joined leftist movements and people who were working for such causes.
Kermani’s ideology remains the same even today. “I believe in an egalitarian society. I don’t believe in a few people having wealth and the majority being deprived of it, there should be equality between man and man, and man and woman. I developed these ideas when I was still in school and my thinking and my work is still influenced by these views.”
While visiting factories to start centres for women and to bring about an awareness of their rights she got involved in labour unions. Women working in factories are usually not part of the trade unions but Kermani encouraged them to join these so that they could fight for their demands and issues.
Kermani laments the fact that not much is happening on the dance and theatre scene. “Twenty five years ago there were more groups in Karachi than there are today. There is no institute in Karachi that teaches dance except for mine. There are workshops but they don’t happen on a regular basis. The trend for such things has gone down.”
Explaining the phenomenon, she states, “In India you have pockets of excellence in theatre, literature, poetry, music and dance. We should not divide culture on the basis of religion. Dance, music and theatre are all secular arts and we should not divide it into different categories. People started dancing centuries ago. The Moenjodaro dancing girl’s an example. Dance is very instinctive!”
And what is the effect of the outside channels on the minds of young people here? Kermani feels it has a two-way effect. People get information and learn new things which they wouldn’t otherwise and at the same time they see beautiful homes and beautifully made up people which creates a turmoil because they start aspiring for these.
“That is the negative side of the channels; our local channels should create a sense of balance. Our culture and heritage is so rich and varied and when we ape others we are ignoring our culture,” she elucidates.
The division between Urdu and English medium schools is huge and Kermani feels that society as a whole is not concerned about the future generations.
Coloured by her ideological world view, her activism in human and women’s rights, her theatre and dance performances reflect the way she sees the world and her concerns about the society. She feels that cultural activities are a better form of recreation than sports.
“I don’t believe in competition. I feel that a cultural outlet is more important in society. I think good music, theatre and dance make human beings into better people.
“People say that Bharata Natyam and Odissi are Hindu dances; it is the form that I have learnt and I present myself and my concerns through that form. I’m using my poetry, my ideas, my experience to interpret things the way I look at them,” she says.
Kermani feels that art mediums cannot be separated and gives the example of the traditional subcontinental theory of the performing arts. “An actor was also a singer and a dancer. In Tehrik-e-Niswan’s work you will see that we combine all these arts –– we are the storytellers, we are the narrators, the singers and sometimes the dancers,” she adds.
Following the Nautanki style Kermani and her group have tried to tap into the cultural heritage, adding innovation to it. “We may not be very big in terms of our publicity and exposure but we regularly present our work and we have an audience that comes to see it and appreciate it.”
Sheema Kermani says that, for the level of dedication she has shown for 30 years for this art, she has not received the recognition that she and her team deserve. “The state has not given any recognition at all and it’s not just me, there are others as well.”
Sheema Kermani’s art
The social activist and classical dancer Sheema Kermani made her Dubai debut in 2014 with a concert celebrating the work of literary figures from India and Pakistan.
Bisaat-e-Raqs, held at Ductac, Mall of the Emirates, also featured the Pakistani television actor and screenwriter Adeel Hashmi – the grandson of the revolutionary Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz. Hashmi will recite poetry and letters written by his grandfather during his years in jail. Also participating in the concert was one of Pakistan’s best-known pianists – the 24-year-old Asad Anees – who will perform compositions by Beethoven. The troupe also includes five of Kermani’s disciples, who will perform routines choreographed to poems recorded in Karachi by local musicians.
Kermani, who has mastered several Indian classical dance forms – including Kathak, Bharatanatyam and Odissi – formed Tehrik-e-Niswan in 1979, an organisation that spreads awareness about women’s empowerment through music and dance.
Which poems did she perform to in Bisaat-e-Raqs?
Sheema: We started with a dance I’ve choreographed on Aaj Rang Hai, a qawwali composed by the 13th-century Sufi musician Amir Khusro. Then we did a piece on Faiz saab’s Intesaab, which is a dedication to the working classes, women and the exploited. I will also dance to the Indian poet Sarojini Naidu’s Palanquin Bearers.
What styles of classical dance have you chosen for these poems?
A lot of the Urdu poetry lends itself to Kathak, so that will be the dominant style. Sarojini Naidu’s poem about two young men who carry their mistress in a palanquin will be set to Bharatanatyam. I’ll also be performing a solo piece that will be a combination of thumri [a genre of semi-classical music] and ghazal [rhyming couplets], which will conclude with a tarana [a type of Hindustani vocal composition].
How do you connect with Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s poetry?
Faiz saab wrote highly political poetry. Contemporary in idiom and progressive, the poems are about ordinary people and human emotions. His words have incredible imagery and you can draw from that to create dance pieces.
Has it been a struggle to follow your passion for classical dance in Pakistan? How have you managed to overcome that?
When I was growing up, we had a much more liberal society than today. But there was a period when classical dance in Pakistan was banned [during the military regime of general Zia-ul-Haq]. Many people left the country, but I decided to carry on. My attitude was: if you don’t like it, don’t come to see it. Even today, dance is not patronised in Pakistan. It has been difficult, and even today, when I want to perform, it is difficult to find sponsors.
Tehrik-e-Niswan started with awareness campaigns and branched into dance and theatre to promote its ideologies. Why do you consider art a better vehicle for awareness?
We become better human beings by being involved in the arts – it elevates the mind and creates a feeling of goodness, beauty and tolerance. My politics is about equality and justice, and being involved in the arts can help you emotionally reach out to people.
Does one need to be well-versed in Urdu to enjoy your show?
Music and dance can transcend language barriers, but I will explain the poems before each dance routine for those in the audience who don’t understand Urdu.
aahmed@thenational.ae
