Dance, the key of Christian’s life

“I cannot imaging my life without dance.”

This is how 13-year-old Bharatanatyam dancer, Christian Rohit Samuel feels about the classical Indian dance style.

A form two student of Couva East Secondary School, Christian is becoming well-known for his performances.

Growing up, Bollywood movies and music had a huge influence on Christian who danced and sang, trying to imitate the actors, while watching films with his family.

His parents realised he was “really good” and enrolled him at the Mahatma Gandhi Institute for Cultural Cooperation, at the age of 7.

“My style is an Indian classical dance form originated in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, called Bharatanatyam. It is one of the eight classical dances of India and uses the combination of footwork, facial expression, and hand gestures,” he explained.

Christian said he admires Bharatanatyam dancers and likes to “look at their posture, expressions, and precise movements.”

One of his first public performances was at his primary school where he took part in the Baal Vikaas competitions held by the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha.

“At primary school, dancing and singing seemed quite normal as every year the students took part in the Baal Vikaas competition so performing there was no pressure,” he said.

When he began secondary school, Christian was not so sure about dancing there.

“I was a bit hesitant to perform but eventually interacting with the school’s Hindu Youth Organisation and acting out in drama class helped me to overcome this challenge,” he said.

His confidence grew when, in 2019, he participated and placed second in the Secondary Schools Sanskritik Sangam Classical Dance Finals. “It was announced at the Monday morning in assembly and I was really touched by the wonderful applause and the compliments from the students and the teachers, I felt proud to be able to represent my school.”

Christian recently attracted national attention when he danced during the Prime Minister’s National Day of Prayer at St Patrick’s RC Church, Newtown, Port of Spain on August 2. His performance captivated the MPs, senators, religious leaders and the President, Paula-Mae Weekes.

He has danced in productions such as Kalidasa’s Shakunthalam, with the Nrityanjali Theatre, Omkara and The Inner Child by the Adavallan Art Academy.In 2016, the High Commission of India gave him an award for his exceptional performances as the youngest artiste of Mahatmai Gandhi institute.

Christian said a lot goes into being part of a show.

“Firstly, I must learn the dance which normally takes a lot of time according to the length of the song. I have to understand the meaning of the dance and what I want to convey to my audience. I learn the dance in pieces, and I must practise each movement over and over before I can feel confident enough to go out and perform.”

He goes through a process of “mentally building himself up” to get into character and is sometimes a bit nervous. He never lets this stop him because he would “completely block out everything and everyone around.”

“When I dance, I allow myself to get into a trance so that I can mentally and physically feel and capture the emotions given by the music.”

While dance is his passion, Christian is like other teenage boys and enjoys playing board games, his PS4, and watches Netflix. He likes to hang out with friends, going to the beach and hiking. He also practises yoga.

Currently, he is a student of the Samaagama Foundation under the guidance Allan Rudesh Samaroo.

Although he can’t attend classes due to covid19 restrictions, he still follows his tutors online.

Christian dreams of being an actor, dancer, or singer one day.

“I hope to one day be a professional Bharatanatyam dancer to dance with accurate movements, with precision and to be able to teach others and travel the world to showcase my talents.”