Indian ballet dancer headlines new documentary unveiled in U.S.
Manish Chauhan, an Indian ballet dancer who won a scholarship to be trained at New York Ballet School, is the star in a documentary film, Call Me Dancer, which had its official trailer launch in Washington, D.C. Sept. 8, 2021.
In India, Interest in Classical Ballet Training Is on the Rise
By Dr. Luis Dias
Written for Pointe Magazine
Western classical ballet is still a very unfamiliar art form in India. But in the last few years, promising talent has begun emerging, often in dancers from disadvantaged or working-class families with no prior association with Western classical music or dance.
Call Me Dancer: a Film About the Love of Hip Hop, Ballet & Mumbai
By Leslie Shampaine
Written for Indiaspora.org
“Welder’s Son from Mumbai Accepted into The Royal Ballet School in London,” were the headlines that went viral around the globe as Yehuda’s student became the first Indian to enter this elite academy.
Ballet dancers can best be compared to Olympic athletes. Behind that headline lie struggle, passion, heartache, and hard work. I know, because I was a professional ballet dancer and had attended the “Harvard” of ballet academies, the School of American Ballet, followed by a successful performing career.
Turning Point: Yehuda Maor
Article from Business Standard Weekend, March 7, 2020
Yehuda Ma’or’s jaw drops. He is reliving a moment from his childhood in the 1950s when, aged six or seven, he had just seen the film version of a Bolshoi Ballet recital of Swan Lake. “It was just ‘Wow’.