Mumbai’s first ballet school and the women who built it over 60 years

Mumbai’s first ballet school and the women who built it over 60 years

Her spine erect, neck elongated, legs crossed, torso slightly tilted and chin held high, she sits on a plastic chair. Her right arm extends, slightly arched, moving slowly from her head to her waist. It is a ballet move, but Khushcheher Dallas, 52, is simply gesturing for me to take the chair across from her for the interview.

That poise never leaves her, even when she is not on stage. It comes from over 30 years of teaching ballet and years devoted to learning the form. Her first teacher was her mother, the legendary Tushna Dallas, who established The School of Classical Ballet and Western Dance in 1966, widely regarded as the first formal ballet school in Mumbai.

Tushna with students | Photo Credit: Special arrangement

From choreographers Shiamak Davar and Ashley Lobo to actors Ayesha Dharker, Perizaad Zorabian and Tara Sutaria, generations have learnt to arabesque at Tushna’s Girgaum studio.

Over the last six decades, the institution has sculpted thousands of bodies, shaped careers, and instilled the discipline that ballet demands. “Tushna was a gentle yet demanding taskmaster,” says James D’Silva, 60, founder of the UK-based Garuda Studio, which helps dancers, performers and athletes recover from physical injuries through bodywork. He has trained several global personalities, including Madonna.

James trained with Tushna for a year before dancing with international ballet companies and later creating one of his own. “Her solid technique became the foundation of my career,” he adds. She recognised his talent early, took a boy from a Goan village under her wing, nurtured him, and pushed him to achieve more. “She was always happy to hear about what I was doing next. It was almost as if she was vicariously living through me.”