They don’t see the hard-work I’ve put in and often say negative things from body-shaming me to homophobic slurs. “In my experience, people who hate you the most tend to fuel your drive. Yet, with fame being a double-edged sword, renown also brought him hate comments and trolling online. Not only does he teach American tribal style belly dance to batches chock-full of students, but he has mastered other forms of dancing like Egyptian classical, modern ballet and Odissi. And now, the boy from Pathankot with a pocketful of hope has come a long way. His fame gradually grew as his undying love for the art form charmed others. Perhaps it was his mother’s faith in him, when she said trusted him no matter what, or his father’s industriousness that trickled down to him, but Arun’s passion persevered. But success seemed elusive as no students enrolled for the entire first year. “Looking back, those are the moments that help you never give up in life because you have seen worse.” Arun refused to call it quits or head home and started his own Belly dance academy in 2014. I slept early to avoid hunger pangs,” he reveals.
“There was a tiffin I’d get every evening at 7 and that was my first full meal each day. I used to wake up later in the day just so I could miss breakfast and make do with 1 vada pav for lunch. “It was a rough period because I had no work and lacked money to eat 3 square meals a day.
It was a female-dominated industry and even professional dance companies wouldn’t take me seriously. As I was a male belly dancer who wished to teach, logo ne mera mazak udaya.
“When I first came to Pune, I approached a lot of dance companies. The love of his family became the wind beneath his wings, and Bhardwaj moved to Pune in November 2013 to further his career in Belly dance.
“’Tu khush toh hain na?’ she asked, adding that if I am happy, that’s all that matters,” he smiles. She then abruptly hung up on me, which left me in a bundle of nerves! She later revealed that she’d actually taken off to share the news with my father.” Arun explains that when she called him back, there was only love and acceptance in her voice. As a typical Punjabi mom who is all heart, she started crying. “I remember the time I called up my mom and told her I’m gay. It’s just that sometimes they hesitate to accept it,” he admits, and goes on to reveal the emotional moment when he eventually came out to his family. “Parents always know their child inside out. “I suppose my parents always knew of my sexual orientation,” Arun thoughtfully interjects. And though his career began at the age of 16, there was an intensely personal journey he’d embarked upon much earlier. “I initially studied at a school for belly dance in Gurgaon and went on to teach by taking Skype lessons for students,” he grins. Nonetheless, their zeal certainly seems to have shaped his ability to chase his dreams as there was no stopping, Arun. I have great respect for them and can never compare my efforts or struggle to what they went through,” he confesses. It was right after 10 th standard that he felt responsible for the rest of us and worked hard to contribute to the family’s income. My dad went on to start a small food shack that dished up tea and snacks, but my brother soon sought to help him in supporting the family. “We were a middle-class family and got by with very little.
He’d be working away all day for a meagre salary of a few thousand rupees on which he supported my mother and us three kids,” he smiles nostalgically. My father worked in a textile factory at the time.
“It was my dad who showed me how to work hard. “My dreams of becoming an accomplished belly dancer were considered nothing short of scandalous,” he admits.īut battling the odds to forge his path was a lesson he’d learnt early on from his father. After all, it was the early 2000’s and a lot of communities in the area frowned upon men choosing dance as a profession. Turning his passion into his profession was easier said than done, as the small-town boy from Pathankot dreamt of a career in American tribal Belly dance. It felt effortless and instantly clicked for me." But I was intrigued and soon realised that I could connect with Belly dance in a way that I never had with other art forms. Though he spent his teens mastering Bhangra, it was Belly dance that charmed his heart. He says that back then, the internet had felt like a Pandora’s box that introduced him to the world of dance with intriguing styles that always seemed just out of reach. 10 tucked away in his pocket that often earned him entry to the cybercafé around the corner. As a pre-teen boy in Pathankot, he’d have a head full of dreams and Rs. A Punjabi munda at heart with a penchant for dance, Arun Bhardwaj had always excelled at Bhangra in school.