Reverberating to the sound of music and dance

Belayet and co-artistes perform a creative dance

Looking into the days of yore is the Jamils' daughter, Kanta Jamil, advisor to Jago. As Kanta explains, "Dance is in my blood. Certainly it is my passion but not a profession."

Running the day to day affairs of the school is Belayat Hossain Khan, principal of Jago for the last 15 years, whose association with the school goes back three decades.

It is the dedication of the teachers, says Kanta, that explains how the school has survived and gone from strength to strength since 1959 when her father established it. As she goes on to add, apart from maintaining and expanding the art form of dance in Bangladesh, the aim is to popularise dance, primarily within the low-middle income groups. In line with this objective, Jago charges Taka 150 for eight lessons. "We want to empower the dancers and enable some to make careers of it," says Kanta.

And this is not mere trumpet blowing. There are several success stories that bear testimony to her words. A good example is a student, Salma Begum who teaches dance at Jago and other schools. She does performances and tutors young ones, thereby getting an income to run her family. Then there is Sultana Haider, who has established a dance school called Shukanya in Dhaka.

Some of Jago's students have also crossed into other frontiers. As Kanta says with unmistakable pride, two of Jago's alumni have set up branches of the organisation in Washington DC and New York.

Other students turned teachers are Farzana Nasrin Liza and Aditi Tumpa, who say they cannot visualise a life without dance.

Currently Jago has 250 students, learning dance, singing, painting and the tabla.

Among the recent milestones is the fund raising endeavour of expat choral groups, Cantemus and Morning Sky. Through a Christmas concert, the two groups gave the proceeds from their Christmas concert to Jago (which used it largely to make costumes). Later, in May end, the young ones participated in a spring concert organised by the two singing groups. In addition, Jago also gives annual concerts at the American International School Dhaka which helps spread the word about the school. In fact, as Kanta says, many a time they are approached by dance aspirants who are hell bent on joining Jago despite its distant location. Consequently Belayat and her (albeit on a very small scale and voluntarily) give private dance lessons in some localities.

Despite the financial constraints, Jago insiders are what Kanta describes as "a happy bunch." In the words of ASM Rafiqul Alam (Shafique), assistant secretary, in charge of fund raising and administration, "When we manage to break even, we are very happy."