Скачать или смотреть INDIA: W BENGAL: WOMEN BECOME STREET DANCERS JUST TO SURVIVE

(21 Apr 1998) Eng/Bengali/Nat

Indian women living in remote villages say they're forced to take up street dancing just to survive.

They're known as nachni dancers and first came about many centuries ago in the days of the Mughals rule.

These drummers signal the arrival of the local nachni, or bonded dancer.

The performance hasn't changed since the time of India's Mughal dynasties.

Sadly, neither has the life of a nachni.

Owned by men and exploited, the only reward these women receive is applause.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"The nachnis are village entertainers. They are kind of bonded labourers, you could say, because they are bought off by their rasik, who is their master, secretary, as well as the man who looks after them and lives off them."
SUPER CAPTION: Sudeshna Roy, Social Worker

Today, there are still 2-thousand bonded dancers in India.

They are usually poor girls, lured by the promise of money.

Like this young Bengali girl, they are taught local folk songs and dances.

But every cent they earn goes to the man who owns them.

They are one step above prostitutes and just as despised by their fellow villagers.

SOUNDBITE: (Bengali)
"This is the only way for many poor girls to earn money. We have to survive somehow so there was no other option but to become a dancer even though we are treated like dirt. If you can sing and dance, you can survive.
SUPER CAPTION: Sindhubala, bonded dancer

Today without mughal emperors, the women's only remaining patrons are the local gambling lords.

They are physically and psychologically abused and there is no one to help them.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
" I think the government, social organisations, they are the ones who should come forward and help them. We had India festivals where we had folk traditions from all over. Nachni is a typical folk tradition of Bengal. We don't have that many, but this is one. The songs of Badhu, these songs are very important and they should be kept alive.
SUPER CAPTION: Sudeshna Roy, Social Worker

In villages where the average wage is less that ten cents a day, the bonded dancers do well economically.

But it is the exploitation and the social stigma that make their lives difficult.

And once a woman becomes a bonded dancer, it's likely that her daughter and granddaughters will suffer the same fate in generations to come.

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