art is for all taking a step in making that a reality a bharatanatyam dance school exclusively for members of the transgender community was opened in chennai recently classes are held every sunday and dance enthusiasts can learn the art form free of cost when we landed at the venue we spotted a group of students discussing the mudras and the steps they learnt since the school became operational this month one of them who had arrived early asked why havent the others come yet a second person replied we cant force anyone to come they need to be passionate but within minutes the dance school was brimming with students eager to learn bharatanatyamwe have 1520 students enrolled with us now most of them are working but they take out time for the classes because of their interest in dance master shanmuga sundaram one of indias leading bharatanatyam dancers is teaching them transgender activist kalaimamani sudha told us the dance school is a joint initiative of keralabased sri sathya sai orphanage trust and sahodaran this is the first exclusive dance school for the transgender community in the state informed sudha adding were also ready to arrange classes in other districts if we have enough takersdisha an aspiring model was interested in dance since her childhood my brothers played cricket but i used to spend my time watching dance programmes that were telecast on channels and dancing along disha reminisced my parents would scold me saying that dance was not for boys i studied in a boys school and i used to dance in front of 1001500 students during culturals while i did get comments that shocked me many people encouraged me to take up dance seriously as well though i continued to dance in college and at my workplace as well its only now that ive joined a formal class i hope i learn dance professionally and help others learn as wellamong the students is omana who left her job to concentrate on dance since childhood i had been interested in bharatanatyam but i never got the time or opportunity to pursue it i come from a poor family and this attending dance classes is a big deal for me she told us i used to watch songs on tv and replicate the steps when i started working i joined a dance class but i couldnt find time for both so i quit my job she beamed adding to be here and learn the art form has made me happy i want to pursue it seriously and one day do my arangetramsharing his excitement at teaching an enthusiastic group of students shanmuga sundaram said when i was approached to teach dance to the transgender community i was really happy art is common for all here i am their dance teacher and they are my students i dont see any other difference on the first day when i heard their stories i was inspired to know how many hurdles