Dance like a Man

Jairaj Parekh and his wife Ratna, ageing Bharatyam dancers, are engaged in finding a substitute mridangam player to accompany their daughter Lata at her performance at a high-profile dance festival. Lata, in the meantime, nervously awaits the meeting between the parents and Viswas, the young man she wishes to marry. When the four meet, and in the conversations and discussions that follow, the fissures in the relationship between Jairaj and Ratna begin to explode into high-strung battles which lead back to their own youth and the tragedy that lies at the heart of their discord. The younger couple have their own issues to contend with the obvious mismatch between the two sets of parents, the arguments over Lata's career as a dancer after marriage and most unsetting of all Lata's attempt to balance her parents ambition with her own needs and desires.

A brilliant study of human relationships and weakness framed by the age old battle between tradition and youthful rebellion, Dance like a Man has been Hailed as one of the best works of the dramatic imagination in recent times.

About the Author

He is born in Bangalore on 7 August 1958, studied in Bladwin's High School and St. Joseph' s College of Arts and Science, Bangalore.

He has worked as a copy writer in an advertising firm and subsequently with his father in the family business. His theatre group playpen was formed in 1984, and he has directed several plays for them, ranging from classical Greek to contemporary works. In 1986, he wrote his first full length play, Where There's a Will, and from 1995, he has been working full time in theatre. In 1998, he set up his own theatre studio dedicated to training and showcasing new talents in acting, directing and stage writing, the first in the country to focus on new works specifically.

In 1998, Dattani won the Sahitya Akademi award for his book of plays, Final Solutions and other Plays, published by East-West Books, Chennai, thus becoming the first English language playwright to win the award.

Dattai teaches theatre courses at the summer sessions programme of Portland State University, Oregon, USA and conducts workshops regularly at his studio and elsewhere. He also writes radio plays for BBC Radio 4.

He lives in Bangalore.