Breaking tradition and letting passion win …Vicky’s kathak story

Apr 05, 2026 News

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By Telesha Ramnarine

(Kaieteur News) – When young Vicky’s traditional Hindu grandparents learnt that he wanted to switch from singing to dancing, it was a no, from them. There were no dancers in the family, and more so, no male dancers; no male who wanted to do kathak at least (a form of Indian classical dance).

But ‘Vicky’ – Purnanand Vickram Danpat – absolutely loved dancing as a child growing up. He’d be in his room and put on dance videos taking careful note of the choreographies and even practicing some of the moves. He knew that his beloved grandparents – Raywattie and Chitram Arjune – with whom he started living when he began secondary school would never have it, but being the charismatic, determined, at times slightly “rebellious” personality that he is, he knew that he’d allow nothing to hinder him from the path he wanted to pursue.

In 2022, one of Vicky’s sisters, Chitrani Persaud, was getting married and for some reason, Vicky was the only one who was interested in dancing for the Mehendi/Sangeet Night. So being the “little star” that he was, he performed a song by himself and did another with his cousins whom he had tried to help match his speed and rhythm. About two months later, Chitrani told Vicky about the Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha’saudition for Naya Zamana 24 (an annual stage production and dance show).

“I remembered thinking: ‘How can I do this without my grandparents saying no?’ So I said to myself: ‘They don’t have to know, and if I get through, then they can’t stop me.’ I became a little rebellious,” Vicky, a former student of the Dharmic Rama Krishna Primary and Christ Church Secondary recalled in an interview with The Waterfalls.

So Vicky took a short video in his kitchen and sent it in to the Sabha. He was called a few days later and invited to the Kendra for an in-person audition. Little did he know that this was going to be the starting point of a professional dance career.

Vicky, now 19, a Campbellville, Georgetown boy, didn’t tell his grandparentsthat he had to go until the day of the audition. “They were like no, but I told them they can’t stop me because I felt I was ready,” he shared. When he arrived, there were about 20 other persons auditioning who all seemed older and more experienced in dance than him. Yet, he was among the five chosen and training started immediately. “My body was sore when I got home, and after that, it was weekly training until it turned to daily,” Vicky recalled.

As he practiced for the show week after week, he hoped that his grandparents would attend, but they said that they didn’t think they’d be able to sit through the event for such a long time. To his knowledge, no one in his family had gotten tickets, so when Chitrani and her husband surprised him and showed up, he was nothing short of heartened. “I was so happy. I actually cried on stage when I saw them,” he expressed.

After the show, Vicky was dancing for almost every other one that came up, except when it clashed with CSEC (Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate).

Easing in

One year into his dancing, Vicky’s grandmother almost came around to accepting his dance. The family had a puja (prayer) at home, but he refused to sing. “It was my grandfather’s birthday, and I did a Krishna dance. I was doing spinning as part of the choreography and all I noticed was my grandmother’s face dripping; she’s crying out of happy tears,” he reflected. He thought she was sad or offended by something he had done. “When the dance ended, she started to cry more. She said this was really nice, so I said: ‘OK, so you’re giving into it now.’ She’s like, ‘maybe, but I still prefer you to sing.’”

While his grandparents have been more accepting recently, they are not fully there as yet. One day, he said, he might return to singing in the mandir to make them happy. “My grandmother eventually confessed to me that her father wore the Ghungroos (small metallic bells tied around a dancer’s ankles) to dance for weddings and so. But since he passed away, there were no other guys dancing in the family.”

So, Vicky, a teller at a city bank for about two years now, understands his grandparents’ reservations as this is like something new to them all over again. Kathak, he observed, is perceived as a more feminine type of dance, but he believes that dance is for everyone. “It is a word derived from ‘katha’ meaning story. So, a kathak dancer is a storyteller essentially. It’s an inclusive thing; dance is for anybody,” he shared.

Vicky, a member of the Dharmic Nritya Sangh (dance group), drew attention to the judgmental nature of society in which uninformed people perceive things in the wrong way at times. “Some people want to start dancing, but they are scared of the environment. We live in a judgmental, as Guyanese say, ghetto community where the minute a guy moves a certain way, they’re gay, they’re feminine, they’re an embarrassment to society,” he pointed out, adding, “I don’t see myself as an embarrassment; I see myself as a proud representation of the Hindu society.”

Vicky is happy that he was afforded the opportunity to learn kathak as it is one of the only dance forms in the country for which trained people are around to teach. Other forms of classical dance include Odissi, Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Manipuri, Mohiniyattam, Sattriya, and Chhau. Even while maintaining his bank job, Vicky definitely sees himself continuing to dance – a childhood love and passion that he pursued without letup.

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• kathak, Naya Zamana, Purnanand Vickram Danpat, tradition, Vicky

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