*Written by Kanchan Naik, Founder and former Editor-in-Chief of The Roar
South Asian Americans are redefining traditionally heteronormative notions of gender and sexuality. Although the culture is still well on its way towards acceptance of LGBTQ+ identities, Fremont choreographer Amit Patel is bringing Desis — and the dance community as a whole — in the direction of progress.
Patel, who began learning Bollywood dance when was just 10 years old, is a professional choreographer for the Bliss Dance and Mona Khan companies. From performing at national events like the Indiaspora Inaugural Ball in Washington D.C to bagging a spot among the top 48 of America’s Got Talent out of 70,000 acts, Patel has played a major role in the representation of Desi dance on global platforms. His Youtube channel, where he regularly uploads choreography videos for both English and Hindi songs, boasts a whopping 184,000 subscribers. He was a part of Lilly Singh’s historic A Little Late With Lilly Singh’s premiere and a pioneer of Indian Contemporary, a genre of Patel’s own making where he fuses South Asian and Western styles of dance. Patel has been opening doors and bridging barriers for what seems like his whole career, and his latest “Bollywood Heels” projects, where he dances in heels to challenge heteronormative stereotypes, are opening up the dance space for LGBTQ+ community. In an interview with KQED, Patel chronicles both his journey as a dancer and as a gay Indian American man.
“Bollywood dance is constantly evolving”, says Patel. “And it’s okay to be you. It’s about self discovery.”
A Fremont native, he reflected on his upbringing in a ‘tech’ family — one of the many South Asians attempting to reach their version of the American Dream in the Silicon Valley. Bollywood gave Patel the freedom to both connect with his culture as well as a liberating, cathartic mode of self-expression. His love for dance began with the Mona Khan Dance Company, when he joined Khan’s classes held in Milpitas’s India Community Center. Here was where Patel learned to fuse Indian music with contemporary techniques, creating the medleys that lie at the heart of the Indian Contemporary genre.
“I can’t constantly code switch and wear a different hat everywhere I go,” Patel says. “There has to be some happy medium.”
With Indian Contemporary, Patel helped create that ‘happy’, welcoming space for cultural diffusion in dance. With “Bollywood Heels”, his blend of Kathak and Jazz, he aspires to do the same — this time, for dancers of all genders and sexualities. Patel was inspired to initiate change after coming to terms with Bollywood’s internalized heteronormativity.
“As a kid watching Bollywood, I didn’t necessarily question Bollywood,” Patel says, reflecting on his childhood experiences. “All those traditional gender roles and expectations of a male dancer, that I would also be placed in. I didn’t necessarily resonate with that.”
Bollywood Heels seeks to remove these expectations in dance, allowing artists to unabashedly express who they are.
“I just intended to create a space where any queer person that wants to come can explore this movement without judgement,” Patel says. “And, also tie that in with culture, because in our South Asian community, that never existed.”
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