Musical throws light on self-defense techniques to empower women

Through his musical, Sakiye Rowthiram Pazhagu, he has been bringing together Bharatanatyam, traditional Tamil theatre kattai koothu and modern theatre to bring confidence into women that they can protect themselves. The group has also been offering workshops for young girls and women to learn the Israeli form of self-defense, Krav Maga, which Jay says can be learnt by anyone irrespective of their fitness levels.

“It was around 2017 when we started to hear about quite a few incidents of violence against women. We read about such issues, and soon move on, but see them repeating again. Most often, women don’t know how to respond to situations when they are under attack. I then began to think if there was something that could be done to help women, when I came across Krav Maga, which can be learnt by all. By making use of the things around, women can protect themselves. We decided to spread awareness on self-defense through a musical as it can have more impact on a person,” Jay tells DT Next, ahead of the staging of Sakiye Rowthiram Pazhagu in the city.

Directed by Jay himself, the hour-long musical draws from iconic Tamil poet Subramanya Bharathi’s works. “Through the production, we aim to create an awareness on the need for self-defense. Considering the attention spans of people in the current day being very short, a dance drama is effective in capturing their interests. As the attacks can happen on both women and men, we want everyone to be able to relate to the musical through their personal experiences. After the performance, we will be offering the audience a free class on Krav Maga techniques, so that the inspiration can be translated into action,” elaborates Jay. For instance, a simple step like carrying a whistle in one’s pockets or handbag can help in raising an alarm in case he or she is being attacked, he stresses.

Through the earlier performances of the musical, he says at least 2,000 women from the city were introduced to the self-defense form. Using the dance drama as a medium to carry the message, he hopes that everyone is aware that a technique like Krav Maga, that doesn’t require a lot of time to learn and is accessible to all. “We also help women who are learning Krav Maga, and want to be experts in that, find employment. Currently, we have about 20 instructors who teach other girls and women across the city at schools and colleges. Since we see molestations happening on infants as well as older women — the self-defense form is for everyone and we encourage everyone to learn it,” he adds.

Jay hopes to work with schools and colleges across the city to introduce a self-defense wing in each one of them, so that students can also learn to protect themselves.

Sakiye Rowthiram Pazhagu will be staged at Phoenix MarketCity on August 17 from 6 pm to 8.30 pm.