vaishnavi Mehta 
Belly dance is a form of dance, usually, society thinks it can only be performed only by females. Breaking all gender stereotypes, Eshan hilal is the country’s first male belly dancer, and he is just fantabulous in his art. He is an inspiration for the people who stop themselves from going against society to do what actually they love to. Eshan Hilal is great in his art of belly dance, even many girls want to dance and shake their booty like him.
As a male belly dancer, Eshan Hilal is an exception – and in a patriarchal gender-biased country like India, it takes a lot of courage to choose a path like this. His parents beat him to make him stop dancing as a child, but they failed. And still, there is deep tension even as his career goes from strength to strength. Coming from an Indian Muslim family, it was very tough for Eshan to choose Bally dancing as his career.
“For me, worshipping is my dance. I feel connected to God. My blood cells dance with me. When I dance I feel my existence on this planet. I feel like this is the purpose I’m here for.”
___ESHAN HILAL
Actually, when he got interested in dancing, he can’t remember. He just loved to dance. As a five-year-old, he would dance to a song from Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan’s hit film Koyla and everyone found it entertaining. But as he grew older, his family started showing disapproval.
He loved to stay indoors and play with Barbie dolls, rather than paying and riding his bike outside with other boys. Eshan belonged to a Muslim family, and his family believes that dancing is against their religion. They call it HARAM. At the age of 7, her grandmother called him Randi – a word used for a prostitute.
His father Never accepted his love for dancing. He was beaten a lot by him.
Not only parents and family, but Eshan hilal also had to fight with friends and society even. He often has to face comments on his sexuality. Eshan never let these comments bother him, but he gets dishearted to see how so many people assume he is gay or bisexual only because his interests don’t seem manly.
One must always respect the passion, as well as for themselves. Self-believe is Power. Keep hustling even when someone is pulling you down…
__ESHAN HILAL
