When I see them coming from the drama practical,
Taking of their exam and returning back,
I mean the learners,
Dressed and made up

And after seeing them, forget I my poetry
And start thinking about their performing art,
Trough dancing
They saying it all

With their poses and postures in movement,
Expressions of sorrow and happiness,
Expressing through signs and symbols,
Rhythmic movement and break-up of limbs.

Just like puppets, the old puppet dances of India
And the artistes making it happen
Through a thread,
Where that art and tradition?

Just like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata artistes
They enacting
The episodes as per their strength,
The love-romances of Krishna.

I see the dance school boys and girls coming from
After taking their practical exam
And the make-up men
Have tried to add the grace.

But what have the artistes got,
All those who have kept up the tradition
By being a courtier, a bai, a nautch girl
Or a devadasi, say you?

The arts ruined into the hands of the fanatics and conservatives,
Bad name was attached to,
The company too prevailed upon
And the nautch girls turned into replicas.

Bijay Kant Dubey

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-dance-school-boys-girls/