Samiya Mumtaz revisits childhood memories with late dance teacher
Pakistani actress Samiya Mumtaz has shared a series of throwback clips while remembering her late dance teacher, Mrs Mitha, and the childhood lessons that became an important part of her life.
Taking to Instagram, Samiya shared several old clips and recalled meeting Mrs Mitha when she was a young child. She said she could not remember exactly when they first met because she felt she had always known her.
Samiya remembered Mrs Mitha’s signature look, describing her in a sleeveless blouse, cotton saree and a long braid with a paranda that usually matched the colour of her saree. She also remembered her as a smiling and witty woman who was never to be taken lightly.
She revealed that she started taking private dance lessons from Mrs Mitha when she was around six or seven years old at a house in Gulberg, Lahore. Samiya said the lessons included simple dances performed to simple verses and admitted that she was not particularly good at them. After coming home, however, she would teach everything she had learned to her cousin Mahvash, who later also joined the same classes.
According to Samiya, Mahvash was naturally gifted and quickly learned the finer dance movements with rhythm and ease. She also recalled finding an old letter from Mrs Mitha to her mother in which the teacher asked that Samiya and Mahvash rehearse for an upcoming performance, while saying that she preferred Mahvash because she was the better dancer.
Samiya also remembered her years at Lahore Grammar School, where she said she started on the school’s first day in 1979. Mrs Mitha later joined the school as a dance teacher. During those years, students learned folk dances from the region along with fox trots, barn dances and dandia. Samiya said she especially remembered being introduced to classical Bharatnatyam during special rehearsals for the annual Parents’ Day.
She said the classical dance lessons were especially exciting because it was a time before YouTube and the internet. Selected students were trained for tableaux and inter-school competitions, and Samiya recalled that their group often returned as top winners.
Samiya also looked back at the atmosphere of the 1980s and recalled that dance classes at school were at one point renamed “Movement classes”. She said public performances were also restricted to female audiences, which led her to perform at events organised by APWA, Lahore Ladies Club and Kinnaird College for Women.
Outside school, Mrs Mitha also included Samiya in performances whenever she was invited to appear somewhere. After leaving school and joining Kinnaird College, Samiya continued taking private classes with her. When she asked what she needed to do to become a professional dancer, Mrs Mitha advised her to go to India for further training. Samiya later travelled to Delhi to study Bharatnatyam and Odissi at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram.
After returning from India, Samiya said she had detailed discussions with Mrs Mitha about what she had learned. She later realised that her teacher had developed her own way of teaching Bharatnatyam in Pakistan, adapting the terminology, movements and costumes for her students.
Their connection continued for many years. Samiya recalled meeting Mrs Mitha in Lahore and Islamabad, sometimes for dance lessons and later simply to talk. During those conversations, she also heard stories about Mrs Mitha’s own journey in dance, including her experiences in pre-Partition Lahore and Bombay.
Samiya also remembered her work with Ajoka Theatre and said Mrs Mitha would often attend her performances in Islamabad. When Samiya once told her that she missed her dance classes, Mrs Mitha reminded her that she was still dancing through her stage work.
One of the most emotional parts of Samiya’s tribute came when she recalled finding an old WhatsApp conversation after Mrs Mitha passed away. Samiya said she had congratulated her teacher on receiving the Pride of Performance Award in August 2020, and shared part of the reply Mrs Mitha had sent back. In the message, Mrs Mitha said the recognition also included her students, teachers and other people who had been part of her work over the years.
Samiya further revealed that some of the clips she shared came from the 1995 ASR Resource Centre National Conference and Assembly of Development Activists at Alhamra Arts Council in Lahore. At the end of her post, she apologised for the length of her tribute and said the memories had overwhelmed her.
Samiya’s throwback posts remembered Mrs Mitha as the teacher who introduced her to dance at a young age and remained connected to her life for many years.