Recently, a dear friend sent me an article by Simran Sharma titled ‘A masterclass in cultural piracy: Inside Sheema Kermani’s attempted historical heist of Odissi dance form’. Reading the article and watching the horrific video embedded within it left me filled with rage – both as an artist and as an Indian.At the very outset, the logic presented is deeply flawed. Framing India as having a 5,000-year-old “indigenous” past while reducing Pakistan to a mere 79-year-old nation makes no sense. Prior to 1947, India and Pakistan were one nation, sharing a history, culture and heritage. If Pakistan is only 79 years old, then the modern nation-state of India is also only 79 years old. The history before Partition belongs to both.Furthermore, the idea of an unbroken “5,000-year-old indigenous past” for classical dance has been widely problematised by dance scholars and practitioners alike. It is well-documented that modern classical forms are largely severed from the ancient traditions practiced by hereditary dancers like the maharis, devadasis or nautch dancers. The dances we see today are completely different in function, style, pedagogy, presentation, content and demography.Sheema Kermani never claimed that Odissi did not originate in Odisha. Rather, she pointed out that temple sculptures in the Sindh region and the famous ‘Dancing Girl’ figurine of Mohenjo-daro exhibit postures – like the tribhanga – that resemble modern Odissi. This is a reasonable visual observation; dance-like postures are found in ancient sculptures across the entire subcontinent. There is also nothing wrong with Kermani embracing Odissi as a legitimate dance form in Pakistan, nor did she claim it as a “Pakistani cultural dance form”. When asked for clarification, she explicitly stated: “I have said this – Hopefully, a dance will evolve that we can call our own.”Dreaming of evolving a dance form rooted in Odissi – an art she has repeatedly acknowledged learning in India – is entirely different from claiming ownership over the original form. On a personal level, I relate to this deeply. I initially “belonged” to a specific tradition tied to a particular region with a complex history. Over time, through my own experiences, struggles and triumphs, I have developed an approach to the vocabulary of Bharatanatyam that I can call my own. Every artist who devotes decades of their life to an art form earns the right to make that art their own in some way – to find their own distinctive voice within it.Moreover, ultimately, art cannot be owned or gatekept. It ‘belongs’ to everyone, and certainly to anyone who takes the trouble to learn, master and devote their life to it. If India had not embraced other countries adopting Indian classical dance, our dance forms would never have achieved their current global status. The reason why Bharatanatyam is a global art form today – taught, practiced and performed across Europe, the Americas, England and beyond – is because an earlier India never said, “You’re not Indian, you can’t practice our dance forms”, even though we have to confront the uncomfortable truth that India banned its own citizens – the hereditary dancers – from practicing it. Interestingly, while the article mentions the Maharis, she conveniently fails to address the historical injustices committed against them by our own society.Regardless, it has to be said that Indian contemporary dance would not exist in the form it does, if other nations had barred an Uday Shankar or Rukmini Devi Arundale from accessing their contemporary dance vocabularies. And we must also realise that Shiamak Davar’s famous choreography in Dil To Pagal Hai may not have materialised if other parts of the world had jealously and violently safeguarded their art from us.Also read: Sheema Kermani, Aurat March, Baloch Voices and the Shrinking Democratic Space in Pakistan’s SindhThe author erroneously claims that Kermani suggested that “the entire lineage of temple dancing belongs to Islamabad”. This ridiculous claim appears nowhere in Kermani’s videos or articles. Once again, I sought clarification from Kermani. This is what she said:“Sometimes, people here tell me that Indian classical dances have nothing to do with us, so why do I dance it? If we see similarities between the Mohenjo-daro dancing girl and the Odissi tribhang – perhaps some form of it originated here? My reason for bringing up this possibility is to say that this is a part of our shared culture and history. But a journalist is now claiming I said Odissi never belonged to India. I have never said anything of the sort. That is simply not my ideology.”Kermani explained that her research revealed temple carvings in Pakistan that resemble modern Indian classical dance postures. She simply highlights what is obvious – that we share a deep pre-colonial culture, heritage and history. Despite political borders and grotesquely toxic jingoistic narratives, our commonalities endure. Neither colonialism nor Partition has been able to erase the shared roots between Indians and Pakistanis.The author has used one telling subheading (though she goes on to misrepresent it): “Land is divided, the soul is not.” That is precisely Kermani’s point. The land was divided, but much beyond it remains shared. In many ways, our souls were not divided. Odissi is practiced globally by people of various nationalities, countries, and ethnicities. Those claiming it is exclusively Indian or Hindu are creating divisions in the dance world.The article also attacks Kermani for studying Indian dance on an ICCR scholarship. But isn’t that what the scholarship is for, precisely? Plenty of foreign nationals come to study Indian dance on this scholarship. In a baffling turn, the article goes a step further in also attacking Leela Samson for teaching Kermani, and deliberately misconstruing an inclusive gesture as “stripping away” Kalakshetra’s “sanatani” origins. This was simply not her intention and I can say this confidently because I have known her since I was a child. Moreover, Kalakshetra does not have ‘sanatani’ origins, certainly not in the way that the term ‘sanatan’ has been weaponised by Hindutva.Far from withholding credit, Kermani has always expressed immense gratitude for and fondness about her time in India, both publicly and privately to me. As she explicitly shared:“I have always mentioned in so many interviews and talks the wonderful time I had in India. There was never any feeling of resentment or hatred because I was Pakistani. In fact, when I went to get my visa extension, the officials were incredibly helpful, kind, and amused that someone from Pakistan was learning Odissi! When I went to Odisha, there was so much excitement. I always received encouragement and love from everyone in India.”The author then accuses Pakistan of systematically erasing and suppressing Indian dance within its borders. While it is a well-known fact that practicing dance in Pakistan is a struggle fraught with backlash and criticism, Pakistani society, like all societies of the world, comes with its problems but is not a monolith. I can attest to this from personal experience: when I performed at the Faiz Festival in Lahore last year, mine and the numerous other dance performances, many of them ‘Indian classical dance’ forms, were received with more enthusiasm and appreciation than I have seen at many venues and festivals even within India.Furthermore, even if we unquestioningly accept the claim that Pakistan has spent 79 years suppressing Indian dance, we should be applauding – not vilifying – someone like Kermani, who champions “our” Odissi’s survival there against all odds and against the state itself.The article concludes with the line: “You inherited the soil of Mohenjo-daro, Appa, But the soul of the dance remains exactly where it was born: the temples of Bharat.” It is astonishing how the author fails to recognise that just as Pakistan did not exist when Odissi was born, neither did “Bharat” that is India in its modern sense. They both came into existence in their current form somewhere between the 14th and 15th of August in 1947. Moreover, thinking that the soul of dance can be imprisoned by political borders is a terrible understanding of the soul of art.As I finished reading the article and the embedded video, I must emphasise how deeply violated I felt by the violent language used. Labeling decades of Kermani’s dedication to Indian dance as a “civilizational land grab,” her raising the possibility of dance vocabularies travelling across the shared region as “creative gymnastics,” and calling her questioning a “masterclass in intellectual piracy” is shameful. The sarcastic weaponisation of the word “Appa” – traditionally a term of endearment and respect – only added to the toxicity.The accompanying video sinks even lower. It hurls derogatory slurs at Kermani, calling her a “bin pendi ka lota” from “border ke uss paar” (a base-less, shifting pot from across the border), dismissing her art as “cheap propaganda”. The ultimate cherry on this xenophobic cake is the casual, caustic remark: “Pakistanion se toh kuch umeed hoti nahi hai (One can’t expect anything much from Pakistanis).” This is not journalism; it is a hateful, jingoistic rant, designed to divide and instigate hate.As an Indian, an artist, and a human being, I am deeply ashamed to read and listen to this ignorant, venomous vitriol directed against a fellow dancer. It is driven by someone who clearly knows nothing about the subcontinent’s cultural history, possesses no knowledge of Indian dance traditions, and holds absolutely no respect for artists. I have always said this and will always abide by it: Art belongs to everyone. It is not meant to be exclusively owned, but rather universally shared. Anyone who claims otherwise is no friend to the arts, to artists, or to humanity.Aranyani Bhargav is a dancer, choreographer, writer and educator; and Artistic Director of Vyuti Dance Company.