Capuchin brothers’ Christmas dance spreads cheer amid Covid era

Wearing their Capuchin tunics, eight young men joyfully dance to a Christmas song.
Many have been widely sharing this video of their performance online with comments such as, ‘Who knew there are such good dancers among Kerala priests!’ and ‘Are they allowed to dance?’
The eight young ‘to-be priests’ from Capuchin Vidyabhavan in Thellakom, Kottayam, and the 60-odd team behind them say it was simply an attempt to spread some cheer during the corona-laden Christmas this year.The dance is also part of a Christmas album conceived by Kochi-based German scholar cum composer Fr Shinto Edassery, who tells us, “I have done devotional music albums and secular tracks during times like floods and the early months of the pandemic, to help people across religions stay positive. All of us have been mostly stuck in homes without many entertainment platforms in the past few months.”

Shinto says he felt that a non-devotional, yet Christmassy album can spread cheer sans religious barriers, this December. He continues, “And I planned it with my friends, musician Domnic Martin, filmmaker Jomit Jose, Josna and Abyson. We felt that a dance sequence for the album would also be good, as Malayalis generally like to dance and celebrate, like carol groups do in December. We didn’t feel a cinematic style would suit it, but still wanted it to be different, youthful and something that would urge a viewer to shake a leg. I started looking for some good dancers for that and zeroed in on those at Capuchin Vidyabhavan.”

The challenge was to ensure that not even an ounce of vulgarity creeps into their moves, as the plan was to have the dancers perform wearing their habits. Shinto, who briefed the Capuchin brothers on a formation he had in mind, left the choreography to them. “They came up with the right, energetic moves, learnt them in two days and sent across the video that we integrated with the album,” Shinto says.

The album, which follows a story format, shows how an orphan girl’s Christmas wishes are fulfilled by a few priests on Christmas Day. Brother Abin Jacob, one of the dancers, says, “We often perform dance, skits and more in the seminary and so, we could do it well. Our friends and family said they were happy to see us dancing in our habits, all smiling, and that meant a lot.”