Moonwalking with the ‘Michael Jacksons' of good-old Kochi

New Indian Express

8 hours ago

Way before 'Moonwalk' flickered to life on screen, Sreejith P, 'dance master' of the film, had already choreographed it in spirit. Decades ago. In the bylanes of Tripunithura, on the dusty grounds of Thoppumpady, along vacant corridors, and inside tiny rented rooms.
For Sreejith, 'Moonwalk' is not a film. It's a memory. It's survival. It's poetry. It's an ode to those who danced before they knew what a dance studio was, before Instagram reels turned a pirouette into a punchline.
'I saw myself in every scene,' he says. 'When the film wrapped, I cried. I remembered the kid who danced alone in a corridor, mimicking Michael Jackson moves seen once on a neighbour's TV. I remembered the years where I had no floor to rehearse on, just imagination.'
Sreejith grew up in Tripunithura. But his first true steps into dance began in Thoppumpady. Every summer, his parents would send him and his brother to their grandmother's home. And it was here, outside the Thoppumpady church, that he encountered something transformative.
'They had these local shows, sometimes with recorded music playing from a speaker, sometimes with just claps. It wasn't polished. But it was raw, powerful. It was breakdance. I was 10. It lit a fire in me,' he recalls.
His brother, who passed away in 2007, was a quiet cheerleader. 'We used to try moves at home, watching street performers and imitating them. Those were our masterclasses.'
Sreejith began his formal journey at Kalabhavan, learning under the legendary Johnson Master, a name that echoes in most breakdancers' memory from that era. 'There would be 300 people in a batch. I always stood at the back,' he recalls. 'I was shy. I had no confidence. Johnson sir saw me and pulled me to the front. That moment changed my life.'
Today, Johnson Master runs a cycle shop. But for Sreejith, he remains a monument. 'He was the best dancer India never knew. He didn't chase fame. He danced with madness. Passion. That's what I miss in today's generation,' says Sreejith.
Now, Sreejith runs Dazzlers Dance Studio, with branches in Kadavanthra, Vyttila and more. But his proudest creation is Boho Space — a sanctuary in Tripunithura for any artist needing silence, solace, or a place to just be.
Sreejith believes he helped birth a new dance language in Kochi — one rooted in breakdance but blossoming into cinematic storytelling. 'There was a time when dance in Malayalam cinema meant a few steps behind the hero. We changed that. Now it tells a story,' he says.