Meet Jainil Mehta: The man in a skirt

This 22-year-old man is bending gender stereotypes with his dance... and skirts.

Transcript

00:00Hi, this is Jainal Mehta, the man in skirts.

00:15The one motivation for me to wear skirts is the audience that I'm reaching.

00:22My goal is to spread dance in the funnest way possible.

00:47I used to steal my mom's clothes from her wardrobe.

00:51And wear these skirts.

00:54I just loved twirling in them.

01:01I've had a really rough patch during my school days where I was teased a lot.

01:07Especially because I was dancing my effeminate character.

01:11My grandfather has made me watch this really famous movie called Hum Saath Saath Hai.

01:26And my favorite song was Maiya Yashoda where the three main actors wear these flary skirts.

01:34And that really intrigued me.

01:41I did ballet, contemporary, jazz, hip-hop for 12 years at Shamak Dapur International in Mumbai.

01:53Since I'm here in the US, it really helps me open up a lot more, honestly.

02:12But if I have to be in India right now, at this stage, I wouldn't mind starting men in skirts there too and being on the streets of Mumbai.

02:23The time when I started dancing in skirts in public, on the streets, posting on social media was in 2021.

02:54Being comfortable in your skin, in your body type, loving who you are is really important.

03:02As an artist, as a person, I totally believe in dreaming.

03:08I dream to dance and dream to dance every single day.