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Shake that lazy leg
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All hip young things in town, some for sheer fun and others to beat stress, are taking to the dance floor, discovers BHUMIKA K. on the eve of World Dance Day tomorrow
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DEFYING GRAVITY It's a heady, liberating feeling to simply let go and jive PHOTO: K. RAMESH BABU
The drumming of feet, that rhythm and revelry, that energy, that twirl, that grace and charm, those lithe movements, those rapturous expressions... An ode to the body's elegance — the art we all call dance.
Traditional dance has always ruled the roost on the Indian scene. But it is also increasingly sharing space with the modern, fusion, contemporary, the movement arts, adaptations of martial forms and other expressions dance has taken over the years. Purists are outraged by this. Others have accepted it with the flow of modernity and the advent of other "isms" and "isations".
Dedicated youngsters are willing to take to traditional dance forms, devoting all their time and energy to transmitting the tradition. You will still find many young girls (and boys) going to Bharatanatya classes in their school days. But an increasing number of them also stop after a point in time, only to be attracted by Western forms in their teen years.
Fun and funk seems the way to be, going by the number of contemporary dance classes that have sprung up in Bangalore. People sign up to be "in" with their friends and show off, to socialise, meet people in a city they don't know, and sometimes even find love on the dance floor. The older age group is catching up too and beating the yuppies at their game, waltzing gracefully or hip-hopping with teeny boppers, keeping fit and holding sway.
On the eve of World Dance Day (April 29), MetroPlus does a dipstick survey on what dance has done to people and people to dance.
The chemistry
Sonia, an architect in the city, started learning to jive at the Alliance Francaise de Bangalore. She took classes after work three days a week, for an hour each day. "I just wanted to learn some form of dance. And this was also a good form of exercise," says Sonia. At class she met Josh, a marketing manager to whom she is married today. It was sheer chemistry on the dance floor and in the breaks between learning sessions that brought them together. "We do dance now at parties if the music is good and we take quite easily to the dance floor," says Sonia.
Not only are there a large number of dance schools but an equally large number of dance groups that practise dedicatedly and perform at special programmes and competitions. Dance, over the years, has also been stressed as a form of therapy for people with disadvantages.
Dance therapist and choreographer Tripura Kashyap has been working on movement and dance as a tool to help children with special needs. "We are born with movement but as we grow into adulthood, slowly we get more and more inhibited, bodies grow stiffer, society is telling us how to sit and stand. The body has a very narrow movement language," Tripura had earlier said in an interview with MetroPlus. Tripura stresses how such therapies empower parents to see their children in a positive gaze. "Dance helps a child animate herself... gives confidence to everyone involved."
The Swingers, a "place for movements" as they call themselves, teaches dance to a vast range of enthusiasts — three-year-olds to those young at heart at 60. B.R. Prasanna, artistic director of The Swingers, says the culture of parents who feel proud and like to talk about their kids taking dance class is growing in India. Teens flock to them influenced by Shakira's and Britney Spears's groovy moves. "But nearly 40 per cent of our students are corporates and software professionals who look at dance as a fitness and stress-busting regimen. The combination of movement with music is a fantastic stress-buster," says Prasanna.
Most opt for non-professional or "social dancing" classes of salsa, disco funk and hip-hop. "Most of the time one person from a company comes to learn and slowly brings in colleagues and friends. We've had employees come with their boss to enjoy classes!" says Prasanna. Classes begin with warm ups, toning, stretching and shaping up for those rigorous movements.
Fifty-five-year-old Bobby says she loves dancing and it was her passion for dance that drove her to join a hip-hop class at this age. "I had been dancing before marriage too. My husband was in the army and we would dance at parties and social get-togethers. I had learnt ballroom dancing too," she says enthusiastically. A businesswoman now, she also finds that dancing keeps her fit and acts as a stress-buster. Her fellow students in class were curious to see a woman their mother's age learning to dance. But Bobby says she can keep up with youngsters, though she tires once in a way. "My children have now grown up and I have time. I can sweat it out a bit at class. People may laugh at me, but that's OK with me. I am young at heart."
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