vf Boogie! f v Orff Chapter Share MMEA 2016 Rachel Wixson [email protected]

India Fun Facts • Diverse geographically, culturally, religiously. o Over 400+ languages! o Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Jain, Jewish, Sikh, Catholic o Mountains (Himalayas), Deserts, Wet Jungles, Dry Jungles o Cities with 20+ million people to tiny villages o Ancient historical traditions blended with the modern • Famous Indian Connections: o Taj Mahal, Jungle Book, Mahatma Gandhi, SPICES (pepper, ginger, cardamom…), Tea, Color Runs- Hindu Holiday of Holi!

Bollywood Characteristics: • Hindi film industry based in • 1,000+ films made a year (twice # of Hollywood) • History of epic stories in Indian culture- ancient, love (often tragic), action/violent. Now more variety (comedic etc) • Almost all have music and dance, stemming from a long history of storytelling through music, dance, and theater • Modern influences such as Hollywood, MTV, etc have shaped dance, plot lines, locations, and costumes within the past 20 or so years • Movies are LONG, 3+ hours, usually with an intermission • Costumes, sets, overall visual effect is elaborate, bright, and considered an important part of the movie • Scenes around the world often during songs (especially love songs where the couple is seen randomly at sights around the world that may have nothing to do with the story). • Same singers used for most movies (actors lip sync)

Dance Characteristics/Origins:

• Indian classical dance (from multiple traditions), folk dance. Original Bollywood films relied solely on these traditions for choreography • Now, hip hop/popular music, jazz, and dance steps from other cultures are mixed in • Energetic/Bouncy! • Head/hip/hand shakes • Girl groups vs. boy groups (wedding traditions), often split genders (stemming from a modest tradition) but now often dance together as well.

DANCE STEPS AS LEARNED FROM ANKUR PARIEKH, Mumbai, India, 2010-2013

Hands:

Lotus: Cup hands together facing up with thumbs and pinkies connected, other fingers spread out/up to create a Lotus Flower (a sacred flower). Raise Lotus from heart level to overhead keeping it facing the sky. One foot crossed in front on the ball of the foot.

Fan Hands: Spread fingers really wide bringing pinkies and ring fingers slightly in (hand should not be flat).

Sprinkle Seeds: From Lotus or Fan Hands, keep hand position of either and bring hands forward and back on either side of you “sprinkling seeds” from high to low. Peacock: Place thumb, pointer, and middle finger together, with ring and pinky fingers pointing up

OK/Squash OK: Meet your thumb and pointer finger to create a rounded O with the other three fingers up (OK). Take the OK finger position but then “squash” the O towards you hand to make more of an oval (Squash OK).

Full Body

Horse/Bounce Step: Put weight on one foot with the other foot raised on the ball of the foot. Push up on the ball of that foot and then back down (never touching the heel to the floor). Now using that step, travel from side to side, switching feet as needed (this is often used to get from one formation to another).

Forward/Back Swing: Arms- Swing arms up and out and then back down crossing the body and out and down. Feet- with one foot stationary (ie L), the other (R) leans/steps forward (putting weight but not lifting the back foot (L) totally off the ground) and then the moving foot (R) swings back and leans/steps backward.

Knees Up: Feet/Legs- in place, step hop on R foot while lifting up L knee, repeat with opposite leg. Arms/hands- choose favorite hand position to hold while moving legs and feet (Peacock, Ok, Squash OK)

Shoulder Shake: With arms out front/low, move R shoulder forward and L shoulder back then switch back and forth on the beat. You can lean forward and back as well with this step.

Windshield Wiper (a Person, not the car part): Repeat motions for shoulder shake but now pretend your hands are two open cloths to wipe a windshield first up high, then down low.

Basic Hip Shake: Legs/feet- Put weight on one leg/foot (R) with opposite leg (L) pointed out up on the ball of the foot with knee bent out. Bend weight foot (R) up and down swinging hips down and (R) and then up and (L). Arms- If weight is on R foot, R arm is up and R hand is behind head, L arm is down and L hand rests on L hip.

Muscles: Arms- With closed fist, pull arm from high to low ‘showing off your muscles’ then switch arms. Feet- place/jump same side heel out as you pull arm down, the switch with other arm. Opposite hand is on hip.

Light bulbs: With an open stance, pretend to hold two light bulbs you’re about to screw in above you and to the R. Now screw them in across the sky from R to L and the back. Add head, shoulder, and hip shakes on the beat as you are able.

Skip/Skip and Clap: Self explanatory! Used to get from one formation to another, especially if Horse Step is too complicated.

Poses: Used for waiting periods or other dramatic moments. Great opportunities to explore levels and shapes, as singles or in groups.

3 Step Turn: Step on R, rotating clockwise and step on L facing the back, continue to rotate clockwise ending on the R facing the front. Often finished with a clap. Repeat going opposite direction.

Side to Side with Partner: Both facing the front with one standing in front of the other. One leans R while other leans L looking in at one another the switch back and forth. Add outside arm stretched up and out to enhance the symmetrical look. We added a nod at each other in the dance for fun/playfulness.

Horse Turn With Partner: Using the horse step, face partner holding rights to rights and lefts to lefts and turn (as fast as you can without falling over/letting go!). If horse step is too hard, side gallop works too. Elbows NWSE: With R elbow and R hip/foot, dot each direction in a counter clockwise circle with L hand on L hip. Your R foot will bounce each direction while L foot mainly stays put. Can do on L side going clockwise as well.

Head shake: Keeping shoulders still, move head in a straight motion side to side (not tilting head/ears towards shoulders)

“Dholna” as choreographed by Rachel and her students using above steps as learned today.

RUN/POSE (give students numbers to “enter on stage” to Position 1)- unmetered SKIP/CLAP TO CIRCLE (16 beats) LIGHT BULBS R-L-L-R/KNEES UP (8/8- Repeat, 3 times total). 48 beats “OH”- WAVE 16 beats SWING UP/CLAP NEIGHBOUR (8/8- Repeat, 2 times total). 32 beats -girls to front boys to back or side (in pose “watching”) Horse Step to get there- 16 beats GIRLS LOTUS/FAN HANDS and SPRINKLE (raise Lotus for 4 sprinkle seeds for 4- Repeat 2 more times times, End with Head Shake on the beat (8 beats and use favorite hand position one either side of head). 32 beats total -Boys ‘shoo’ away girls and move to center (skip and clap or Horse step), girls off to side in a watching pose. 16 beats. BOYS MUSCLES/SLASH. R the L taking 2 beats each for 16 beats. “Slash” elbow out R then L (8 beats). Then ‘Show Muscles to the World”- turn doing same step for 16 beats. 40 beats “OH”- ALL SCATTER using Horse or gallop to Position 1 face front. 16 beats. 3 STEP TURN CLAP/HEAD SHAKE. 3STC R then 3STC L (8 beats)/ Head Shake with Hand Position (8 beats). Repeat for 2 times total. 32 beats. “Mingle”- walk/point/shake/high five around room ending up with partner. 24 beats. PARTNER SPIN/PARTNER LOOK/NOD. Spin one way for 8 beats, then the opposite for 8 beats. End up with one in front the other behind for Partner Look (take 2 beats for each side)- look 4 times and then look 4 times adding arms. Finish with 8 nods to partner (8 beats). 40 beats. Girls Hip Shake/Boys skip/clap in circle around girl. OR partners skip and clap in circle to one another.16 beats. LIGHT BULBS/KNEES UP to partner. 8/8 beats. Repeat for 2 ½ times total. 40 beats. “OH” Horse to circle spots. 16 beats OH OH! (Jump) LIGHT BULBS/KNEES UP to Circle. Repeat for 4 times total. 64 beats. “OH”- WAVE. 16 beats. 4 DIRECTION ELBOWS. 8 beats (2 beats per direction). Repeat for 2 times total. 16 beats WINDSHIELD/3 STEP TURN CLAP. WS up (2 beats) WS down (2 beats) 3STC to the RIGHT. Repeat getting faster, circle moving counter clockwise. 6 times total. For fun- have a “hot shot” go to the center and do flips, turns, breakdance moves, barrel rolls. Etc. -48 beats. FINAL POSE!!!

MUSIC USED TODAY: • “Chammak Challo” from “Ra One” (2011) performed by and (available on iTunes). Basically means ‘want to be my girl’ ‘flirty girl’- meant in a playful way. Performed by the hero to his lady. • “Rangilo Maro Dholna” from Pyar Ke Geet (1999 music video) performed by Arbaaz Khan & Malaika Arora. She is singing about wishing her husband home safely from war. On Youtube.

Looking for more? Available on iTunes: “Bollywood Dance Hits” for $11.99 –Released June 2012 Super Cassettes Industries Ltd. This includes Chammak Challo. More current movie hits from the past 10 years or so. Always preview music before using with kids!

BOLLYWOOD MOVIES FOR YOU TO ENJOY (maybe students depending): • Bride and Prejudice (this is actually an American film in Bollywood style. Most accessible as it’s in English and not as long). • Mohabbatein (a music teacher comes to an all boys high school to challenge the head master’s strict rules and teaches the students how to fall in love). In Hindi with subtitles. Less student friendly but good to understand Bollywood/India: • Devdas, Kal Ho Naa Ho, My Name is Khan, Lagaan, 3 Idiots, Monsoon Wedding, Slumdog Millionaire (American film). Great India Documentary Series: The Story of India by Michael Wood (through BBC/PBS). 6 part series that goes through the complex and amazing history of how India came to be what it is today.

SOME FAMOUS BOLLYWOOD ACTORS • Irrfan Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Salman Khan, Shahrukh Khan, Aami Khan, Amitabh Bachchan (men) • Kajol, Priyanka Chopra, Aishwary Rai, Sri Devi, , Jaya Bachchan

BOLLYWOOD RESOURCES IN THE TWIN CITIES (people who know way more than me!): • Bollywood Dance Scene at Tapestry Folk Center (MPLS). http://www.bollywooddancescene.org/ • RGK Modern Indian Dance Academy (Plymouth/Shoreview). http://www.rgkdance.org/

*Most names of dance moves are not “official” names but rather what Ankur used to teach and describe in our classes.

**Side note: I do not suggest watching (at least with students) Bollywood movies from the 50’s-70’s or so unless previewed or recommended. Many are either violent or include a rape scene or other unsavory content for school. There are a lot of fun clips however on youtube of songs and dance scenes from these eras as well as from the 30’s-40’s. Use your discretion!

*** When showing clips of scenes to students, remember to have a discussion about context. Clothing, dance moves, jewelry, scenery, social norms, may be different, strange, or even weird to students. For example, the woman’s formal sari that has a bikini like top exposing the belly area was something a few of my students wondered if it was “inappropriate” but after a discussion on what is beautiful and elegant to one culture may be different to another and different does not mean bad, students were able to watch and understand in the context of the culture. A great opportunity for questions and interesting discussions.