Indian Dancing

On Wednesday 16^th November 2005, we had a really good afternoon. We did some Indian dancing called Bollywood dancing. We did a warm up to start with. We had to jog on the spot to start with, and then we had to stand on one foot and with the other foot, slowly our foot round in circles. Then we had to do the same but swap feet. After we’d finished doing that we circled our hands round in circles. Then after that we started our dance.

We had to stand in a circle and we would each get told a number 1, 2 or 3. Then when we had done that the lady showed us how to do some moves with our hands. These were some of the moves we learnt. To make the deer with your hand you had to put the two fingers that are next to your thumb, and then put them together. Then with the other two fingers separate them slightly. Another one was the Eagle. You had to put all your fingers and separate your thumb. Following that you had to curl your thumbs round each other. One more was the snake and you had to put all your fingers together, and curl all your fingers slightly. Then after we had learnt some of them we had to make a little sequence up using 3 of the animals she had shown us. Then the lady would call out a number either 1, 2 or 3 and all the people which had that number had to go into the middle and perform their sequence. Then after that we would have to choose a partner and make a short story up using each other’s sequences. My partner was Molly. We used the eagle and the fish. First we used the eagle one of us went low and my partner went high. As if the eagle was flying then flying low. Then we used the fish. We both twisted round then one of us went to the left and my partner went to the right. We were going from left to right as if the fish was swimming from left to right.

It was a really good afternoon and me and the rest of my class really enjoyed it. It was a brilliant day and I would recommend it to anybody who enjoys dancing. It is for girls and boys and also for all age groups above 5 years old. You have a really good performance at the end of the sequence. It involves a lot of listening because otherwise you would be stepping on people toes and falling over all the time. You need 2 or more people to do the Indian dancing.

Article by Erin Tubman.

[Go to Workshops & Visits]