New Bollywood Dances
Hi guys!
Sorry I’ve been so slow with making videos – the Google dance studio has eaten my life. =)
We’ve done a few new Bollywood dances, first to Mast Kalandar from “Heyy Babyy”:
Here are the steps slowly:
and here it is with music:
The second dance we’ve done lately is Zoobie Doobie from 3 Idiots:
Here are the steps:
And here it is with the music:
Thanks for coming to class! It’s always great to see you… for those who haven’t been in awhile, the Oracle Bollywood class is on Fridays at 11 am. I have also been teaching these Bollywood routines in Around the World class at Google, Tuesday and Thursday at 4 pm. Finally, we do at least one Bollywood in Zumba class, Mondays at 8:20 am at Reach, or Thursdays at 10 am at 24 hr fitness.
See you soon!
Anna
Oracle Diwali videos
Yeah! We finally have some videos of the Bollywood dance performances at the Oracle Diwali celebration.
Here’s the video from Desi Girl performance:
and Here’s the video from Marjaani performance:
All Oracle employees and family members are welcome to take Bollywood dance class at Oracle on Fridays at 3 pm, see you then!
Bollywood Medley at GoogleMela
Special thanks to this awesomely fun group of dancers who dedicated so much of their time to learn this long and challenging choreography. The performance at GoogleMela was well received, and I can’t believe you learned so much in just 5 weeks.
I enjoyed laughing with the dancers as we figured out the King and Queen lifts for Marjaani, how many times to run in a circle for Aaja Nachle, helping me understand the lyrics to Desi Girl, learning how to jump and push your hands up for Mauja hi Mauja, and such enthusiasm for the ending of Deewangi Deewangi. You guys were a really fun group to work with – looking forward to many more fun evenings of poker, monopoly, movies, and food!
Bhangra class at Google starts next week!
Since we finished the Bollywood series at Google, I have had *so* many requests for more Bollywood / Bhangra classes on campus.
So I am very happy to say that we will have a special 5 week Bhangra class starting next week, running Wednesdays at noon in the Building 46 gym.
This class will be taught by Googler Rasika Kumar, and is free to all Googlers who wish to attend! Rasika is the one responsible for choreographing this awesome Bhangra routine that was performed at Googlemela in August. She grew up dancing in her mother’s dance studio, as is an experienced dancer, teacher, and choreographer.
I hope everyone will come out to attend her classes, they will be great exercise, lots of fun, and a good chance to learn about Indian culture.
Register at g2gDanceFest online.
Discowale Khisko Bollywood Routine
Whew – I didn’t realize these steps were going to be quite so tiring! I’m going to have to come up with some routines that are a little more mellow, eh?
Anyways, from the new movie Dil Bole Hadippa, here are the steps for “Discowale Khisko”:
And here’s the first part with the music:
And make sure to check out the original video, it’s pretty fun, too!
Oracle Diwali Performance
Hi all!
So I’m very excited that we are going to be participating in this year’s Diwali performance.
We will be practicing for on Sundays for the next few weeks, for Desi Girl at 1:30 pm, Marjaani at 3 pm.
Here are a few videos to get you started on the steps:
Desi Girl:
Group 1 Steps:
Group 1 with Music:
Group 2 Steps:
Marjaani Steps:
Marjaani More info on Steps:
Marjaani with Music:
The dance captain for Desi Girl is Vidya Tiru is for Marjaani is Cristal Tsang. They will be contacting you all soon to set up your rehearsals for during the week. I know that many of you are excited to dance in both numbers, but do be aware that there will be lots of rehearsals. If you think you will not be able to go to all the rehearsals, you might want to pick just one dance to perform.
Thank you all for your great energy and fun style, I will see you Friday at 3 pm for class, and review of the steps directly after.
Featured in Times of India article – My Bollywood Classes!
All things India are quite “hot” here in the USA, and India is taking notice of our new “crush” on their styles.
I would be that the American interest is somewhat tied into India’s rising stature in the world of commerce and IT. Further, there are many Indian immigrants living here in the USA and sharing their culture with those around them. But the last push has been in the movies. I don’t think American’s recent interest in India started with Slumdog Millionare. Instead I think there has been a rising awareness of all Bollywood movies, and Bollywood dance appearing on such shows at “So you think you can dance” and “World Superstars of Dance”. As well, I think Bollywood itself has changed a great deal in the last 5-10 years. The quality of the cinematography and music has vastly improved. The costumes, lighting, and technical production are now superb. And the style has changed to look and sound much more American. The way the singers sing now sounds more like American pop than traditional Indian classical singing. All of this makes it easier for an American audience to appreciate Bollywood movies. Even if they don’t understand all of the culture, many elements have come closer to what they are familiar with.
I guess it’s not surprising that India is interested in America’s interest in India (every loves to be loved). So I wasn’t totally surprised when a reporter from India called me to talk about my Bollywood classes. She turned out to be quite a good reporter, asking many thorough questions (everything from when, where, and how I learned to dance, to which Bollywood movie was my favorite). I appreciated that she checked her sources, asking me for additional references at Google and Oracle that she could talk to.
And I was very happy at the result – check out the article in the Times of India!
Love Mera Hit Hit Performance
The very brave crew who performed Love Mera Hit Hit from Billu Barber for all their coworkers and friends at Google!
These folks are were part of the GFit Bollywood dance class (6 week special series), and they come out extra to practice this dance for the GoogleMela performance.
Special thank you to Jimmy and Mike who joined up so that Scott and Sahil could stop worrying about whether they would be the only guy.
Also shouts out to Christine who would have done a lovely job in the show but had a last minute emergency and couldn’t participate. Next time!
Also special thank you to my good friend, Deb Henigson, who choreographed these dance moves originally – before I got ahold of them and changed them up!
By the way, if you haven’t yet seen the original video that goes with this music, the costumes are awesomely hilarious and worth viewing.
Jimmy, Mike, Scott, and Sahil get the choreography started.
So much punching in this choreography!
Pose! (awesome photos by Rebecca Dowell Mashhadian – good job with a substitute camera!)
Aprajita, Anna, Prachi, and Ruchita have flying hair!
GoogleMela Show at Google
So many of you may have been wondering what I’ve been up to for the past month…
There was a big International Cultural Festival celebration timed with India Independence Day this year at Google. I got involved as the performance coordinator / teacher / stage manager / Emcee… lots of hats = lots of fun but also = not doing much else besides the show!
It was great that my GFit Around the World and Zumba classes performed (a cha cha and cumbia, respectively). One of my favorite parts was the ending – we all danced Jai Ho together, and the audience totally got into it! I was so excited that the day had gone so well that I look a little spazzy in the video, but oh well!
I was really happy that my GFit Bollywood class got a chance to perform. I was not planning on dancing with them, but one of the dancers had a last minute emergency and had to fly out of town – so I’m in the mix! This is Love Mera Hit Hit from Billu Barber:
I was also super proud of my Bollywood Medley dancers who put together this crazy long routine in just a few weeks. Even more impressive is that they practiced for weeks with a 16′ by 16′ area in mind, and then had to change it day of to 12′ by 24′. I was so glad that no one fell off the stage!
We’ll be posting the professional videos soon, so check back in – more to come!
Jab we Met – so cute!
If you haven’t yet seen the movie “Jab we Met” it is absolutely adorable. I guess I should really say that Shahid Kapoor is adorable. I don’t usually fall in love with movie stars, but maybe I should start.
Anyways, this is the closing number to the movie, and a whole lot of fun to dance to:
And here it is with some music, Mauja hi Mauja:
I thought it was kind of awesome that the hero of the movie turns his life around, becomes a superstar business person, and gets the girl all by just being a good guy. Apparently the moral of the story is you don’t have to “strive” to do well in the world, you just have to go with the flow and be totally compassionate, doing the right thing for everyone else – then the right thing will magically happen for you! Not the sort of moral you would normally see in a Hollywood movie – I thought it was great.
