 "Photo: Jacqui Rogers")
On Friday, April 9th, Shub Gill hosted a Bollywood workshop in the main gym of Green River Community College (GRCC). Shub Gill, a teacher at Rhythms of India Dance School, taught several people chorography to the song Jai Ho. The Hindi song Jai ho was first popularized in the movie Slumdog Millionaire and became more main-stream through the release of the English version sang by the The Pussycat Dolls.
The opportunity to learn a Bollywood dance routine attracted the attention of varying types of people; some with ballet experience, others had taken tap and there were even some who had experience in other Hindi dance styles and some without any dance experience. These students also varied in age, from a couple closing onto their 15th anniversary to college-aged students.
The routine was divided up into and taught in about 16 steps. It would start off with the students being taught the 16 steps without the music. After she taught those 16 steps, she would turn on the music and the group would perform what they knew.
Once the performance ended, she would then teach another 16 steps without music and proceed to turn on the music for the next performance. For each performance, you are to perform each section that she taught, in the order she taught it in.
As she got to certain sections of the routine, she would take the time to explain to the dancers what the meaning of certain hand gestures and poses were to the culture of the dance.
Though the group rarely asked questions during the teaching, when they had a water break many came up to her asking for a card or about the dance school. Also, the students used those water breaks as a time to continue practicing what they had learned up to that point.
The atmosphere of the workshop was very relaxed and among the students there was a varying degree of dedication to the learning process, which would become obvious during the performance with the music where you would have students doing certain things in the wrong direction and even those who gave up half way through and just do their own thing.
All in all, this was a very educational and entertaining workshop that showed students a different style than many were used to in order to enhance their cultural awareness. To learn more about Shub Gill and the dance school, Rhythms of India, visit their website at www.rhythmsofindia.net.
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