Video transcript
The Arts Unit @home Art Bites – Bollywood dancing

[music playing - 1234 Get On The Dance Floor]

VOCALIST: (SINGING) One, two, three, four, get on the dance floor. One, two, three, four, get on the dance floor. Booty shake, booty shake. Dappan koothu hard core.

Shoulder hichak michak. Body hichak michak.

Gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme some more.

SHYAMLA: Hi. My name's Shyamla, and I'm a School Spectacular featured dance choreographer in the style of Bollywood dancing. And that's what we're going to be doing together today, that comes from an area in India called Mumbai.

Now, when Mumbai was colonised by the British, they named it Bombay. And what Indians do is they took the B from Bombay and they mixed it with the word Hollywood. B = Hollywood, Bollywood. And that refers to the Hindi speaking film industry in India.

So to do some Bollywood dancing today, you are going to need a scarf. The scarf needs to be about this big and when you hold it up in the air, it should come about halfway down your back, because we're going to use it to hide our face, look up, dance around, and have a bit of fun.

I don't know about you, but I'm really missing performing as a dancer right now during isolation. So it is about having some fun, trying something new, and spicing up your isolation too. So what are we waiting for? Let's go.

[warm up]

[music playing - Chammak Challo by Akon and Hamsika Iyer]

VOCALIST: (SINGING) Girl, you're my chammak challo. Where you go, girl, I'm gonna follow. What you want, girl? Just let me know. You can be my chammak challo. Shawty, I'm gonna getcha. You know I'm gonna getcha. You know I'll even letcha. Letcha be my chammak challo.

Kaisa sharmaana aaja nachke dikha de. Aa meri hole aaja parda gira de. Aa meri akhiyon se akhiyaan mila de. Aa tu na nakhre dikha.

Wanna be my chammak challo? Wanna be my chammak challo? Wanna be my chammak challo? Wanna be my chammak challo?

SHYAMLA: Now that you're all warmed up, I'm going to break down four famous Bollywood moves.

'Thumka'. Thumka just means to hit whether you hit your head or your hips. Thumka means to hit or to jerk. Now, if you're a boy, you can still thumka. If you don't want to put your hands behind your head, you can just do it here Bollywood hero style. But I'm going to do the girl version.

One hand on your hips, one hand behind your head, and facing at a 45 degree angle like this. Put your weight in the back leg and make sure the front leg is free. Then bend both your knees. Now you're ready to hit. You can hit up, up, up, up or down, down, down; and try to add your eyes up, up, up, up and down, down, down.

[non-english singing]

OK, now that you know how to move your hips, we're going to learn how to use our legs Indian style with something called a 'Village Walk'. Now, a village walk is like a normal walk in that when you walk, naturally it's your opposite hand to leg. If you don't believe me, try it. It gets really weird if you try to walk with your same arm to leg.

So in the village walk, it's like a normal walk. Whatever foot you use, you use the opposite hand. But we're also going to turn to the side and bend down like we're doing a small squat. And you've got to learn to count 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3. And that's how we're going to move our feet.

'Full Bollywood'. Fingers outstretched. Energy. Faces. We go 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3. Nod your head, and turn 1, 2, 3. Get ready to turn again 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3. Like every step is exciting 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3. If you do that the right way, you get nice and low, you really feel a burn.

[non-english singing]

In India, you need to know how to whistle to get above all of the noise. So let's do the legs first. With our legs, soft knees. You're going to do a pelvic thrust and jump at the same time. Let's try it. So bend your knees and we go 1, 2, 3, 4. Other way 1, 2, 3, 4. So every time you thrust forward, you jump. Let's go 5, 6, 7. Call your friends 2, 3, 4. Other way 1, 2, 3, 4. You whistle.

[whistles] [whistles]

[whistles] [whistles]

Other way.

[whistles]

[whistles] [whistles] [whistles]

[non-english singing]

And that's how you call your friends 'Indian Style'.

Now for a bit of a challenge. 'Kollywood' style footwork. Kollywood is the Tamil film industry from India, which comes from the south. But this song that we're doing is a mixture of Kollywood and Bollywood, so we're going to try this move.

You're going to use the hand, we like to work with opposites again. Opposite hand to link to balance, so pick up one leg, tap it with the opposite hand, and put it down. Try that the other side up, down, up, down. With the twist up, down, up, down. You've got it.

Now we're going to go 1, then you're going to pivot from your knee,

use this hand to touch your heel 2, 3, 4. Let's do that again. We go behind, side, front, down. Can you try it the other side? Let's go. Takes a moment 1, 2, 3, 4. Let's see if you can go a little bit faster. You ready? 1, 2, 3, 4. Other side 1, 2, 3, 4.

[music playing - 1234 Get On The Dance Floor]

VOCALIST: (SINGING) One, two, three, four, get on the dance floor. One, two, three, four.

SHYAMLA: OK, you have all the ingredients for the chorus. We start with our Kollywood style footwork to go 1, 2, 3, 4. You already know your whistle. Two jumps. Get on the dance floor.

New step. You're going to do a 'Booty Shake', because that's what it says in the music. Push your hands this way, push your booty that way and shake it. Booty shake, booty shake. Two village walks 1, 2. Tap your shoulders. Shake it. Tap your hips. Shake it. Gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme some more.

Let's try it a little bit faster. If you go the wrong way, it doesn't even matter, that's part of the fun. Here we go. Feet apart. We're going to use this hand and this leg. Let's do it 1, 2, 3, 4, jump, jump, booty shake, booty shake, village walk, shake your shoulders, shake your hips, call everyone.

[music playing - 1234 Get On The Dance Floor]

VOCALIST: (SINGING) Gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme some more. One, two, three, four, get on the dance floor. Booty shake, booty shake.

Dappan koothu hard core. Shoulder hichak michak. Party hichak michak.

Gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme some more.

SHYAMLA: OK, it's time to have some fun with our veil. So you're going to place your hands about a third of the way along on each side, which is about here. Show me the expression of shyness. So the way we take the veil. Put it over your head, and we're going to start like this. Let's start with the left leg behind, and you're going to flick it down.

What the lyrics say is, 'after hiding the full moon behind my veil and hiding it from the whole world, I brought it here for you.'

So we're going to flick. Flick. Bring your veil up. Look side to side with your eyes. Twirl your veil, as you twirl, you take your leg around and bounce twice. Now, you're going to extend your left leg, point your toe. Hide yourself. Look up to the camera. Twirl your veil however you like and lose it.

[non-english singing]

'Bollywood Hero Turn'. OK, so this hero is very frustrated. He says, 'I'm between a rock and a hard place. I don't know whose blessing I've got'. He's talking about with his lady. So you're going to put one hand on your hip, one hand like this, and flip your 'chapati'. Chapati is Indian flatbread, otherwise known as roti. So bend four times and flip your chapati in a little semicircle like this. 'I am between a rock and a hard place'.

Now you're going to take your chapati hand, shoot it up to the sky and clap.

Then throw your chapati hand to the other side in 'alapadma'. Alapadma is coming from classical Indian dance means lotus flower, half lotus. So you're going to throw it up. Then you're going to take that hand, put it behind your head, and appeal to the audience. The legs go like this 1, 2, 3, 4. Out and swap. Plie up. Let's try it. We go 1, 2, 3, 4, clap and throw. Plie up.

[non-english singing]

In the last part of the male section, you're going to wander around unsure of whose blessing you have for courting the beautiful lady. So you're going to go to one corner. You've just finished singing like this. Now you're going to take that leg and you're going to use the 1, 2, 3 pattern that we did in our village walk with the feet.

But we're going to go forward and back, forward and back, forward and back. With the hands and the face. So your face needs to look hopeful, unsure, hopeful, unsure, hopeful, unsure. Then running back to the spot and your hands are slowly coming up, because we're going to do a big Bollywood style jump afterwards.

So with our feet, we go 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, hands down and up. And Bollywood pose. Call, call, jump, hands. Thumka your hips. Try it again 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, hands past your knees and jump. Call your friends. Down, up, hip check, hip check.

[music playing - 1234 Get On The Dance Floor]

[non-english singing]

VOCALIST: (SINGING) One, two, three, four, get on the dance floor. One, two, three, four, get on the dance floor. Booty shake, booty shake.

Dappan koothu hard core. Shoulder hichak michak. Body hichak michak.

Gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme some more. One, two, three, four, get on the dance floor. Booty shake, booty shake. Dappan koothu hard core.

Shoulder hichak michak. Body hichak michak. Gimme,

gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme some more.

SHYAMLA: That was awesome. Thank you so much for dancing with me and for sharing a bit of the joy of Bollywood. I hope that you're nice and sweaty like I am and that just lifted your spirits and your heart rate while getting a little bit of Indian culture thrown in there as well.

Thank you so much for having me, and I hope I get to share a few more Indian styles with you in the future. Namaste and shukriya.