Give dance a chance
Building confidence through dance
Bollywood dance has no rules, no sterotypes. You don't have to be a girl or a boy to do it. You can be from any part of the world. From a nuclear or blended family.
You can dance fast or slow, alone, with a partner or in a large group. You can jump in and join a group anytime. No prior skill or training is required. You simply learn it as you go. You can incorporate ANY other dance form. hip hop, jazz, ballet. You can even do whip and do the Nae nae. In short you can't mess this up - even if you tried.
That's why I love Bollywood dance the most. It's roots are set in various traditional Indian dance forms, some of which are over 20,000 years old.
So embrace it with open arms, move your 2 left feet to the beat. Dance like no one's watching. Release those endorphines. Sway with the music. Let that positive energy flow through you. Feel alive, feel confident.
R
Dancing gives you wings
About me
I am a freshman at Stuyvesant High School in NYC. I have been learning ballet from the Russians, tap at a school on Staten Island, Merenge from a Ecuadorian, Kathak from an Indian doctor, Bharatnatyam from a Sri Lankan lady and Bollywood at different times of my life since I was 3yrs old.
I can't even remember my first performance. But I remember the first time I taught dance to my friends in middle school 2 yrs ago.
Watching their hesitant feet dance to confidence was the biggest joy ever!
The birth of an idea
This is how we did it
I started about 3 years ago, by teaching my friend Ella a few basic steps during lunch break. She had never danced Bollywood before but she was dancing like a pro in 3 days (3 lunch breaks).
She loved it. She said it made her feel confident and even powerful.
Then we made a video of a 30 second dance sketch. We broke each step down and first went over the leg movements and then the hand movements. We then sent it to 5 other girls who never danced in their whole life. They are “proof reading” the video. In the third week of April, I will ask them to demonstrate what they learnt. This is a great form of feedback as it will tell me how effective the video demonstration was. I will then tweak (or reshoot if need be) my 30 second video.
In this era when you can travel the world and even go to outer space with a swish of your finger and click of a button, few kids feel the need to move. Childhood and even teenager obesity is on the rise. Infact, 9 million American teenagers below the age of 15 years are obese right now. As soon as you are half way through middle school, you start preferring either books or sports. So you get labelled as a nerd or a jock. Us book loving people have a sharp mind but tend to develop unhealthy habits and are more prone to obesity. Obesity can lead to low self esteem, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart attacks, strokes and early death. We on the other hand love to learn new things.
Cut the Crap
Childhood obesity is a real problem
Why we do what we do
Starting a chain reaction
So I came up with an idea to teach Bollywood dance to my friends. It’s a dance form that is constantly evolving, there are no fixed set of rules or technique, it encourages innovative steps. The music is catchy and you don’t need to hold a beat to dance. You can dance alone, in a pair and even in a group. With Bollywood – you can’t DO NO WRONG! My wish is to make every middle schooler move. And have a great time doing it. Come up with new dance moves, teach other kids and have the whole community on their feet! It will give us girls a voice, make us more confident and bring us together as a community. GIRL POWER!
Anything I can do , you can do better
As easy as pie
You can dance fast or slow, alone, with a partner or in a large group. You can jump in and join a group anytime. No prior skill or training is required. You simply learn it as you go. You can incorporate ANY other dance form. hip hop, jazz, ballet. You can even do whip and do the Nae nae. In short you can't mess this up - even if you tried.
Just say NO
You have the power
So embrace it with open arms, move your 2 left feet to the beat. Dance like no one's watching. Release those endorphines. Sway with the music. Let that positive energy flow through you. Feel alive, feel confident.
Remember you are your own bawse, your own keeper, in charge of your destiny. You CAN have it all. You have the power, the power to speak your mind, the power to accept and most importantly the power to say NO!
Say yes when you agree but say no when you don't.
Say NO - shout it out! when someone is making you uncomfortable or you are being forced to do something which just doesn't feel right.
You don't have to explain your feeling. If you don't like it just scream NO from the top of your lungs and walk away
Thanks for your help
Bling
Bollywood Dance is all about BLING!
From your forehead to your ankles - covered in shiny stones, gold and glitter.
Costumes have many pieces. They are designed in an array of bright colors, made of yards and yards of flowing fabric. Sequins, stones, gold ribbons are sewn into the fabric to give it a rich texture.
Plus hair pieces, makeup and studio time. In my last performance, our cost was 300.00 per person. We limited it to a 12 member team.
Babysitting and bake sale can only take you so far
Volunteer Your Time
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One-Time Donation
If you feel moved by the causes Change Will Happen promotes, we would very much appreciate your support. Set up your donation to Change Will Happen today. It’s easy and most importantly, it will make a major difference in the lives of so many who are in need of help. Contact us today to learn more or click below to donate now.