When the editing gives you a beating and the cuts wont allow you to do a full sequence, you are on a Bollywood dance set...
Frankly, i am not much of a dancer. Few years back at a friends insistence i went for a salsa course and made a fool of myself. Every session. If you dont know your hip from your waist, you are either carrying tyres around your middle or you have two left feet. Or both, like me!
I do good justice to Bollywood dancing though. The uncomplicated, iconic steps are my favourites. And whatever passes as the Ganapati dance. And some of the psychedelic moves. I even invented a few steps like the "paunch shaker" and "shadow fighter" in my not sober nights. The best one though was "get out of my face", which later on developed as a mosh pit move, globally. What the hell, it was a global movement waiting to happen, so i wont fight for the credit.
Whenever i try to dance like one of our heroes, i am suddenly thrown back. I dont ever get to see the "full dance step" in its entirety. Meaning i cant see the full movement in one go. The shot is cut too frequently for me to even comprehend what is happening. So when i hit the dance floor, rarely and gingerly, i am doing half steps borrowed from multiple sequences. Of course, there is a synch issue with me. But the larger crisis is when i try to combine two different schools of dance.
Its the attention span thats messing up the dancing these days. Some recent survey says that kids (thats everyone under the age of 21) cannot stay focused on the same visual for more than 7 seconds. Of course, its exaggerated but its not too far from the truth. When i watch any youth channel, no visual stays for longer than 7 seconds, even if its an elaborate dance step.
The way Bollywood shoots and edits dance videos, has had damaging effect on those learning from the screen - partial enthusiasts like me. There are two angles which are cut for line 1 and line 2. End of story. And there are multiple stylised cuts which ensure that whoever is trying to imitate their screen icon, never learns to dance like them. Even for live shows.
And with the influx of hip-hop moves and south american steps, it is near impossible for a novice to pick up the beat. Which is why, Salman Khan works. His dance steps from day 1 have been so amateur dancer friendly, that i cant even begin to thank him and those who choreograph him!!
And of course, the KK moves from Honeymoon travels.
PS: Oh! You should see my version of the moonwalk. MJ will want to come back to life - just to slap me.
Frankly, i am not much of a dancer. Few years back at a friends insistence i went for a salsa course and made a fool of myself. Every session. If you dont know your hip from your waist, you are either carrying tyres around your middle or you have two left feet. Or both, like me!
I do good justice to Bollywood dancing though. The uncomplicated, iconic steps are my favourites. And whatever passes as the Ganapati dance. And some of the psychedelic moves. I even invented a few steps like the "paunch shaker" and "shadow fighter" in my not sober nights. The best one though was "get out of my face", which later on developed as a mosh pit move, globally. What the hell, it was a global movement waiting to happen, so i wont fight for the credit.
Whenever i try to dance like one of our heroes, i am suddenly thrown back. I dont ever get to see the "full dance step" in its entirety. Meaning i cant see the full movement in one go. The shot is cut too frequently for me to even comprehend what is happening. So when i hit the dance floor, rarely and gingerly, i am doing half steps borrowed from multiple sequences. Of course, there is a synch issue with me. But the larger crisis is when i try to combine two different schools of dance.
Its the attention span thats messing up the dancing these days. Some recent survey says that kids (thats everyone under the age of 21) cannot stay focused on the same visual for more than 7 seconds. Of course, its exaggerated but its not too far from the truth. When i watch any youth channel, no visual stays for longer than 7 seconds, even if its an elaborate dance step.
The way Bollywood shoots and edits dance videos, has had damaging effect on those learning from the screen - partial enthusiasts like me. There are two angles which are cut for line 1 and line 2. End of story. And there are multiple stylised cuts which ensure that whoever is trying to imitate their screen icon, never learns to dance like them. Even for live shows.
And with the influx of hip-hop moves and south american steps, it is near impossible for a novice to pick up the beat. Which is why, Salman Khan works. His dance steps from day 1 have been so amateur dancer friendly, that i cant even begin to thank him and those who choreograph him!!
And of course, the KK moves from Honeymoon travels.
PS: Oh! You should see my version of the moonwalk. MJ will want to come back to life - just to slap me.
hahahaha....Awesome Ninad:-)
ReplyDeleteYou just gave countless number of people like me a voice! Most of us are awesome dancers in our minds. But try to manifest that imagination in real life, and you end up with a video, that medical students can use to identify symptoms for stroke, paralytic attacks and general dementia.
ReplyDeletePS: The KK steps have gotten me through many a weddings :)
"get out of my face" is the best way of defining 'that' dance; my favorite too! :-)
ReplyDeletejaydeep, you have no idea how much i miss dancing like a pro!!
ReplyDeletethanks soni :) you are lucky, you didnt have to see my dancing @ your wedding!!
its okay ninad...u know.. u r d best in whatever u do...so what even if it is abt dancing and dat 2 nino style....keep up d spirit of dancing no matter what....hehe..enjoy:-)
ReplyDelete