Death of Indian Dances?

There has been something that has been bothering me for a while now and that is the amount of envy and publicity that DID gives to dance forms that didn't originate in India or haven't been adapted by Indians at large. Dance is not bound by borders, however I have yet to see any dance shows here in the United States that requires its contestants to do Indian classical, or indian folk. Yess there has been an occassional bollywood number in few shows but nothing consistent. As an Indian, I am quite disheartened by the fact that shows like DID and various others show so much more importance to ballet, latin dances, hip hop, mime etc at the expense of Indian classical, Indian folk, and even bollywood. What is the shame and bias in giving Indian audience more indian classical, indian folk and bollywood? Why is there this need to thump our chest and show the Indian audience that aha look at these wonderful dances like ballet, latin dances etc? I mean sure people like us who live in the states and see these forms fairly regularly can connect with them but I don't think the Indian audience in India connects that well with all these western form, and why should they be forced to? I just hope and pray that Indian folk, Indian classical, and even bollywood type dances are not discarded in this zeal to learn and mimic non-indian dance forms. Of course it would be nice to learn about different forms outside of India but first let the audience as a whole get a good grasp of Indian dance forms. It's sad to see that more and more indian kids are opting to learn western forms and not Indian classical, and Indian folk. It's very disheartening when well known choreographers try to force their knowledge of western styles on Indian audience at the expense of Indian forms.

Originally posted by: hindu4lyf

Hmm ankit I agree with you to a certain extent. I know that whenever I'm in India and we go to any dance show, then it's usually a mix of really good Bollywood dances. In Hindi movies, we see typical Bollywood dances all the time..and I love them! (espescially when shahid and duggu dance 😍 ) The reason why DID is such a big hit is due to the fact that it provides the Indian audience with something out of the ordinary. Believe me ankit, I love Indian dances just as much as you do but on the DID platform..a lot more is expected from the contestants.

Also, some indian classical dances if not done properly can be considered offensive. In certain dance forms, a simple 'good effort' is not good enough due to the strong religious background of many Indian classical/folk dance forms.

Another thing..India is changing a lot. Everytime I go back it seems to me that there is a lot more western influence there which is strange cos abroad all the desi parents try to keep their kids as Indian as possible. 😛 The audience seems to appreciate hip hop dancers a lot more than classically trained dancers..and this is why I always loved Vrushali and Kruti because I wanted them to do well even if the odds were against them. But ankit, even in contemporary performances, you will see that most of the stuff is Indian contemporary so it's still good to know that it has an Indian touch to it. 😛

Ankit tum toh dance ki baat kar rahe ho but it looks like soon English will be more widely spoken than Hindi.

Originally posted by: Dabulls23

Ankit it is not true..

SYTYCD has included NDM on their panel of Choreographers since last 2 seasons to include some sort of bollywood dance...That is a beginning....NDM is not classically trained but he is getting trained and including some of the steps...

Also another dance show where Amrapali Ambegaonkar won silver for her Kathak performance...It was show abt grp, solos from all over the world...

It is not only Classical dance is dying and western dances are taking over...DID would be full of street, bollywood and hiphop...I rather see some sort of classical-semiclassical from rest of the world than watching those 3 that I mentioned..

I would love to see purely indian classical dances but that isnt going to happen...

Times are changing and we must change accordingly or accept to some extent..

Music and Dance both are heading in same direction for a while...

H4L good post below...👏

Originally posted by: Dabulls23

Ankit you can NOT compare Ballet to Bollywood typical dance...I would not even compare ballet to folk dance...

Ballet should be compared to any form of true Indian classical dance...Just my 2 cents...

Yes I do agree that we should love our own culture-heritage...but it all starts at home which is in India....You are Indian but from US and are thinking along this line is good...I value that..

Originally posted by: ankit_nyc

Honest question....Do you think people in India in general would connect with ballet? Probably not, right? Just like most Americans won't connect with let's say Bharatnatyam? So my only point is, we don't see American choreographers incorporating Indian classical in the product that they put out for their audience right? so why are Indian choreographers trying to incorporate ballet and all these other western forms in the product that they put out for the Indian audience at the expense of Indian classical, indian folk etc?

Originally posted by: ankit_nyc

😊Yeah I agree with your point about how "westernized" India is quickly becoming......however I see China is in the same boat as us in terms of westernization but I still feel like they are able to hold on to their culture which obviously includes songs, dances, folk tales, language and much more better then we seem to be holding on to ours. I mean it's getting to a point where bollywood dances are ridiculed as not even being true dance.....and my question always has been, why? Why ridicule something that's part of our national identity like bollywood, or tollywood? Sure others will do it, just like if you showed ballet to an Indian person he/she won't get it and mock it....which is understandable....but why should we mock our own art forms while trying to perfect western forms?