This is in continuation of an old list I had made of dance videos that caught my fancy for one reason or another. This is not purely about technical skill, but about artistic expression and performances that touched my heart or got me excited. To check out the Part 1 of this list, use the dance tag at the end of this post ( Read more... )

A compilation of the video series I'd posted on Facebook plus one new video:

1. Chhaiyan Chhaiyan - Dil SeMakes it into the list for the sheer concept of dancing atop a train to AR Rehman's energetic tune. Given the space constraints this could have easily turned into a slow boring number. Kudos to Farah Khan for making it look groovy with the ( Read more... )

It's finally done. The performance we had just about a month to prepare for is behind us now. We took some lessons from last year and tried to improve from the feedback we got ( Read more... )

One week away from the show now and we're practising like crazy. Up until Friday evening I was just short of freaking out about the timing on my footwork and the hands and expressions. But, we had a really good practice session today that has gotten me to relax a little and go with the flow of the music more ( Read more... )

By now, the excitement about playing Castanets has sobered down into a healthy respect for the instruments. It's a delicate affair of getting the cords (that bind them to your thumbs) just right (or tight, you could say), holding your hands in a particular way, keeping the thumb stiff and steady, striking with your fingertips in a swift movement at ( Read more... )

As those of you who have kept up with my LJ posts might remember, last year I took a workshop on Flamenco that concluded with a performance. It was a thoroughly interesting affair and I'm back for more. This time I'm even taking a proper course in the dance form ( Read more... )

So, I failed to produce videos or pictures (*smacks head*) of our performance last Saturday and I thought the least I could do to give you some idea of what we did was to do a little write up on it ( Read more... )

With the last Flamenco class, it became clear that the training wheels are slowing being taken off. We were told that we'd have to pick up the pace a bit from now on. The aim is to learn the two dances we will be doing (and a possible third if there is enough time for it in the show) by June end. The focus in July would be on polishing things up ( Read more... )

Our Flamenco guru (who is also a dance therapist) has asked us to keep a diary while we learn the dance form. She wants us to put down exactly what we expect from Flamenco and keep tracking our thoughts and feelings as we progress with our lessons ( Read more... )

After weeks of searching, I finally found a Flamenco class in Amchi Mumbai. It's actually more like an introductory workshop culminating in a performance for the Dance Studio's annual dance fest. Just what I was looking for ( Read more... )