Communicating Resistance: Bollywood and its Many Dance Forms Workshop
In this workshop, participants will be introduced to the Hindi film industry and Indian culture via dance! In the West, Bollywood dance sequences are not taken seriously. How can these dance forms communicate love, joy, struggle, and resistance? In the hegemonic white West context, songs and dance have often been seen as something that makes the Hindi film "not cinema yet" (Madhava Prasad, Ideology of the Hindi Film). This workshop challenges such orientalist mindsets by introducing the various uses of Bollywood dance to the participants. They will learn how the body moves anti-colonially and in protest. This event is a collaboration between Dr Ankita Rathour, LMC, and the School of Modern Languages.
Audience: Students and faculty interested in Hindi cinema, and non-western interventions in communication.
Host: The workshop will be led by Dr. Ankita Rathour. She will begin with a short introduction on how communication and writing standards are shaped according to Western ideals and the ways Hindi cinema song and dance forms communicate resistance through songs and body movements. Ankita will then share how she has incorporated Bollywood in a Tech classroom, especially to strengthen non-verbal communication skills. Participants will engage in learning some moves to understand how the body conveys meaning.
Date: Friday, November 1, 11am
Location: Stephen C Hall, 106
Please click HERE to register.
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