DEMO LESSON

SI Demonstration Lesson

Title

Bollywood Dance and Cultural Festivals of India

Author

Debahuti Chatterjee

Grade band

K-12 (with modifications)

Estimated Lesson Time

50 Minutes class period (can be stretched over a week to help the students to perform one dance at the end of the unit).

Overview

I want to introduce students to Bollywood dance which in itself acts as a vehicle of social interaction. It inspires social interaction and builds a sense of community in India and all over the world. Bollywood dance invites the students to get engaged in a form of dance which is easy as it has no strict rules. It also mirrors the cultural landscape of India. It helps the students to reflect on the significance of the cultural festivals of India. The two cultural festival that are selected for this lesson are Holi and kite festival. The two festivals bring the whole nation together as it is celebrated by all. During this demonstration I intend to give a brief introduction to the words, Bollywood, Holi and kite festival. Students talk about free dance forms and their roles in building a community. Next, they learn about Bollywood, the largest movie industry in the world. They also engage in writing about their own dancing experiences. The students also learn about the two popular festivals of India, where the whole community get together and participate in dance and music. Each student is given to color a Holi greetings card and finally they participate in some Bollywood dance moves.

Dance can be an instructional support for writing. Dance is an expression of emotions through movements and rhythms. It helps in analysis of emotions and kinesthetic explication of a text. Dance helps a student to understand the tone, ebb and flow of a poetry. Above all, dance teaches to liberate ideas in creative ways. Keeping these positive attributes of dance in mind, I plan to use Bollywood dance as a prewriting process for this lesson plan. Pre writing involves thinking and perceiving relevant sights and sounds. In this digital age, watching videos may jump start the students to read and think about an idea, the critical components of pre-writing.

From Theory to Practice

This lesson helps to understand the importance of social participation. Students realize the crucial role of cultural festivals in building a strong community, where no one is judged for their ability or social status. Classroom is a social microcosm where students can learn to build a strong community by engaging in dance and music. Teacher can be the facilitator in promoting a sense of strong community where students feel they belong.

Viewing of Bollywood dance is used as a pre-writing process. This provides an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the concept of the two festivals and how they are celebrated in India. Rich color, sounds, rhythm and movements generate curiosity and motivate them to write.

Bollywood dance can serve as a teaching tool for students who are bodily-kinesthetic learner. Instead of learning about the festivals of India from a social science textbook, they may find it easier to learn through movements and rhythms. They enjoy not only the physical movements, but also the idea of being part of the whole group. They are engaged in making meaning with movements and gestures.

Dance can complement the teaching of writing in several different areas. Students can use dance movements to analyze different emotions, they can identify the tone of a narrative and are able to understand the ebb and flow of a story through different movements of dance. Dance can be used as a pre-writing process. Once the students gain an insight of different festivals and their role in community building, it is easier for the students to write about them.

Student Objectives

-Students view two or three videos of Bollywood dance depicting Holi and Kite festival and a non-festival celebration.

- Engage in writing about their dance experiences.

- Each student color one Holi greetings card.

- Discuss/share experiences of participation in a multicultural communities.

- Share their writing with peers.

- Engage in some Bollywood dance moves.

Resources for the Lesson

- Article on MI theory by Howard Gardner. www.multipleintelligencesoasis.org

- Videos from the movies “Mangal Pandey,” “Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam” and “Slumdog Millionaire.”

- Copy of How Dance Can teach Literature . http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/educators/how-to/encouraging-arts/how-dance-can-teach-literature.aspx

- Copy of Bollywood Dance Explained. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18686742

- Copy of Kolkata’s Charm Soars on a String. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Kolkata's-charm-soars-on-a-string/articleshow/22041256.cms

-Information on the keywords.

-Paper/crayons/art supplies to make the greetings card.

Instructional Plan

1. After a brief introduction of the term Bollywood and the reason it has been chosen as a lesson plan, the students are shown the clips of two dance videos. The first one depicting the festival of Holi and the second one depicts kite flying. Then the students discuss the following questions.

a) What is Bollywood dance?

b) How dance can promote social interaction?

c) What role does Bollywood dance play in community building? Students learn the definition of the keywords: Bollywood, Holi and Kite festival.

Bollywood - It is a sobriquet for the film industry based in Mumbai (erstwhile Bombay). It is the largest film industry of the world. The movies are mostly about families. They are romance, violence and suspense based musicals. The elaborate dance sequences and original soundtracks have made Bollywood dance popular all over the world.

Holi-Holi is a colorful festival celebrated all over India in the month of March. People rub ‘abeer’ or ‘gulal’ (dry colors or colors mixed with water) on each other’s faces and wish them happiness. Common greetings is ‘Happy Holi’. It is played outside, in all neighborhoods.

Kite Festival- In January, at the beginning of the harvest season, kite festival is celebrated mostly in western parts of India. Roof-top kite flying is celebrated in September in Bengal when youngsters and adults revel in flying kites and create a unique sense of sociability.

2. Students watch two Bollywood dance videos. The teacher discusses the significance of Holi being a festival of colors, the way participants play with dry colors, water guns. Then the students discuss about the kite festival. They discuss the social implications of these two festivals.

3. Students are given two prompts. They can discuss or write about any one of the prompts.

a) Discuss/write whether you have participated in dance during any social celebrations and what was your experience?

b) Why social interaction in a community is important? Share your views on this topic.

4 .Students are asked to share their writing with the rest of the class. Teacher explains why Bollywood dance is different from Indian classical or other folk dances.

5. Students are introduced to Holi greeting cards. Teacher discuss the significance of the greeting card.

6. Students put a ‘tika’ (mark on the forehead) on each other’s forehead as a sign of good wishes.

Following the discussion, the students color the cards with crayons.

7. Its dance time! Students can follow the dance moves shown by the teacher. The music is played from the “Slum Dog Millionaire.” They use their feet, arms, head, shoulder and hips to move with the beats. The Dance move may continue for 10 to 15 minutes.

8. Students are given two minutes time to ask questions.

Teacher assessment/Reflection

This assignment is fun for both students and the teacher. It offers various tactile learning which in turn helps the writing process. The vibrant costumes, fast, rhythmic beats encourage the students to understand the context of the lesson. Once they understand the context they can write about their own view on communities and its link to cultural festivals. Coloring Holi Greeting cards involves the students in collaborative learning. After getting familiar with the idea of Bollywood dance, students enjoy being part of it. At the end of the fifty minutes lesson students have a good idea of what Bollywood dance is and how festivals like Holi and Kite festivals promote community building.

State Standards Covered (WPA Outcomes)

· Use composing for inquiry, learning, critical thinking and communicating in various rhetorical concepts.

· Gain experience in reading and composing in several genres to understand how genre conventions shape and are shaped by readers’ writers’ practices and purposes.

· Develop facility in responding to a variety of situations and contexts calling for purposeful shifts in voice, tone, level of formality, design, medium, and structure.

· Understand and use a variety of technologies to address a range of audiences.

· Match the capacities of different environments (e.g. print and electronic) to varying rhetorical situations.

Rationale Based On the Research

Dance and other physical movements are central to human cognition and they play an important role in communication across cultures. Gestures and other movements of human body is central feature in cognition (Roth, 2001). Dance moves have a narrative function which involves knowing and thinking. Those are the basic tenets of communication.

Social programs involving dance and music always have a potential to build a community. It helps the participants to feel included which in turn promotes empathy, tolerance and self-esteem. Recent research suggests that emotion quotient is equally important as intelligent quotient (Schaps, 2003). Dance and music fosters opportunities to students for team building. Dance and music not only helps the students to feel part of something big, it helps them in academic learning as well.

It was generally believed that there are generally three kinds of learners. They are visual, auditory or kinesthetic learners. In 1983, Howard Garner suggested that there are eight or more intelligences. These aptitudes are demonstrated by individuals according to their preferences. The eight intelligences are: verbal linguistic intelligence, logical- mathematical, spatial-visual intelligence, bodily- kinesthetic intelligence, musical intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, intra-personal intelligence, naturalist intelligence, existential intelligence (Gardner, 1983). Some students having superior logical - mathematical intelligence have an advanced ability to discern a numerical patterns. There are other learners who have highly developed bodily - kinesthetic intelligence and they have the ability to learn effectively by controlling body movements in different ways. He suggests that educators “should teach individuals in ways that they can learn.”(Gardner, 1983). He farther argues that” with the accessibility of digital devices, it is possible to individualize education for everyone.”(Gardner.1983).

Research agrees that there is a benefit of building a strong sense of community in school. Students become more academically oriented and they appear to be socially and emotionally competent (Schaps, 2003). I have chosen Bollywood dance as a medium to show how dance themes can be used to integrate different members of the community and weave a colorful fabric. Three dances I have chosen are of three different festivals. One is Holi, where everyone participates in the dance and smear each other with colors as a mark of spring celebration. Second dance depicts kite festival, where whole neighborhood participates in dance and kite flying. The third dance, calls for unity and victory.

Bibliography

Aronowitz, Stanley. Writing Is Not a Skill. Peer Review: Fall 2003.vol.6 Issue 1, pp 35.

Chamorro-Premuzic, Tomas. Curiosity Is as Important as Intelligence, Harvard Business Review, 27 August, 2014.

Gardner, Howard. Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. New York: Basic Books, 1983. Print

Schaps, Eric. Creating a School Community. Educational Leadership: Creating Caring Schools. March, 2003.Vol 60, No 6, pp 31-33.

Roth, Wolff-Michael. Gestures: Their Role in Teaching and Learning. Review of Educational Research, August 2001, Vol. 71, No. 3, pp. 365-392.