Bollywood: Mudras, the Light Bulb and Your Own Group Phrase

Bollywood dance, tied to the Hindi-language film industry in Mumbai, mixes Indian classical dance, folk dances like bhangra and Western styles. Groups learn base gestures and create their own phrase that tells a little scene.

How to play

1. Context: the song-and-dance number in Indian cinema and the sources it blends; how Bollywood differs from classical dance (3 min).
2. Base mudras from classical dance: pataka (flat hand), alapadma (lotus flower) and tripataka, with their rough meaning (6 min).
3. Movie-style steps: 'screw the light bulb, pat the dog', shoulders and wrist turns, all with an expressive face (8 min).
4. Each group picks a simple scene (a meeting, a journey, a celebration) and composes four eight-counts mixing mudras and steps (12 min).
5. Show it, with the group describing the scene before dancing (6 min).

Rules

• Introduce gestures by name and meaning, not as something 'exotic'.
• No costumes and no caricatures of accents or people.
• Facial expression yes, mocking no.
• Leave room for arm circles so nobody gets hit.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: mudras and arm and head movements are done seated, and they're central to this style anyway.
• Deaf students: mudras are visual and learned by imitation; counts shown on the fingers.
• Students shy about expression: start by expressing with the hands and add the face when ready.

Learning goals

• Know where Bollywood dance comes from and what shapes it.
• Perform mudras and movie-style steps with expressive intent.
• Compose a group phrase that communicates a scene.

Equipment for a class of 25

• speaker: 1
• whiteboards: 6
• markers: 6

Teacher tip

If you have students of Indian or Pakistani heritage, invite them, without pressure, to share a gesture or a song. Common mistake: limp mudras; fingers should be alive and firm.

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