Boogie Woogie India

Yes that’s right, dance is a language that is spoken beautifully in its own way. It only depends on the dancer how he or she speaks it. In dance, expressions, eyes, hands, foot work and also to some extend hip movement does what tongue does while speaking. In general when we speak, we convey our message using words of a language that can be understood by people who understands the same language. But dance is such a beautiful universal language that does not get stopped by any barriers of a region. It can very well be understood by all no matter what and where they come from.

Dance in olden times was used as an expression for telling stories. It was used as an ongoing experience of life. Dance as said earlier, was used as an language to speak especially between those who did not speak the common language. It acted as a bonding for those with cross cultural barriers. It is the only language that does not have a prerequisite or demarcates anyone. It is the fairer of the fair!

Dance communicates ideas, stories, emotions, and moods. Judith Hanna mentioned in her article: “dance is a kind of thinking of an ability to solve problems through control of one’s bodily motions. Observations of choreographers at work show that they draw upon musical, visual, verbal, and interpersonal intelligences for success.”

A dance is not a dance if it fails to communicate. Just different dancing steps without any story does not really make any sense. A dance needs to be narrated. The viewer, audience needs to understand the unspoken language without much effort. In short the dance language when performed needs to touch its audience heart. Dance language is probably the only language that deals with emotions round the clock. If it succeeds in its narration, it will be well received or else it gets a name of a jumping jack.

And so they say; “Dance like nobody is watching” but dance is not dance if it isn’t making sense. Be careful in choosing the theme. A theme should set the stage for a great dance. If dance is a language then choreography is its speech. The act of expressing or describing thoughts, feelings or perceptions by the articulation of dance forms needs to be paid enough attention. A dancer who succeeds in expressing the same above thoughts is nothing less of an orator who is of great eloquence.

They say the truest expression of the people is in its dance. Bodies never lie. What you perform has a speech and you definitely do not want to convey the wrong message. Practice your skills friends!

Contemporary dance style has become very popular among young dancers and we find many youngsters opting the style and also urging to learn more about it. Even in TV reality shows, contemporary dance started to dominate. And so we thought it would be a good idea to put some basic knowledge about the dance style especially for those who are not familiar with this dance style.

Some might wonder what is contemporary dance? To be precise, contemporary in the literary sense means existing, occurring something of same age, living and more accurate meaning would be “modern”.

Contemporary dance is a style that emerged in the 20th century. It is not like ballet neither is associated with any specific style of dancing but is purely a dance philosophy. In contemporary dance, people tend to explore their inner selves or the natural energy and emotions of their bodies which many believe is personal.

Contemporary dancing can be taken by any type of dancers and often the dancers come from various backgrounds. In contemporary, they learn to integrate the bodywork techniques such as Yoga and Pilates into their dance. It places a heavy emphasis on the connection between mind and body with dancers being encouraged to explore their emotions through dances which push against traditional boundaries. Contemporary dance often involves a great deal of playing with balance, floor work, fall and recovery and also improvisation.

This type of dancing engages with daily concerns, issues and experiences and offers immense possibilities of integrating technology in dance. Many of the best contemporary dance performances are a spectacle of light, sound, digital arts and movement unleashing creativity to its core. It goes beyond the narrative form of expression and becomes a total sensational experience for the audience.

There are many dance schools that opened up that specializes in contemporary dancing and also there are many videos available. For those who wish to learn the dance, it shouldn’t be a difficult task to find a teacher as long as they are willing to put their 100 percent effort. More then an effort, the most important necessity that is needed is the passion. So if you got the passion for this dance then half of the battle is already won.

All the Best!!

Knowledge is gained by sharing, any input or light on this article will be greatly appreciated. Thanks for being part of this blog.

Courtesy: Youtube, Wisegeek, Attakkalari, Contemporary Dance Blog and Boogie Woogie India. Thank You!!

Whether you are ready to give auditions or are all set to perform on the stage for the first time or innumerate time, it is must that you enjoy what you do. Many times people do for the sake of something else like for instance popularity or money. To appear on national Television is a dream for many not for anything else but to gain instant popularity and even with a hope to make big to earn big bucks. There is nothing wrong in either of the concepts provided you do it the right way. It is a proven fact that when you perform and have enjoyed performing what you did, the result works out that people too have enjoyed what they saw. But a lot of times people get monotonous and just do things half heartedly and that is where they step towards failure. 

People working for biggest companies or earning millions are not the happiest always. Someone working for a local company with much lesser salary can be happier. The excitement of going to work could be seen bubbling out initially but as the time passes, things change. The same that we did excitedly in beginning becomes an obligation.

But here are some tips that will help us in big way in not becoming monotonous but creating a career graph that only sees an upward direction:

Be Realistic:  We often have a habit of setting unrealistic goals for ourselves. We expect more than what we are capable of and when we are not able to meet our goals, depression seeps in and the work becomes a source of unhappiness rather than joy.
See, if you also aimed to touch skies overnight. If yes, set S.M.A.R.T goals for yourself. SMART here means: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely.

Turn to work with the right mindset: When you appear in reality shows, you have to work to show case your talent differently each time you appear. The studio that you go for shoot is your work. Enter your work with a positive mindset and have the same for your co participants, your employer, recruiter, judges. Bearing negative thoughts about your workplace will not only hamper your performance but will not let you like do well.

Maintain a good rapport with everyone: This is something said ad-nauseam times but not practiced very often. The best way to do is to maintain an open communication with people you are surrounded with. Practice small things like helping people wherever you can, pass a gentle smile and you will see that you will always have someone to help or advice you when need.

Try to fix problems rather then complaining: When there are more then one mind, there is bound to be difference of opinion and difference of opinion leads to problems. Most of us have a habit of sitting and criticizing things. Rather then just discussing the problems around it will be a better idea to find a solution to them. This will not only create a healthy atmosphere but also give us a sense of achievement.

Focus on your KPAs: Many of us feel that we are working hard but it is not being recognized. This leads to depression and also miscommunication. The best way to handle such a situation is to focus on our Key Performance Areas. If we do everything but our actual job that we came for, our performance will never be appreciated. We must see that we are doing the things the right way.

Maintain Transparency: One time win is not an end. With Boogie Woogie, if you are good then you will get many opportunities to perform. Keeping your communication clear and well informed makes the work easier and will reduce any worries if they are any. Moreover, it will also prove to bring people who will stand by you in your hour of need.

Celebrate success with everyone: Keep patting for the next batting. Celebrating with everyone is a great idea. If people are happy they will be motivated and if they are motivated then half of your worries evaporate themselves. Also such gatherings bring people closer and also increase the compatibility quotient.

Accept new challenges and risks: A common feature of most of the happy professionals around! Accepting new challenges and risks not only give us the joy of recognition but also a feeling of satisfaction. Identify new challenges and volunteer to handle them.

Have a wonderful day till next time!!

(This information has been requested by Ketan. Please note: – the below information will also be emailed to you shortly. Thanks for your comment and keep visiting.)

Head Mudras: Sama - level, Udvaahita – raised up, Adhomukha – down cast face, Aalolita – rolling, Dhuta – shaken sideways, Kampita – nodded, Paraavrtta – turned round, Utksipta – thrown up, Parivaahita – widely moved.

Neck Mudras: Sundari – to and fro horizontally, Tirascinaa – upward movement on both sides, Parivartitaa – right to left like half moon, Prakampitaa – backward and forward movement.

Eye Mudras: Sama – level, Aalokita – keen glance, Saaci – side long, Pralokita – wide glance, Nimilita – closed, Ullokita – looking up, Anuvrtta – quickly up and down, Avalokita – looking down.

Hand Mudras: Asamyuta Hasta – it can be executed by either one right or left hand or by both hands, Samyuta Hasta – gestures formed by uniting both the hands, and other mudras also include hand gestures which denotes all the Gods and Goddesses, and even the nine planets, moon, and also rivers. These mudras are: Deva Hasta, Dashavatara Hasta, Navagraha Hasta, Jaati Hasti, Bandhu Hasta and Nritta Hasta.

More information can be found in two of our previous articles: Please click to read the information. Bharatnatayam Article 1 and Bharatnatayam Article 2

Hope this helps. If there is some correction, please feel free to do so. It will help many to are trying to gain the knowledge right. Thank You!

With many reality shows on almost every TV channel, the market gets competitive. They say competition is healthy as it not only brings the most polished and finest talent out in front of the world but also keeps its audiences glued till the very end.

We at Boogie Woogie India use to run a segment on gaining knowledge and it is now time to bring it back in action. With the Boogie Woogie break, it is time to polish ourselves with little bit of knowledge at a time.

Reality shows are nothing but a competition, a survival on the small screen only to enter peoples heart to make it big in the industry. Now as we are aware that a competition is a contest; it is an occasion  on which a winner is selected as “BEST” from among rest of the participants who enters the show to prove that they have the highest and finest talent along with plenty of potential. But TV channels speak a different language these days. They have now become more of a rat race kind of a thing that ends up in being monopolistic. Very few shows are found that awards its contestants based on their merits. As everything is salable and so is ones poverty, love story, handicapped feature along with many more things. Its not the TV channels fault. They are in search of stuff that people buy. So should we end up bad mouthing them if we ourselves buy each and every crap? It is proved that the more the unique stories you present in front of the people, the more the TRP is for the channel. It really doesn’t matter if they have to deal with sob stories, it only has to have region foundation that can gain plenty of votes and hence the candidate that fetches in gaining the most mula out of their region is declared a winner. Does this happen with every show? Well, except for Boogie Woogie, no other show really gives out an honest judgement these days. 

Today’s article is not about how the reality shows are run or what extreme steps TV channels take but let’s look at fewer points today to see what participants who want to survive in the same big bad world can do to make sure they last as longest as possible in a running show.

This week we shall speak about the most important characteristics that is needed and as time goes by, we shall cover other topics. Long time ago I had mentioned about the most three important abbreviation that is must in anyone’s career “PPP”. The three ‘P’s’ are the golden edifices to a successful growth in any career. They are being:
P - Positive
P - Persistent
P - Progressive

Positive - Being positive in life not only helps your outlook on life but also keeps your mind and heart healthy and also keeps your surrounding healthy. Positive thinking is a mental attitude that admits into the mind thoughts, words and images that are conductive to growth, expansion and success. Have you heard about the saying “Where there is will, there is way!” Well, will power doesn’t come without being positive. If you feel you can make it, you surely will make it. Its all in your thinking, in being positive. Recently I was reading an article from success conciousness and one para caught my eye. “A positive mind anticipates happiness, joy, health and a successful outcome of every situation and action. Whatever the mind expects, it finds.”
A lot of times mostly in our low moods we must have heard two popular words by our well wishers: “think positive”, “be positive”. Not everyone accepts or believes in positive thinking but the fact remains that it helps a lot in personal growth and also in changing the entire perspective. The way we see things being negative can give a new life to the same by just being positive. Its all in our hands. Not quitting and working with a positive mind WILL get positive results. I am going to pen down my favorite lines that acted big inspiration in my life:

“For out in the world
We find
Success begins with,
A fellows will,
Its all in state of mind.
Life’s battles don’t always go,
To the stronger or faster man,
But sooner or later,
The man who wins,
Is the one who thinks he CAN!!”

This brings me to my second point and that is “Persistent”: Persistence plays a very important and vital role in any career. In every competition there is opposition. In every competition one has to go through many obstacles to clear the rounds or to jump on to the next level. And when one faces many hurdles, there are bound to feel discouraged. But the one who moves forward is the one who is persistent in spite of all above. Whatever one may face, they shouldn’t let it effect their performance. They have to show an upward graph with every step. For example; we may face lots of opposition to what we performed but we must not let that discourage us and should go with a bang for the next performance. We just have to remember that a lot of times what opposition we face need not necessarily be the truth. So one must face it with dignity and continue to shine with better efforts.

My last point for today’s discussion is “Progressive”: Progressive is nothing but being persistent day after day, week after week in the art or specialty that we belong to showing our improved self. Many times people think presenting the genre they belong to flawlessly is being progressive. Progressive in the real world means presenting something new every time we enter to perform and performing it flawlessly. Flawlessly is nothing but impressing people and leaving them all awe in praise. In our tasks, we all set our goals and some of us go week by week and some go day by day. Whatever our goal maybe, we must reach that and should have the capability to surpass the expectation that has been set by people on us. Setting up new goals and new limitations is a fantastic check on oneself to see their progressive chart.

With this I would say, little knowledge a time is good for the human brain and so we shall be back soon to discuss more finer topics in next episode of this segment.
Hope you enjoyed reading the article and if you have any points or corrections to be made, please feel free to do so. Would love to hear your input.

Courtesy: tech.faq.com

Boogie Woogie accepts VCD’s and DVD’s to view the audition videos of participants. Many times aspirants have their video clipping but wonder who to burn that video on a CD or DVD. So if you are looking to burning a video on a DVD, one of the easiest and most affordable forms of media, you can choose to burn is called a VCD (Video Compact Disc). While DVD’s is a great way to store large files, especially video and sound, VCD’s, while smaller in size can easily store video as well.

A VCD stands for Video Compact Disc and while it is the same media as a compact disc, the only difference is that it includes both video and audio files. Most CD’s only include audio files. VCD’s offer the same amount of storage space as CD’s, usually about 650 to 700 MB’s of space. Depending on the storage space, a VCD can store up to 74 minutes (650 MB) or 80 minutes (700 MB).

Advantages of VCD’s

VCD’s usually use the format of MPEG-1 to record video and audio to a compact disk. One of the advantages is that practically all computers are able to view VCD’s using their CD player and in addition, all DVD players are also compatible with VCD disks. DVD on the other hand are sometimes not always compatible with one another. For instance, there are DVD+R and DVD-R media. There is also DVD RAM. Certain DVD players only play one type of DVD media, making the other types incompatible. Another great advantage is that CD’s are usually always less expensive than DVD media. You can usually find CD’s for less than $.25 and many are around the $.10 mark.

Disadvantages of VCD

While VCD’s are on the whole more compatible than DVD and cost less, the trade off is that VCD picture and sound quality are usually inferior to that of DVD. The reason that video and sound quality are in most cases inferior is due to the amount of storage space. If you are looking to record a video file that is larger than 650 -700 MB’s, you must first compress it. Compressing it reduces the resolution of the video, usually from a DVD’s normal resolution of 720 X 480 to a VCD resolution of 352 X 240. It should be noted that in most cases audio files will play normally and will not experience any loss of quality, except in the cases of specialized sound formats such as surround sound. You should be able to enjoy full stereo sound at normal CD quality bit rates on a VCD.

Burning a VCD

It is extremely easy to create a VCD; you just need a CD burner/player, CD burning software and the ability to encode your video or multimedia file into a VCD compliant format which is MPEG-1. MPEG-1 is the format of choice for VCD’s. It is a great format to view video at extremely low bit rates. Since it is non-propriety it is very similar to MP3 files. It should be noted that normal DVD files are recorded using MPEG-2 and while this format offers excellent video and audio quality, the size of the files are extremely large and usually require much more powerful encoders, decoders and processing power.

Encode Your Video File

In order to burn your VCD, you first must have a video file that it is already encoded in MPEG-1 format. Let’s say you took your digital camcorder to your son’s baseball game and wanted to record the highlights onto a VCD, first transfer the video media to your hard drive. Once the video is accessible via your computer, you can now encode it into the MPEG-1 format.

Usually, you will need an encoding program. The good news is that there are many free and low cost products that make encoding a video file into MPEG-1 complete with high quality stereo sound. Usually, you will first open up this encoding software, follow the prompts and select which format, you would like (many encoding software can encode not only in MPEG-1, but also MPEG-2, DIVX, AVI, etc.). From this point, the encoding software will quickly and efficiently encode the original video file into a ready to burn MPEG-1 file.

Burn Your VCD

Now that you have your MPEG-1 file, you can easily use your normal CD burning software to burn your VCD. Just pop in a blank, recordable CD into your CD Recordable drive, open up your CD burning application and follow the prompts. From start to finish, changing a normal video file into a completed VCD usually take only a few minutes.

Viewing YOUR VCD

Your VCD is viewable in practically all computer drives, as well as the vast majority of DVD drives. Please note that from time to time some DVD players are finicky with VCD’s, just as they are with recordable DVD’s. Sometimes it might take a few tries to play on a specific DVD player, or you might want to try different brand of media.

Usha brought a very good point regarding Music Companies and Copyrighted material. Thank You Usha! And so we will try to cover these two topics and will also try to find the music companies and labels that you may be able to use for your auditions.

First let us understand what copyright is: A Copyright is a law that protects the works of authors, artists, composers, companies and others from using their work without their permission. It gets them exclusive rights in relation to their work. Copyright has been internationally standardized lasting between fifty to a hundred years from the author’s death or a shorter period for anonymous or corporate authorship. A copyright is necessary as it allows them to have complete control of their product and when it is being used without permission then it grants them an ability to sue or for statutory damages.

Although copyright attaches upon fixation, one cannot sue someone unless they are registered with the copyright office. The registration needs to be in effect within 3 months from the date of the first publication or at least prior to the date of infringement. Plagiarism is pretty easy in present Internet world and so if a company is registered and holds the copyright, then it protects them in the court of law but then it is not that easy. Companies normally loose their battle if the plagiarism website is not operated for profit or if the material is sitting on third party hosts. The consequence would be that the copyright company while trying to protect its rights only ends up paying attorney fees for nothing. But either way, a copyright material must be respected. And so companies normally avoid using such material especially when plenty to zillion other better products are sitting in the market. If you ask me my opinion, any copyright material is not even worth the trouble. It doesn’t do any good except to the ego of the owner. It only bites dusts where as the others that are available in the market become lot more popular and enjoy all the limelight. But should it be respected and leave alone? Yes it should be!

But when it comes to performing on a stage, it is completely another thing as it is not a website but a TV show. When a music is being played on a show, it becomes the shows responsibility to check the copyrighted material. And so Sony/ Boogie Woogie does not allow you to play any tracks that are produced by few companies due to their copyright laws.

Coming to Yash Raj, Big Music, T- Series and any international labels, you CANNOT use their music because they are copyrighted and if used by a participant then it gives the above companies a right to sue Sony and that is why they do not want any of their participants to use music that is produced by the above companies.

This brings us to the next question, if these companies are not allowed then what other companies are left that we are allowed to use? Friends, the above companies don’t even contribute 10 percent on the whole of what India outputs music. There are far more better companies and in many in number that you can use. You will also find many attractive tracks that you can dance on. Some of the companies for example are:

1. Saregama India Ltd: Saregama India Ltd is India’s largest music recording company. It was formerly known as the Gramophone Company of India. It is registered in Kolkata, India and is also part of RPG Group. Saregama India Ltd produces almost more then 50% of all the music ever recorded in India. This is one huge company and you should be able to pick many of your favorite songs.
2. Universal Music India Pvt Ltd.
3. Venus Records & Tapes Pvt Ltd
4. Aditya Music
5. Sagarika
6. Super Cassettes Industries
7. Tips Industries Limited
8. Super Audio (Madras Pvt Ltd)
9. Times Music
10. Srishti’s Carnatica Pvt Ltd
11. Phat Phish
12. Music Today

Hope this article helps you and if you have any other question, please feel free to write. We will try to find more and make your experience enjoyable.

oh that reminds me - the OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF SONY needs to update their copyright date - it is from last year. Are you LISTENING MSM??

Have fun friends – Adios!!

As we come across any information that we think it might be useful to our members, we try to bring it for you. Now we are no where related to any of the sites or groups and are running only in appreciation for our dear mentors/judges with an intention to have a place for all their fans where they can call it a “home”.

We have been getting you MP3’s from various sources and many of our members have shown keen interest in remixed music. Though we do not have a DJ in house yet but we surely trying to get one so that he or she can fulfill your remixed music request but till the time we find one reliable DJ, here is some information that might be useful or of interest to you.

While browsing and searching for some sites, we came across plenty of good reviews for one particular site that allows you to remix your own music. It has a flash player installed and allows you to upload your music, remix it and give special effects and produce a DJ kind of a piece. Many also say it is user friendly. You only need to be little creative that’s all. The best thing we found of this site is; it’s free of cost. Now that’s what I like.. “NO MONEY”!! I have not tried remixing any music yet but only browsed through the site. I really liked some of the worked that is out there but if any of my information is incomplete, please do let me know or correct me.

The site that I am talking about is http://www.jamglue.com

Maybe many of your must be aware of it but it says you can make your first remix in about 2 minutes. There are also many contests where you can submit your remix version to win prizes. The other interesting part that I found was, you can upload your tracks and can let others remix it. So if you are confused how to remix your tracks, you can easily upload which of your tracks you want to get remixes done and wait for others to do the job. Now many of you are dancers and want to dance on particular track or remixes so go ahead and check it out – so far it sounds great. But do not put any money anywhere! Very Important – Don’t put your personal information everywhere. Be safe and avoid unnecessary situations. If you need any advice, please do feel free to comment or write an email here. This is your place so feel at home!

Recently we heard how much it means when dancers go off beat or dance within beats. We also saw even with the best of steps it can easily ruin a dance performance if the dancers are not dancing on its beats. I think a very important lesson was learnt in last Boogie Woogie’s episode.

Since the last episode was on Hip Hop special, let us discuss the beats that are related to that genre of music. Within Hip Hop beats, rap beats, there are several genres of beats that are multiple categories. For example, there are commercial and underground beats, but then it gets even more in depth. There are categories such as east-coast beats, west coast beats, dirty south beats, Midwest beats, club beats, chopped and screwed beats and many other styles. The importance of beats in Hip Hop dance is very important and adds as a major ingredient to the performance.

The beat of a song determines how fast or how slow you should move your body while dancing. If your selected song has faster beats then you must move quickly.

To find the beat in a song you can:

• Listen closely to the strong, heavy beats.
• Clap your hands along with the beats to get a feel for the music.
• Try tapping your right foot to the strong beats and your left foot to the weaker beats.

When you think you can feel the beat, relax your arms and try moving them around in time to the music.

• Swing your arms naturally with your feet, bending slightly at the elbows.
• Raise your arms up above your head, then down by your sides.

This practice should help you dance on beats.

Have a wonderful day practicing!

Group dance as the name signifies refers to a dance that is performed by a group of people. It is group or groups of people dancing together simultaneously.

Group dances normally are coordinated in such a way that the individuals in the group are dancing the same steps at the same time. They also can have different steps in parts of the group but all is choreographed in such a way that it sounds coordinated.

A group dance must give a group feeling and a performance should not end up looking like an individual performance. Hence all dancers aim should be to portrait the performance as one even though it consists of many individuals. The group effort and synchronization plays great role in shaping up the performance. It is easy to perform on individual performances but very tough to project a well coordinated group performance and hence it requires lot more hard work and concentration.

Boogie Woogie always came up with great group performances and so their group championships have been much demanded and are everyone’s favorite. One name that instantly keeps popping in everyone’s mind and is favorite in the group category is the group from Naalasupara, Maharashtra. They take the lead in popularity and many young aspirants follow this group to learn and to get motivate from. We will try to cover them in our next segment if possible.

But today I would like to talk about one group performance that caught my eye recently and I would love to share its YouTube link with you. What a superb coordination this group has? Its simply mind blowing! Watch it friends, it’s beautifully done. I am sure many dancers can learn some useful tip from them.

Have a wonderful Friday!! TGIF?? Well for me “Yes”