Preference for western dances

Dance competitions are an integral part of cultural festivals in colleges and are quite popular with the students.

The students practise for months together, planning the choreography and the costumes.

While the performances are broadly divided into Indian classical and western, over the years, street dance, salsa, hip-hop, Bboying and contemporary styles have also been included.

The increasing western influence on youngsters have resulted in such a change.
Many lecturers say that there is shift of interest in youngsters from classical Indian dances to western ones. The reality dance shows on TV is one of the contributing factors.

Aruna Thampy S, head of the department, School of Music, Dayananda Sagar
Institutions, observes, “Nowadays, there are many dance reality shows and not many of them focus on Indian dance forms. So students are more inclined to western dances. At college fests, one often finds more participants for western dances.”

The catchy beats, fast movements and the overall presentation are some of the factors that draw many  youngsters to dance.

“I feel the older generation was more into classical dances. But now, western dance forms are more popular, be it on TV or at college fests. It’s peppy and upbeat and really gets the crowd excited,” adds Sukshitha, a final-year student of MS Ramaiah Arts and Science College.

Pragnya, a first-year student of Maharani College, has been learning classical dance for many years now.

And she feels that there are still takers for it. “But many don’t  pursue it as Indian classical dances needs a lot of dedication and time to master.

Not many youngsters in college can dedicate that kind of time and energy for it unless they are really passionate about it. That is why most youngsters tend to take up western dance forms,” she adds.

Akshay, a lecturer in St Joseph’s College of Arts and Science, adds, “The Western influence on dance forms has a huge impact on children today. For many students, it is considered cool to know these dances. But there is nothing wrong in it as dance in any form is good and healthy,” he wraps up.