Dancer Amit Patel is Reinventing Bollywood His Way | If Cities Could Dance скачать в хорошем качестве

Dancer Amit Patel is Reinventing Bollywood His Way | If Cities Could Dance

Meet dancer, choreographer and Youtuber Amit Patel (@Amit Patel) reinventing Bollywood dance, while also creating space for queer expression in the South Asian community and beyond. Fremont, California-based Patel began his Bollywood dance training when he was 10-years-old with Mona Khan Company (@Mona Khan Company), now one of the biggest platforms for Bollywood dance in North America. He performed with Mona Khan's dance troupe for more than a decade, before joining a contemporary dance company and experiencing an awakening. Patel realized he hadn't been able to truly release himself in Bollywood dance performances, in which he was often assigned to traditional masculine roles. He started on a journey to explore movement and create spaces that allowed him to be unapologetically himself as an Indian American gay man. Today, his dance practice includes "Bollywood Heels," a mixture of Kathak gestures (Indian classical dance) and jazz dance performed in 5-inch heels -- and what he calls Indian Contemporary, fusing hip hop, jazz, and ballet with Indian folk and classical dance forms. When Patel taught his first "Bollywood Heels" class in 2016, no one else was offering something like it. Now, he says, students routinely come up to him to express their appreciation for the space he’s created in the South Asian community. “In class I try to make it a point to be like, if the choreography doesn’t resonate, if it’s too feminine, too masculine, change it. It's all about finding your own sense of self, your voice,” he says. Explore “Bollywood Heels” and Indian Contemporary in Fremont, California in this episode of #IfCitiesCouldDance. ⬇ Download full content description here: https://bit.ly/FremontContentDescription ⬇ Download English transcript here: https://bit.ly/ICCDxFremontxTranscript 📌Editor’s note: This episode was filmed under strict guidelines due to the coronavirus pandemic. Safety parameters were followed to protect the health of the dancers and video production team. 🔔Hit that SUBSCRIBE button! 🔔 https://bit.ly/SubscribeKQEDArts 📖 Read the full story here: https://bit.ly/ICCDxFremont 🎶 Listen to our curated playlist: https://bit.ly/ICCDxFMTxMusicPlaylist 🌎 Explore our favorite locations in Fremont, CA: https://bit.ly/ICCDxFMTxStoryMap 👟 Featured dancers: Amit Patel Mona Khan Ishika Seth Saffatt Al-Mansoor 🎨 Featured public art: "Acrobats" sculpture by Aristides Burton Demetrios in Fremont, CA 📖 Chapters: 00:00 Explore Bollywood dance with Amit Patel and Mona Khan 00:41 Fremont as a hub for the South Asian communities 01:23 Meet Mona Khan, founder of Mona Khan Company 01:44 Bollywood dance elements as seen in the popular Bollywood films 02:27 Amit Patel's dance journey and traditional gender roles in Bollywood dance 03:54 Bollywood Heels, self-discovery, and coming out 5:50 Amit Patel's influence on the South Asian dance community ****** 👍🏽 Join us on Instagram:   / kqedarts   👍🏽 Like us on Facebook:   / kqedarts   👍🏽 Follow us on Twitter:   / kqedarts   #Bollywood #AmitPatel [Editor's correction: This episode includes footage from the 2016 version of 'Umrao Jaan,' not the 1981 version like our video says. The 1981 version can be found here: https://bit.ly/UmraoJaan1981. We send special thanks to viewer Dyutika Pal who caught this! 🙏🏽]