In Hindi 204, Kusum Ji made it her mission to expose us to various aspects of Indian culture, such as poetry, stories, and dance. She did this through inviting a few guests to the class, where we’d get the opportunity to put our normal work on pause for a day and interact in Hindi with an expert on their topic of expertise. For one of these classes, Kusum Ji invited Rohini Thakkar from the Duke India Initiative, a Bollywood dancer and native Hindi speaker. Kusum Ji had invited Rohini Ji to my Hindi 203 class last semester, which was extremely fun. So, I was very excited to see her back in Hindi 204.
Rohini Ji taught us choreography to a Bollywood song while speaking only in Hindi. This was a great way to learn Hindi, because even though I didn’t know all the words she was saying, I was able to understand most of them through context clues, such as the words for “left” and “right.”
The steps of the dance were relatively easy to pick up, but really got us moving to the point where I was winded by the end of class. Even Kusum Ji danced, and she killed it! I had no idea she could dance so well.
One of Rohini Ji’s goals through coming to the class was to make us less stressed about our schoolwork. I could tell she truly cared about how we were doing and wanted us to relax, forget about work, and enjoy the dancing. I had so much fun that during the class, I completely forgot the assignments and exams I was previously stressing over.
The other students in my class had just as much fun as I did. For example, Shirley said, “The dance class was very enjoyable. I thought it was structured and paced well so that everyone could keep up throughout. I also appreciated it as a way to get some stress-relief through dancing and moving around.”
And, Kevin said, “I really liked the dance class because it was fun to move around and learn a cultural dance. Rohini Ji was a great teacher.”
At the end of the class, we set aside a few minutes for Rohini Ji to answer any questions we had. As someone involved in Bollywood dance on campus and aspiring to improve, I asked her in Hindi, “Do you have any tips on how to improve in dancing?” I was expecting her to respond with something technical, such as to focus on your posture or footwork or something along those lines. However, the answer she gave me was so much more meaningful. She said the most important thing is to smile and be genuinely happy when you dance. Then, your expression of happiness will shine through your dance, and when people watch you, they’ll automatically pick up on your happiness. If you can just be happy to dance, your dancing will naturally improve a lot. Her answer stuck with me, and it is something that I will always remember whenever dancing in the future.
This workshop was supported by Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Duke Service-learning and Duke India Initiative.
Department of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies