FLEXIBLE FUSION
The energetic and high-spirited folk dance of Bhangra, which originated in the farmlands of Punjab in India, is making a re-emergence in fitness and dance studios across Australia.
An Indian folk dance is becoming all the rage in fitness studios around the country.
Often referred to as the Indian version of hip-hop, ‘Bhangra’ originated in the late 1880s in the Indian state of Punjab. It’s one of numerous Indian folk dances, but Bhangra’s vivacity has given it worldwide appeal. Look it up online and you’ll find countless listings of dance videos (some with millions of views), work-out videos and Bhangra classes in your city.
Just a few years ago, Bhangra classes were relatively unheard of – instead, Bollywood dancing was all the rage when it came to learning an Indian dance. But today, there are Bhangra classes in almost every major city across Australia. Priyanka Sharma Singh, founder of The Groove Nation – a dance school in Melbourne – says that she started teaching Bhangra two years ago with one class of five people.
“Within a year, I was teaching five classes at two studios – roughly 60 students,” she says.
“My classes are ... my happiness. They’re like my baby.”
PRIYANKA SHARMA SINGH
Priyanka, who’s been teaching various dance styles for years, became hooked on Bhangra at school in India. “I feel very happy doing Bhangra. It’s a joyful dance, you have to smile and use your full energy,” she says. Though she went on to train professionally in hip-hop, Bhangra never quite left her.
Luckily for Priyanka, she was able to combine her favourite dance styles, and she’s now one of just a handful to offer classes in ‘Bhangra-Hip-hop’.
“I used to come up with Bhangra steps while practising hip-hop. I have been doing it [Bhangra-Hip-hop] for a long time, but I had never taken it to the level that I have today,” she says.
Social media helped Priyanka garner interest in her fusion dance style when she moved to Melbourne three years ago. “I used to do all my practice sessions at home. I didn’t have a job. I posted a video of a BhangraHip-hop sequence on Instagram and people said, ‘why don’t you teach this?’”
While Priyanka now works at a factory by day, she still teaches dance in the evenings and on weekends. “I started The Groove Nation with no connections, but my husband helped me. My classes are the source of my happiness. They’re like my baby.”
In the last two years, Priyanka has taught around 500 people – including Monica Singh. Monica had no previous experience of dance or Bhangra. It was just “by coincidence” that she ended up at a class with a friend. “I thoroughly enjoyed the class. It was high energy; it’s a great form of exercise,” she says.
Exercising to Bhangra is nothing new, of course – but it has been very important in keeping the dance alive outside of India, believes Mani Singh; an Indian-born Australian who’s been practising Bhangra for over 20 years.
“For someone from a different culture to get involved, they need to see some output,” he says.
The fruits of labour that Mani is referring to are weight loss, strength and stamina. And all of these are on offer at his donation-based fitness club, Bhangra Workout – which he founded with his friend, Aman Bajwa, in 2015. Operating out of the Elite Fitness gym in Sydney, the weekly classes are open to both gym members and non-members. They are also suitable for those with no background of Bhangra or exercise, as Mani says that each class is tailored to make it inclusive – while ensuring “people are benefiting from it”.
Prior to creating Bhangra Workout, Mani taught Bhangra to children at an academy in Sydney. “At one point, we had 150 kids at the academy,” he says. He noticed that although parents encouraged their children to learn the dance, they lacked the motivation to participate themselves. After six years, he gave up teaching the dance as an art due to a “change in lifestyle” – but turning his passion into a fitness-based activity appeared more feasible and less demanding of his time.
Four years on, Bhangra Workout often runs with a full house. “We not only have people from all over India, but people from Western cultures attending as well,” Mani says.
Mani, who works as a chartered accountant at his own firm, claims the community aspect has helped to attract a lot of members. After paying for studio hire and other costs, all the proceeds of Mani’s club are donated to charities in India and Australia.
For its members, Bhangra Workout may be a fun way to get in shape, or an effective platform to give back to the community. However, for Mani, it was born out of his clear and unwavering determination to “preserve the dance and take it to other generations”.
“If you look at Punjab on the global map, it isn’t so big that the world will catch onto whatever comes out of the state. It has to be taken out and preserved by people involved in it. Or it could be easily lost. That’s the guidance that my parents gave me. That’s why I’m in it,” he says.