Intro to Indian Dance

“Introduction to Indian Dance“ is a nine-minute video developed by the Editors of Hinduism Today Magazine in collaboration Bharatanatyam dancer Shivani Thakkar of Los Angeles and Dr. Shiva Bajpai, Professor Emeritus of History, California State University Northridge, Los Angeles. Funded by a grant from Uberoi Foundation. Filmed at the Malibu Hindu Temple. The video covers in brief the history of Indian classical dance, a comparison with Western ballet style, hand gestures of Bharatanatyam, methods of character depiction, choreography and story telling, abstract dance, and clips of many other styles of Indian dance. This is the first installment in our Teach Indic Culture series of short videos intended for K-12 school use and adaptable to Common Core teaching methods. Produced by Gabriel Bruskoff Executive Producer and Narrator, Roger (Raj) Narayan Directed by Mainak Dhar Performed and Choreographed by Shivani Thakkar Director of Photography, Fidencio Casas Editor, Mragendra Singh “Bho Sambho“ Performed by Padmabhushan awardee Sangita Kalanidhi Sudha Ragunathan Courtesy of Sangita Kalanidhi Sudha Ragunathan Snippet at 01:15 from Shastram Video: Produced by Shastram Director Ghirija Jayarraj Cinematography Pradeep Kalipurayath. Artists Shruthi KP and Prabal Gupta