Dance Bangla Dance is a reality dance show on Zee Bangla with participants from various age groups. Every episode has a different flavor with different dance styles guaranteed to keep the audience asking for more.

The choreographers on the show have diverse backgrounds, both Western and Eastern.

The Humour Powerhouse of the show is none other than Bittu - Bittan Jhingalala, who promises to keep viewers laughing away at his quips and antics.

The show handlers themselves are celebrities in their own right. Bot...

Dance Bangla Dance is a reality dance show on Zee Bangla with participants from various age groups. Every episode has a different flavor with different dance styles guaranteed to keep the audience asking for more.

The choreographers on the show have diverse backgrounds, both Western and Eastern.

The Humour Powerhouse of the show is none other than Bittu - Bittan Jhingalala, who promises to keep viewers laughing away at his quips and antics.

The show handlers themselves are celebrities in their own right. Both handlers, Subhaditya and Tania, are of Mirakkel Akkel Challenger 4 fame.

And of course the Maha Guru, Mithunda - The Avatar, who will be the Judge of this lively and scintillating show.

Interestingly, this show has no age barrier for participants, and is aimed at an open age group, from young dancers to adults.

The entire series of Dance Bangla Dance will unravel mind blowing talent in 72 episodes, with the Grand Finale being scheduled for 31st March, 2010.

Dance Bangla Dance airs at 9.30 pm from Thursday to Saturday on Zee Bangla.

Participants:

Surojit Bose - A Liluah resident, he lost his mother at a very early age. His father deserted him and so his grandmother has brought him up. She works as a cook to nurture the dream of establishing him as a dancer. He wants to make this dream come true....

Ankushree Maity - She participates in Dance Bangla Dance with the hope that she gets back her lost brother who lives away from them. She lives with her mother and trains in all dance forms to achieve her goal in life.

Payal Banerjee - Having lost her mother at a very early age, she lives by herself as a paying guest since class 10. She earns her livelihood by dancing, is currently doing her graduation, and sees herself in the finals of Dance Bangla Dance.

Christopher Roy - His father is a hawker in a train, and his parents live separately ever since he was only 13 years old. Having worked in Mumbai in a dhaba, he then joined a Mumbai High End Restaurant as an Asst Chef having learnt Thai, Italian and Continental Cuisine. Now in Kolkata, he dreams of becoming a big star and hopes to cook a good Chicken and Italian dish for MG one day.

Sandip Das - In Class 9, he is the youngest participant in Dance Bangla Dance, travels 150 kms everyday from Basirhat to Jadavpur to learn dance. His grandparents are against his dancing as they feel only women dance and not men. He hopes his grandparents will bless him and will acknowledge his talent eventually.

Different forms of Dance:

Popular forms of Latin American Dance Styles:
The dances that originated in Latin America were primarily Rumba, Salsa, Cha Cha Cha, Samba, Merengue, Bolero, Mambo, etc. The Latin dance differed from the ballroom dance (International Latin) as the latter is considered to be a formal style of dancing. Latin dance is more spunky and fast paced than its counterpart.

Salsa
On similar lines as the Mambo, Salsa has had major contributions from the Cubans and the Puerto Ricans. No place can be singled out, to give the credit for the origination of this dance. It has seen many influences and improvisations over the past few years.

Usually a partner dance, Salsa is a very flirtatious dance by nature. The basic footwork is similar to Rumba and involves a lot of rapid transition when transferring the weight of the body from one foot to the other. Doing the 'quick-quick-slow' may actually seem very difficult in the beginning, but once the basics are mastered, there can be nothing more exciting than to dance the Salsa. There is the basic forward movement and the basic back movement and the woman has to always mirror the steps of the man, which are the basics of any partner work. Every instructor has his/her own unique style; so do
bear in mind to avoid frequent changes of your class in order to stick to one basic style.

Cha Cha Cha
You certainly cannot miss the Cha Cha beat at any party you attend. The two slow beats and the three quick ones form the base of Cha Cha Cha. The quick beats are utilized to move side to side and towards the partner.

The name was derived only because the sound of the feet when moving across the floor sounded like 'cha cha cha'. It is also said that it may have originated from Haiti where in the name was actually derived from the sound of a bell. The bell, which was made from plat, when rubbed, would produce the sound.

Like any other Latin Dance, there is the forward basic and the back basic. This dance is known for its peppy and sensuous steps that weave magic on the floor. Also known as Cha Cha, it is all about how you transfer the weight of your body in three quick beats. Basically, it's not just about the hip movements or the dips and spins; it is how the couple expresses themselves with perfect co-ordination.

Rumba
Rumba is known to have a Spanish or an African origin. It constitutes of lots of exaggerated hip movements with the man generally taking on an aggressive attitude and the woman always being on the defensive. This rhythmic dance is actually one of the slowest forms of Latin Dance.

The name Rumba has been derived from the word 'Room-Bah', which was used actually used to describe a music style. Rumba, danced to staccato beats, originated in the 16th century with the import of the black slaves from Africa. Also sometimes erroneously spelt as 'Rhumba', this dance remains the spirit and soul of Latin Dance.

Samba
Originating in Brazil, Samba combines the African, Iberian and Native Indian movements. Even today, the Samba is performed during festivals especially on the streets and for any major celebrations. Many old versions like the Baion and Marcha are performed in the local carnivals of Rio.

This dance requires a high level of energy and spirit and incorporates flirtatious steps and energetic jumps. Samba gained a lot of popularity amongst all races although the Europeans tried to suppress it to a certain extent.

The lively dance requires the dancer to be exuberant because he/she is required to dance to three steps in every bar. The rhythm is highlighted when it's played to the characteristic Brazilian music. The main instruments used are the tamborine, cabaca, chocalho, etc.

The festive mood of the dance has certainly seen it gain popularity but the high speed required for this dance has made it popular only between the experienced dancers.

Merengue
On similar lines to the 'Meringue' performed in Haiti, there are many legends that form the background of this dance. One of the popular ones, mentions a limping war hero (who loved to dance) and faced great difficulty in doing so, due to his wounds. Thus came the 'step forward' followed by dragging it to close.

This dance requires the dancer to have the torso as erect as possible. Considered to be a seductive form of Latin Dance, Merengue requires the dancers to focus entirely on his/her legs and avoid any haphazard movement of the hands.

Merengue also requires you to literally use each and every beat of the song - four beats to a bar of music. The basics of Merengue, like the other Latin dances, include the back basic movement and the forward basic movement.


CONTEMPORARY DANCE FORMS

Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 - April 1, 1991) was an American dancer and choreographer regarded as one of the foremost pioneers of modern dance, whose influence on dance can be compared to the influence Stravinsky had on music, Picasso had on the visual arts, or Frank Lloyd Wright had on architecture. Graham was a galvanizing performer, a choreographer of astounding productivity and originality.
She invented a new language of movement, and used it to reveal the passion, the rage and the ecstasy common to human experience. She danced and choreographed for over seventy years, and during that time was the first dancer ever to perform at The White House, the first dancer ever to travel abroad as a cultural ambassador, and the first dancer ever to receive the highest civilian award of the USA: the Medal of Freedom. In her lifetime she received honors ranging from the key to the City of Paris to Japan's Imperial Order of the Precious Crown. She said, "I have spent all my life with dance and being a
dancer. It's permitting life to use you in a very intense way. Sometimes it is not pleasant. Sometimes it is fearful. But nevertheless it is inevitable."

Alvin Ailey Jr. (January 5, 1931 - December 1, 1989) was an African-American choreographer and activist who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York. Ailey is credited with popularizing modern dance and revolutionizing African-American participation in 20th century concert dance. His company gained the
nickname "Cultural Ambassador to the World" because of its extensive international touring. Ailey's choreographic masterpiece Revelations is believed to be the best-known and most often seen modern dance performance.

Technique
Ailey made use of any combination of dance techniques that best suited the theatrical moment. Valuing eclecticism, he created more a dance style than a technique. He said that what he wanted from a dancer was a long, unbroken leg line and deftly articulated legs and feet ("a ballet bottom") combined with a dramatically expressive upper torso
("a modern top"). "What I like is the line and technical range that classical ballet gives to the body. But I still want to project to the audience the expressiveness that only modern dance offers, especially for the inner kinds of things."

Ailey's dancers came to his company with training from a variety of other schools, from ballet to modern and jazz and later hip-hop. He was unique in that he did not train his dancers in a specific technique before they performed his choreography. He approached his dancers more in the manner of a jazz conductor, requiring them to infuse his choreography with a personal style that best suited their individual talents. This openness to input from dancers heralded a paradigm shift that brought concert dance into harmony with other forms of African-American expression, including big band jazz.

Contemporary dance is a genre of concert dance that employs systems and methods found in modern dance and postmodern dance. Contemporary dance draws on modern dance techniques as well as newer philosophies of movement that depart from classical dance techniques by altogether omitting structured form and movement.

Pioneers of contemporary dance include Isadora Duncan, Ruth St. Denis, Doris Humphrey, Mary Wigman, Francois Delsarte, Emilie Jaques-Dalcroze, Merce Cunningham, Martha Graham, Rudolph von Laban, Loie Fuller, Jose Limon and Marie Rambert. Dance techniques and movement philosophies employed in contemporary dance include:

Alexander Technique
Bartenieff Fundamentals
Contact Improvisation
Dance Improvisation
Feldenkrais method
Hawkins technique
Horton Technique
Humphrey-Weidman technique
Graham technique
Cunningham Technique
Gyrotonic and Gyrokinesis
Kinesiology
Pilates
Release Technique
Yoga