return to bhangra: from dance clubs to gym clubs, young south asian women reclaim a dance never meant for them.

Sonia Das, who grew up in a white suburb of Walnut Creek, California, never thought she would become a bhangra dancer.
\"I was very shy growing up,\" she said . \"
\"I never imagined myself dancing on stage in front of all these people.
\"She also didn\'t feel that there was much connection between her South Asian cultural background.
Sonia\'s father is from a small village in Punjab, India, and her mother grew up in the Punjab diaspora community in the Fiji Islands.
In Sonia\'s family, dancing is a bit defaced, her mother is not allowed to dance when she is young, and Sonia herself does not encourage dancing except to be with her family.
When she joined a whole
Bhangra women\'s team as a UC student
Davis, it gives her cultural pride and confidence.
The performance was \"too hasty,\" she said \".
\"It brought me into my culture. \" [
Slightly] Illustrations
Sonia, like many young South Asian women, is reconnecting with their culture through bhangra. Second-
A generation of South Asian American women are increasingly using bhangra as a way to define cultural identity, and the mainstream is also discovering this dance.
Many of the young women closest to bhangra grew up in white communities and schools, with few South Asian peers.
Popular movies like Monsoon Weddings and Beckham, and the growing presence of bhangra in club scenes, raise awareness of dance and music.
Evolved to jump--
A male folk dance that is traditionally completely unsuitable for women-
From folk dance to popular club music to aerobic exercise, the creative tension between nostalgia and change is revealed.
From the fields to London, Bhangra began as a dance for Punjab farmers to celebrate the harvest, which is now divided into India and Pakistan.
The meaning of \"Bhang\" is marijuana, dance movements imitate field investigations-
Cultivate, sow and harvest.
Bhangra is the most dynamic dance in traditional Indian dance.
The rhythmic beat of the drum called dhol is accompanied by an action-rich dance.
The connection between dance and workers and agriculture disappointed bhangrato-
The feeling of the Earth is different from other classical Indian dances.
Its female rival is ghidda, which has softer movements and more stories to tell.
In 1980s and 1970, bhangra became part of the modern club, when the South Asian diaspora community used the UK as the birthplace of bhangra remix music.
Mixed with house, hiphop, reggae and Western synths and percussion instruments, Bhangra quickly became an integral part of the London club stage, Panjabi MC, Bally Sagoo Apache Indians and Saki
The emergence of new bhangra artists-
A recent popular group is Tigerstyle from Scotland.
Mix Bhangra music transfer to U. S.
After 90 s, D was first promoted in New York. J.
Rekha\'s \"Basement Bhangra\" is now very popular in the United States.
North America already has its own bhangra artist, including Jazzy B in Canada.
Bhangra dancers raise their arms in the air, shrug their shoulders and move as the beat goes on.
There are often \"circle dances\" in the music, and dancers perform a circle for the crowd around them.
At these parties, young women tend to wear the same clothes as young Americans. S.
It is usually worn to the club, although some clubs add kurta, dupatta or other traditional costumes.
It became common to jump and become second.
The community of a generation of South Asian Americans is getting older and notable.
South Asians have been in the United States. S.
Since the beginning of the 20 th century, the immigration law of 1965 ended the 80-year ban on Asian immigrants, opening the way for a new wave of immigrants in South Asia.
Bhangra is part of these second important sub-cultures
A generation of South Asians, a source of national pride, a community and a pure pleasure of infectious and accessible dance.
While dancing may require a certain amount of skill and experience, anyone can attend the party for the first time and participate in it, raise their arms and dance to the beat. [
Slightly] Illustrations
Both the American Library Association and the New York Public Library have listed it as the best book for teenagers, demonstrating the importance of bhangra to women in South Asia, USAS.
In the novel, 17-year-
At first, the old dimples Lala took her best blonde friend Gwen as an example and refused to accept her cultural background.
When she discovered the scene of the bhangra club in New York City and found friends and mentors in the South Asian community, Dimple went through a shift.
Desay hidere, like her character, grew up in a white-majority area, and the dance scene in New York City helped her redefine her cultural identity.
\"The first time I walked into the Basement Bhangra--
\"Pure excitement and unique feeling of going home,\" Hidier said . \".
\"Hear the music I only hear in the background of family wedding, poojas, [and]
Travel to India but cheer up again-
It was really re-invented.
She added: \"The Bhangra Club is a way to be yourself ---
Become wild and free in a pure Club style, but also part of your family and cultural history, respect your roots ---
The music of other clubs is not available in this way.
Club party in D. J.
Rekha inspired the dance scene in the confusion of birth. D. J.
Rekha, called Rekha Malhotra, is considered to be popular in the United States in the first place.
Her Basement Bhangra party started eight years ago at the club. O. B\'s. D. J.
His parents immigrated from New Delhi, born in London and raised on Long Island.
When she first heard bhangra\'s music, she fell in love with bhangra, who started deejaying with her male cousins in her 90 s in New York.
At first she sat in the back seat, but when the men returned to India, she took over the man and became popular with the man --
Leading career. D. J.
Rekha deejaying gave lectures and had to jump on college and break through on the blackboard, which helped through media and popular culture.
The second generation is associated with bhangra as \"South Asia and cool signifier. J. Rekha says.
\"Cool\" not only to the second-
The sub-culture of South Asia has also become the mainstream.
Artists like Jay
Z and Elliott have already started trying the beat of bhangra.
The \"cool\" factor is important for a generation who have little representation of South Asian Americans in pop culture ---
The most prominent South Asian in the media is the Apu of The Simpsons.
Discover a South Asian dance, but \"cool\" becomes a powerful source of cultural validation and pride.
The second generation received bhangra, such as Bhangra for Unity and Bhangra for Bush, not only through club scenes, but also through children\'s teaching programs, university dance programs and activism (
The latter is D. J. Rekha).
Many colleges and universities have a team of bhangra, who recently started competing between universities, such as Bhangra Blowout in Washington, D. C. C.
And diawaaz Dhol in San Francisco.
A team of almost all South Asian men and women can be all-female, all-male, or coed. [
Slightly] Illustrations
Women created bhangra fitness workout, another popular innovation.
Sarina Jain, seeking to be called \"Jane Fonda, India\", developed Masala Bhangra exercise.
Jain, from Jaipur, India, was born and raised in Orange County, California.
She combines her passion for bhangra and fitness to perform cardiovascular exercises based on the movements she adapted from the bhangra party.
She taught at the health club and produced a series of videos.
Although her class is more
In South Asia, many young South Asian women use her videos as a reference for learning dance.
Although bhangra is popular among young women, bhangra, as the foundation of traditional male dance, affects women\'s experience of dance.
Jain believes that traditional male movements make women feel strong, so women are attracted to dance.
Bhangra is \"perfect for men to dance\", she said \".
\"I like to watch Punjabi boys dance.
I get a high rating from their strength. It\'s so manly.
I like it very much.
I want to copy it.
\"Young women often express conflicting emotions about bhangra and gender.
Some believe that women involved in dance need to respect the male roots of dance, while others want to separate dance from gender.
Sonia Dass, trained at the bhangra Team, said, \"when girls go out and dance like men, I do get angry. . .
I think there is a form for women, there is a form for men, and there is a style for both women and men.
\"Radha Makker, a sophomore in the United StatesC.
Berkeley, who is also the coordinator of bhangra on campus, said when it comes to dance: \"Bhangra is empowering. . .
You use your whole body.
You can feel it
However, she found it better for men to dance: \"Bhangra is more like a man. . .
Looks better, looks easier and smoother. . .
Bhangra is not a very feminine dance. . .
The more you are like a man, the more you are like a man, the better you are.
However, Bhangra\'s traditional \"male\" movements, whose energy and focus are extensive rather than precise movements, seem to be part of the appeal of dance to women.
Shyamala Moorty, a member of the University of California, Los Angeles bhangra team, now teaches dance for children at schools across California, comparing bhangra and ghidda: \"For me, bhangra is more powerful than ghidda because it is more powerful.
My feet can stand a little wider.
I can do some strong moves without being demoted to the point of clapping and telling stories, which is also good but doesn\'t feel energetic.
Finally, because it\'s a male form, I don\'t need to shake my hips or overemphasize my femininity if I don\'t want.
\"Bhangra\'s importance to women conflicts with the rule of male artists, whose lyrics are sometimes problematic for women. D. J.
Rekha compared bhangra with hiphop, both scenes are male --
Most singers are male.
\"It\'s about who is in power,\" she said . \".
Although she stands out, she also feels D as a woman. J.
The scene in bhangra is very challenging.
\"If I were a Punjabi, things would be different.
\"Bhangra and gender are particularly relevant in the bhangra interschool competition, which seeks to be more\" real \"and\" traditional \"than the club mix scene \".
This pursuit of competition authenticity has brought tension to women who traditionally do not dance bhangra at all.
The colorful and exquisite clothing reflects the concern for \"authenticity.
\"Men wear lungis, a cloth tied to their waist, while women wear salwaar kameez, a long shirt and loose trousers.
They all use props such as water tanks and sticks and sometimes stage scenes of rural life in Punjab.
The competition was noisy and full of music and dhol from the crowd, the high energy and acrobatics of the dancers, and the cheers of the audience.
Women sometimes try to become more traditional by performing more ghidda, which includes softer movements and more performances.
Usually, female dancers cover their heads with a stack of cloth pieces.
In the competition, the dance is more stunt and acrobatics.
Judges often reward women who dance more ghidda.
Dass, when he was a judge a year
Women\'s ghidda team won the first place for women, she said one of the criteria for judging is how \"traditional\" a team has\"-
The Ghidda team fits this description in terms of style, song and clothing.
However, some
The women\'s team successfully adopted a more masculine style.
Makker pointed out that the most recent
The women\'s team from Canada ranks third, \"The reason people say they are so good is because they dance like men.
The \"Coed team combines these styles, men use a more typical\" male \"style, and women use a more\" female \"style, because in the coed team, women perform with the judges
\"I think it shows that women are placed in their own positions. . .
\"Guys can do something cool,\" said D. J. Rekha.
The bhangra competition, which focuses on tradition, shows the cultural nostalgia of South Asian immigrants and their children.
In her insightful book, Dessie in the second house
On behalf of South America\'s mixed dance scene, Suna Mera described \"political nostalgia \".
\"The second generation, especially women, struggles with the idea of cultural and ethnic purity, which can be both gender-discriminatory and regional.
Nostalgia for immigrants and their children will make them more conservative and more traditional than immigrants from the subcontinent.
Ironically, this nostalgia and hope is as real as possible when young people in South Asia seek to be Westernized.
Makker described her sending a choreographed bhangra show video to her cousins in India.
The cousins were surprised by her \"truth\" and she said, \"we don\'t even do it here!
\"Out of a desire for authenticity, the problems that have always existed in the South Asian community ---
Gender and Regionalism-
Also in bhangra.
While bhangra is welcomed by South Asians in terms of region, race or religion, the tone of the competition is often more pronounced.
People bring their politics to the dance floor. J. Rekha says.
Immigration nostalgia not only ignores the changes in South Asia, but also ignores the way culture moves back and forth between the subcontinent and the Global South Asian diaspora.
Mixed dance music originated in the United States. K.
Back in the subcontinent, it became very popular there and often appeared in Bollywood films in India.
Sarina Jain also taught her Masala Bhangra fitness in Mumbai, India, and found a supportive audience.
The joy and excitement that young women have for bhangra can drive their politics.
For Sonia Das, performing in the dance team was a defining experience.
\"Bhangra makes me feel stronger,\" she said . \"
\"The energy of the crowd excites you.
\"Sunetta durandhal is a hotel in San Francisco --
Based on writers and editors.