An anonymous tipster left a link to an “awww”-inducing story from Beijing, China, on our news tab.
After Bollywood films, classical Indian dance has caught the imagination of the Chinese, with a young woman actively promoting Bharatnatyam among her compatriots, especially the tiny-tots.
For 33-year-old Jin Shan Shan, a Jawaharlal Nehru University alumnus, it has always been a passion to become an exponent of Bharatnatyam. She has established a school for Bharatnatyam here. [The Hindu]
Like Amreekans, the Chinese are dabbling in many things desi, like Bollywood, yummy food and of course teh yoga. Can’t forget that yoga.
Aside: Is there a better cultural ambassador? We have millions of confused, middle-aged, New Year’s Resolution-keepers all across this land, taking Yoga at Bally fitness and the like, trying not to fall over when they’re attempting an Ardha Chandrasana. 😉 Now people can add incense and twisty poses to the pottu, when they assemble a stereotype. 😀 Don’t get your chuddies all twisted, yaar. I’m just high off the cuteness in that picture (that’s Jin Shan Shan and her adorable daughter Jessie, in Beijing).
While Bollywood films, Indian cuisine and yoga have become popular in China, learning classical Indian dance is also gaining ground here, Ms. Jin said. Around 50 Chinese children were attending classes every week to learn the intricacies of the classical dance. [The Hindu]
Wouldn’t it be amazing if the arts accomplished what the Panch Shila couldn’t? Yes, yes it would be. Then again, will hundreds of stomping little kids have any effect on China’s “take” on Arunachal Pradesh?
In November 2006, China and India had a verbal spat over claim of the north-east Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. India claimed that China was occupying 38,000 square kilometres of its territory in Kashmir, while China claimed the whole of Arunachal Pradesh as its own.
Recently, China denied the application for visa from an IAS officer in Arunachal Pradesh, saying that since Arunachal Pradesh is a territory of China, he/she won’t need a visa to visit his/her own country. [viki]
An irresponsibly naive idealist can hope, right? Be the change you wish to see?
Oooo. Love Thai food. Although, many of the dishes are also sweet. Maybe this is a regional difference/preference? (since Thai and S. Indian food use coconut extensively?)
Ugh, it tastes like a noodley mess from a not-very-tasty Rajasthani dhaba. [no disrespect to Rajasthani cuisine intended here]
The best (and healthiest I think) Chinese food, in my opinion is made by the Buddhist restaurants (like Happy Family, on Atlantic avenue off the 10 freeway in LA) I’m not sure if there are other places like this in the states
It will be funny if Chinese start Bollywood dancing schools. Bollywood dancing looks like people in the Michael JAckson thriller video OD’d on speed. I find it really amusing to look a the background dancers in these bollywood songs. They got the funniest smiles plastered on their faces while doing their fast herky jerky moves.
Ugh, it tastes like a noodley mess from a not-very-tasty Rajasthani dhaba. [no disrespect to Rajasthani cuisine intended here]
It’s alright Camille. Unassuming Rajasthanis are too secure in the superiority of their food to be bothered by the khich khich of their ostentatious northern neighbors:) Someday when I have the money and the visas I’ll open a pure play Rajasthani restaurant in Manhattan and make them Americans question the primacy of French and Italian cuisines.
Interestingly the tastiest Indian style chicken curry I have had in my almost ten years in America was an order I bought from an outdoor stall at a taste of Chinatown festival on Mott Street in Manhattan.
Absolutely. I’m was a garba and raas/dandia fanatic back in the day.
Huh?
Seriously, why do people keep jumping to “So, oh, you must have been [insert wild assumption here]”. Let me add to the story above – it was in 3rd, 4th, and a little bit of 5th standard when us kids weren’t really interested in Bharatanatyam. The teacher was a bit of a disciplinarian and we had to do this in our school uniforms that weren’t designed for dancing comfort. The dudes had an issue with this as tailors had a bad habit of stitching ‘tight’ uniforms for guys, especially the shorts and pants, while the girls were told to bring bottoms of Punjabi dresses to wear under their uniforms that was quite comfortable.
I have no issues dancing and frankly, I usually rock my ass off in most places. Please keep your theories to yourself about what you assume about others without knowing them. And no, I wasn’t developing a cure for AIDS or solving world hunger. I was in primary schooling.I was a kid who just didn’t like a dance class forced on me (like many of my other fellow students including girls).
It really is that simple. Why does everything have to turn into an e-bitch fest? Can’t we just discuss things without slinging mud and ‘calling people out’ without knowing an ounce about them? Did I say men who did BN were gay or even ask for a comparison between that and Ballet, and the relative gayness of it? No. It doesn’t matter. The resistence to the dance was because it was being forced ON us, while most weren’t interested in it at that age. I’ve played a part in several school plays and dances (yes, even in dance competitions in India and we were damn good). Being on stage meant we had to wear make up so people could see our ‘features’. I even had lipstick slapped on me by a teacher once for a school play.
Sigh…
Can you do a 6-step followed, into a windmill, then a 1990, followed by a freeze, to uprocking then popping & locking, then into liquid style?
This is all well and good, but China is India’s biggest competitor and a long-term enemy. The Chinese have a tiem horizon into the centuries and covet Indian land and access to the oceans. We must be ever vigilant against their threats and not be seduced by efforts at cultural cooperation from the Middle Kingdom.
Gujudude,
I assumed because you didn’t care to contextualize your statements–with the initial post, all I could see was that you resented the fact that it was forced on boys, that it was especially uncomfortable for boys and that you resented it. What am i supposed to take from that except the old ‘dancing is fruity’ saw? Please don’t assume that we’re all clairvoyant here.
you made no mention of girls feeling the same discomfort or even why…now that you have, bravo.
and btw, makeup being applied to people who do live performing arts is not remarkable in the least–it’s necessary and a very common practice across cultures. If you dont, all the audience ends up seeing is a jumble of features (which, if you cared to know the most superficial fact about BN is highly important) and no expression/emotion is translated.
It is also quite normal for boys to learn BN–frontin’ like it’s some great penance from the gods of injustice is a bit much.
I used to do the first part, but after a shoulder dislocation and surgery 10 years ago, I stick to the popping and locking shit. And garba, raas, and bhangra that only a Gujarati can butcher oh, so beautifully :). I also like to indulge in the ‘lawn mower’, ‘sprinkler’, ‘shopping cart’ etc. Fun stuff.
Back to the focus:
They just need to call the present lines of control the ‘boundary’ and move on. Neither side is going to give ground and aren’t willing to take any by force. Just get it over with and move on.
are you saying you could windmill? have you heard of NYC breakers or RSC?
MM,
Why not just ask for clarification instead of using the ‘jump to conclusion mat’?
Yes, I know. Which is why I didn’t have a problem. If felt different because I wasn’t used to it layers of it, but once I saw the picture and video (again, as a child/student) it made sense. Lighting, makeup, whatever is used to enhance the effect of visual performing arts.
ahh, my desi friend, it is my jump-to-conclusions, quick-to-bite-the-cyanide-capsule, and immolate-myself-for-the-sake-of-Tamil Lemurian blood.
but really, apologies for the jumping. I get the “fruity dancing” attitude from so many people that I sometimes impute malicious intent to innocent, uncontextualized statements.
I can’t speak for Chop Suey Masala, but chop suey is definitely a wholly American invention. It was invented by Chinese immigrants to the US to appeal to American palates in NYC. I just wrote about this topic, so now I’m totally curious about chop suey masala! I’ve had Desi Chinese in Jackson Heights and was more intrigued than impressed, but the potential is enormous…
GujjuDude/Muralimannered, If you have not yet resolved your argument , may I suggest a good 1970s style dance showdown (Garba Vs BN?) like this?
Camille, are you talking about Thai desserts? The Thai food (which I absolutely love) I’ve eaten had enough heat to knock my socks off and easily matched any hot, spicy Indian food.
GujuDude, I wish I went to the school you went. I would have loved to be given an opportunity to learn BN, or for that matter, any other Indian classical dance. But I can see your point about it being forced upon all – though, in primary and middle school (in India) that I went to, many activities were mandatory and we all had to participate whether we liked it or not.
I think we all make assumption about each other based on what we read, but the key thing is that we should be ready to revise those assumptions. 🙂
Well, I starting to learn it. Was just another college kid who was learning stuff when I actually dislocated my shoulder trying to do one. Which told me that “GujuDude – you’re not cut out for this”. Though it was my dumbass for not making sure I didn’t drift on to carpet from the smooth stone floor. Friction has a bad way of stopping things with momentum. (I’ve had shoulder issues before that, so it was likely that my shoulder just gave way. It was already subluxating.) Yes, I’ve heard of the Rock Steady Crew and New York City breakers.
HMF, how long have you been doing this stuff?
MM, we’re cool. Ask before you shoot 😉
Launching some (slight) tangents through this comment.
One of the issues that comes up in retrospective Western commentaries of the India-China relationship during the early 1950s is that India had assumed for itself the role of the ‘badaa bhai’, or at least, that Indian Foreign Office mandarins (aha!) had begun thinking like the ‘badaa sahibs’ who had then recently departed – so that China, after its defining national event in 1949, two years after India’s – was seen as a country that might need some tutelage in the ways of the world, and that India would take it under its wing till China had properly grown up. It is this attitude that is said to have, on the one hand grated on China, and on the other, encouraged a belligerent attitude in India, leading to the debacle of 1962. I’m just curious, if, had the catchphrase ‘HCBB’- of those days, been slightly less androcentric – and the culture less patriarchal – on both sides – would history have unfolded differently? And for all the real badi behens reading this now who might have been around back then, or know something about the zeitgeist of the time – how did such an androcentric phrase go over? Or even now, how does it strike you? Of course, the androcentrism in the phrasing merely reflects the larger androcentrism in the culture, just like ‘fraternal’ is a relationship we do not restrict only to males.
Both China and India face female deficits in their populations – in each case there is about a 6% excess of males – so both countries have a ‘male character’ to them, (and in that sense, bhai-bhai may capture the fraternal feeling more accurately!) – what is this going to do for their future relationship? Is there going to be a continued subsurface belligerence in the relationship? I looked at the population of China vs the combined populations of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh over the last 50 years – and China outnumbers the combined populations of IPB right until 1999-2000, when they pass it slightly. However, within the next 15-20 years, India alone will have a larger population than China, and will quite clearly become an actual, not just imagined badaa bhai, at least in this sense. What then? An India that is larger than China – population wise – will it also have the cultural footprint, the economic strength and the military muscle – both soft and hard power – to go with it? Or will it need its own badaa bhai?! 🙂
chachaji@69:
Badaa bhai is watching you!
Pappau, Sorry for the typo (bed time) What I meant to say was: I wish you were correct about India’s superior Navy, but the Chinese have a superior submarine force. India has to catch up fast to be a deterrent to China.
When I was ten I told my mother I liked Chinese food soo much I could eat it every day. Then I said that I was going to marry a Chinese girl when I got big. She looked at me got mad and told me to shut-up. :))
A couple of summers ago I was staying with my aunt in Alabama, and we went to my her friend’s daughter’s arangetram. Turns out her Guru Ji was this white, blonde-haired woman who had studied BN in India for years and years and this little desi girl had been under her tutelage from start to finish in Birmingham, AL. It was odd, but cool to see this white woman who had studied BN and was teaching it back to desi kids. And it worked really well.
Never fear, we are getting some state of the art subs
There’s a Chinese restaurant in Ludhiana that is fabulous. The owner is Chinese, raised in Punjab, and the restaurant’s been there for at least 20 years.
I’m glad 🙂 Rajasthani food is not bad, by any means, but just as a Punjabi dhaba with undercooked, greasy, nasty food will not taste good, the same is true — although with a distinct flavor of “badness” — for Rajasthani dhabas. That’s all I meant 🙂
I’m not sure if I’m awed, or scared. Although, for the record guys, a guy who is comfortable in his own skin/dancing is infinitely more attractive.
Nope, I’m talking about the food (although I do love me some sticky rice with mango). I totally feel you on the hot/spicy dishes, but there’s also a lot of dishes with a “sweet” undercurrent. Not the sugary-sweet of Chinese food, but even in basil/salty dishes, if there is coconut in it it’s going to have a sweet vibe.
Psst! *whisper: it’s because they kill their girls! *
For those interested in knowing more on the hakka experience in India, Canadian author Kwai Nun Lin has some charming snapshots in her book of short stories released under the TSAR (Toronto South Asian Review) banner. She read at the masala mehndi masti festival a few weeks back. Here’s an excerpt from the Palm Leaf.
Enjoy.
proud of you for citing the pacha sheela, ANNA 🙂
I never understood this. A guy who danced like crap should do one of two things:
Or you can do what I did with total geek intensity and practice practice practice on DDR. Of course, me being a GUY (in the Dave Barry sense, as opposed to a MAN), I soon switched from trying for grace to seeing how quickly I could do a 180. I can now do two 180s in 1 second flat (yes, I asked my
fellow Jackass membersfriends to time me).Looking at this from a heterosexual lens, yes that’s a problem, but for gay and bisexual men, I guess it’d be a bonanza. 😉 BTW, does anyone know if gays and lesbians have more freedom in China than in India, or are both countries equally unreceptive?
Posterity, as a Punjabi who grew up in Rajasthan, I love both cuisines. Though I haven’t tried too many Rajasthani dishes, I’ll take daal-baati-churma over rajma-chawal (sacrilege!!) any day. 🙂
well..you can totally dance like crap, but if you do it CONFIDENTLY, or with a sense of self-effacing fun, it can still translate into a good time. I prefer option #1, though 🙂 The worst is going out to dance with your guy and then having him pull the “I don’t dance” card.
pingpong, a good friend of mine used to play DDR for hours as her “workout” at the local arcade. She said it was way cheaper than joining the gym 🙂
From what I know, China is basically totally ambivalent: often called “no approval, no disapproval, no promotion” – gay people are not prohibited from sexual activities, but if found out, they are not protected from persecution, and nobody, gay practitioner or otherwise, goes out of their way to draw attention to anything to do with the gay.
I suppose it’s the Chinese equivalent of “Don’t ask, don’t tell”.
Totally agree. I lost a few kilos that way myself. But my feet and shins hurt at the end.
On the other hand, I know people who complained that it was too tiring to sustain, and they now play DDR ONLINE!
Camille, do you mean confident like this? 😉 🙂
How about this hoary old chestnut?
“The worst is going out to dance with your guy and then having him pull the “I don’t dance” card.”
And why’s that? Is there something wrong with not dancing when you haven’t practiced? Conversely, the worst is being egged on by some girl to go on the dance floor when you know (and everyone else you know, knows) you look like a complete idiot.
Damn, I just searched for bad dancing on Youtube (It’s Friday evening people), and found these utter gems:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=RiJQSS9YI8w http://youtube.com/watch?v=7SnubPrh8ZQ
Also, Camille, where would you put Daler Mehndi on the dance-a-tron scale?
HMF@86, this video changed my life.
http://www.videojug.com/film/dance-moves-an-emergency-guide-for-men
Seriously people, it’s also an immensely fun how-to guide on how to annoy your date if you don’t like her.
Thanks, guys. Next time I’ll know not to open my stupid mouth and open a can of bad-dancing-worms 😛
No, there’s nothing wrong with it. I’m just saying, it’s sad/lonely to go out with your guy — specifically to dance — and then have him cop out on you.
True, if he didn’t make it clear that he’s not good, and has no desire to become good then yes, you have a right to complain, so long as you didn’t lay the pressure on before hand.
Personally, I think the aphorism “dance like no one is watching” is somewhat stupid, why stop there, and just “dance when no one is watching”
but it’s far worse, as a guy, to develop a ‘rep’ as a fearsome dancer–and then watch this backfire as invitations to go out evaporate in the wake of your fearsome reputation, “ummm…yeah…i wanted you to come out but friend xxxyyy is trying to mack on this guy…and you would intimidate him out of dancing with her…so…”
Likewise, my Kathak guruji is white (and blond) and studied under Chitresh Das for almost thirty years. I’m pleasantly surprised at how Indian her mannerisms are sometimes. =)
I do that a lot. I hate dancing in public. I will dance goofily in the office or home if I feel like it. One time this chick violently tried to pull me into the dance floor and I just froze more. Let’s face it. MOst chicks not named Elaine can dance goofily and still look fine doing it. But I just cannot get myself to dance at weddings and office socials. You take me to a concert and then I can get into it because you do not have to really dance, but just pump your arms or just jump up and down or you can dance casually to a jam band.
I sent a note about all this to a non-desi, non-Chinese guy who used to live in Beijing. He had this to say:
(I linked to this SM posting here: http://www.sajaforum.org/2007/08/china-the-beiji.html)
umm.. being chinese, would there be enough T & A required for indian dances? I mean, these are not meant to be performed by excessively lean women, and everyone knows that chinese women, while quite pretty and shapely otherwise, fall a bit short by indian standards as far as T&A are concerned..
It’s one thing to not dance and to be clear that, as a rule, you don’t dance publicly, but it’s another thing to make plans specifically to dance and then refuse to do so, you know? And, to answer HMF, I would never nag someone into going dancing if they weren’t comfortable — how could they have ANY fun that way? It would just be prolonged torture for all parties 🙂
Last time I checked there was a quite a bit of variation in body types among chinese women. Also, you don’t need tons of T&A to dance desi dances… At least not as far as I can tell.
Sree, thanks for the alternate perspective — I was under the impression that the relationship is more nuanced as well. At least, among my parents’ generation, there seems to be a wide variety of attitudes and feelings re: China and the Chinese. That said, I think pop culture tends to cross borders, and with it, other (less pop) cultural features. Just as hip hop is popular in Korea, it doesn’t (really) surprise me that BN is popular in areas of China.
This is very mutual. One thing I absolutely hate about the Chinese culture is their bullshit traditional medicine…which is single-handedly leading to the extinction of several rare animals IN INDIA. I’m not knocking accupuncture, or their herbal stuff, but medicines based on rare animal parts (whether the medications work or not is irrelevant) is barbaric, harmful, and has got to stop.
she looks a bit like Helen don’t you think?
The picture is soooo cute. I sent the link to my mum. She’s been quite involved with the Bharat Natyam ‘scene’ in our country for quite a while and is regularly asked to play in the orchestra during dance performances. On another note she reads Sepia sometimes.
Oh, and a guy who dances badly but is enjoying himself is a lot better than a guy who dances at all.