There are as many types of dance as there are languages on the planet—maybe more! Dance is a form of expression used worldwide.
You don’t have to speak the language or have ancestors from a specific country to take up a cultural dance. And many dances aren’t old-fashioned, either. For instance, many teams are forming to perform modern South Asian dance. One especially popular type is featured in the so-called Bollywood films from India. (A group at the University of California, Berkeley is well-known for organizing an annual event called Bollywood Berkeley, for instance.) Other groups put a modern spin on traditional dances such as Garba and Raas.
Interested? Of course, as with most types of dance, you can learn some of the moves online. In this case, you can even pick up some of the steps by watching a movie. Check out one of these types of dance and let yourself get inspired. Then, gather up some friends and make your own dance team!
Portions of this entry originally appeared in the Current Health magazines, March 2009.
