Getting in shape often requires keeping an exercise routine fresh and unique. If jogging, weight lifting, kick boxing or yoga isn't doin...
Getting in shape often requires keeping an exercise routine fresh and unique. If jogging, weight lifting, kick boxing or yoga isn't doing it for you anymore, Bollywood dancing might just be what the personal trainer ordered.
The new Naperville dance studio Bollywood Rhythms at 1701 Quincy Ave. is one of the first locally to take advantage of the latest exercise craze that is sure to receive a substantial bump from the Academy Award-winning "Slumdog Millionaire."
The movie features a rousing rendition of snappy aerobic dance moves shown during the movie's end credits.
Owner Bhagya Nagesh, 33, said she has taught Bollywood dance for seven or eight years in her native India and another couple of years here. Nagesh said she welcomes the "bump" from the award-winning movie exposure, as well as from local media and television.
"I think that Bollywood and the dancing of India is actually pretty well known already throughout the world and is just catching on now in the U.S.," she said. "There have been dance programs on television that have brought it to people's attention, and they want to know more about it.
"I've been teaching dance in my home here before we got the approval for the studio, and some days, I'll get 30 to 35 calls inquiring about it."
National craze
An Associated Press story recently reported that films with dancing produced in India are attracting more participants here in the U.S. Drawn to the lavish dance numbers in films from India, or just bored with their gym workouts, people are flocking to Bollywood-style dance classes that mix traditional Indian folk dances with hip-hop moves. And the U.S. exercise industry is taking notice.
Bollywood-style classes, like those Nagesh plans to offer, are popping up in regions of the country where Indian cinema is new, and there aren't as many people of Indian descent.
Nagesh said she doesn't worry about opening a business whose success depends on an Indian-based market.
"I know there are some families from India here in Naperville, but the interest in the Bollywood dancing is based on people looking for something that is fun and new," she said.
Growth market
Other national studios launched before the current craze are experiencing noticeable growth. Denver's Bollywood West school started in 2006 as the first in Colorado to focus on Bollywood-style dancing, and it now packs in crowds four nights a week at two locations and will move to a bigger studio.
Even "non-Indian dance studios" are incorporating Bollywood-style dancing into their repertoire. At the Atlanta Belly Dance studio, Bollywood moves have been incorporated into dances set to American pop songs.
"Americans like exotic, but they like dancing to songs they know," said Schadia Hazlett, an owner of three studios of Atlanta Belly Dance, which has several hundred to 1,000 students at times. "It attracts a totally different clientele than salsa or samba."
Nagesh said the moves seen in Slumdog are only the tip of the iceberg.
"The dance you see there is the movie is really very simple, and there is a lot more to it," she said. "The key to Bollywood dancing is to just relax. It's not like ballroom where you have to maintain a certain posture. You just let your shoulders and hips relax, and let them move."
The new Naperville dance studio Bollywood Rhythms at 1701 Quincy Ave. is one of the first locally to take advantage of the latest exercise craze that is sure to receive a substantial bump from the Academy Award-winning "Slumdog Millionaire."
The movie features a rousing rendition of snappy aerobic dance moves shown during the movie's end credits.Owner Bhagya Nagesh, 33, said she has taught Bollywood dance for seven or eight years in her native India and another couple of years here. Nagesh said she welcomes the "bump" from the award-winning movie exposure, as well as from local media and television.
"I think that Bollywood and the dancing of India is actually pretty well known already throughout the world and is just catching on now in the U.S.," she said. "There have been dance programs on television that have brought it to people's attention, and they want to know more about it.
"I've been teaching dance in my home here before we got the approval for the studio, and some days, I'll get 30 to 35 calls inquiring about it."
National craze
An Associated Press story recently reported that films with dancing produced in India are attracting more participants here in the U.S. Drawn to the lavish dance numbers in films from India, or just bored with their gym workouts, people are flocking to Bollywood-style dance classes that mix traditional Indian folk dances with hip-hop moves. And the U.S. exercise industry is taking notice.
Bollywood-style classes, like those Nagesh plans to offer, are popping up in regions of the country where Indian cinema is new, and there aren't as many people of Indian descent.
Nagesh said she doesn't worry about opening a business whose success depends on an Indian-based market.
"I know there are some families from India here in Naperville, but the interest in the Bollywood dancing is based on people looking for something that is fun and new," she said.
Growth market
Other national studios launched before the current craze are experiencing noticeable growth. Denver's Bollywood West school started in 2006 as the first in Colorado to focus on Bollywood-style dancing, and it now packs in crowds four nights a week at two locations and will move to a bigger studio.
Even "non-Indian dance studios" are incorporating Bollywood-style dancing into their repertoire. At the Atlanta Belly Dance studio, Bollywood moves have been incorporated into dances set to American pop songs.
"Americans like exotic, but they like dancing to songs they know," said Schadia Hazlett, an owner of three studios of Atlanta Belly Dance, which has several hundred to 1,000 students at times. "It attracts a totally different clientele than salsa or samba."
Nagesh said the moves seen in Slumdog are only the tip of the iceberg.
"The dance you see there is the movie is really very simple, and there is a lot more to it," she said. "The key to Bollywood dancing is to just relax. It's not like ballroom where you have to maintain a certain posture. You just let your shoulders and hips relax, and let them move."
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