Author Spotlight
Maddox Mogenson
Hundreds of East students walking down to the gym for the winter pep assembly experienced a bit of a road block. Eighteen members of the Bollywood Dance club, led by senior Meghma Pal, were spinning and jumping in the hallway, rehearsing their upcoming routine. As students passed by them in the halls, words of encouragement and muffled “good luck’s” calmed down the nervous performers.
Through social media posts and offering CAS hours for IB, Pal was able to take the Bollywood Dance club from a mere five people to a troupe of 18.
The group members were already familiar with each other — they had all done IB together since junior year — so spending hours on Friday afternoons preparing to perform together was easy.
In fourth grade, Pal studied Bollywood dance by watching Bollywood movies, learning Hindi and taking Bollywood dance classes until freshman year. The cultural knowledge and experience proved her the best candidate for the next president of Bollywood Dance club, after last year’s seniors graduated.
Although Bollywood dancing requires an intense skillset and sense of coordination due to the fast arm motions and intricate hand placements, according to Pal, she wanted to open the club to everyone, regardless of dance experience. Besides her, no one in the club had any experience in Bollywood dance nor any dance experience as a whole.
Senior club member Kathleen Deedy, a trained swimmer, was a little skeptical about taking on an entirely new sport with which she had no familiarity.
“I’ve never done anything dance-related in my life,” Deedy said. “I’m a swimmer mostly, so it’s not even the same types of movement. It was a lot different than anything I’ve done before.”
But their lack of experiences introduced Indian culture to a group of high schoolers who wouldn’t have exposure to otherwise. It serves as a community of people learning about Indian culture. All of the members already knew each other well, so even though practices consisted of difficult arm movements and hand placements, it was a time for each of the members to hang out with their friends and talk about their IB English oral examination topics.
“If we’re not dancing, we’re doing goofy jumps in front of the mirror or seeing how many spins we can do without falling over,” Deedy said, “[My favorite part was] hanging out with everyone and trying new things.”
Those familiar friendships were what made the members willing to adapt to learning a completely new style of dance, according to senior Ian Gould. The constant support, encouragement and help from Pal and the friends within group made every part of the process easier — whether that be learning the choreography through videos of Pal in her pajamas or performing in front of the entire school.
Gould was one of four male dancers that joined the club. He and the other three dancers were the first boys to ever join the Bollywood dance club, all four of them also a part of the IB program. Gould was a little unsure of his skill set, but he decided to take a risk and indulged in something new.
“[Pal] needed a couple of male dancers,” Gould said. “I do not dance, I am not graceful, but I said yes.”
According to Pal, even with her experience, the creative process — choreography, music choice and costuming — is still a long and detailed process. Each song chosen has to tell a story. She finds inspiration from YouTube, but every dance is completely choreographed by Pal.
The story is continued through the costumes. The girls wear long and flowy dresses that flare when they spin, while the boys wear long shirts that frame the body. Each of the girls’ costumes were Pal’s old dresses that she purchased in India, and each one was tailored by Pal and her mother to fit each member perfectly.
After every piece of the show is perfectly prepared, the group is ready to perform. Since every athlete, as well as non-athlete, on the team isn’t used to a performance-style sport, standing on the gym floor with hundreds of eyes was an unfamiliar feeling.
Gould turned that unfamiliar feeling into an even more successful performance.
“It was all over so fast, but I always found myself really getting into it,” Gould said.
7:40 a.m. practices lead up to another performance at the orchestra collage concert. The upcoming performance is themed around the four natural elements, one song dedicated to each element, and the last song tying all four of them together.
According to Deedy, the most rewarding thing that has come from the club is her new love for something she didn’t know how to do before her senior year started.
“We were all so bad, and we learned so much,” Deedy said. “Being able to goof around and still learn stuff and have it turn out really great was my favorite part.”
click below to view some pictures from the club’s performance at the winter pep assembly
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