# My Body in Dance

## Overview
In this chapter, students learn to express themselves through dance inspired by festivals, daily activities, and animal movements. The chapter encourages observation, creativity, rhythm practice, and understanding body parts like the head, neck, and hands in expression.

## Key Topics Covered

### 1. Dancing Through Festivals
- Students explore how festivals in India involve dancing as a form of celebration.
- Examples include:
- **Garba** (Gujarat)
- **Kolata** (Karnataka)
- **Dhunuchi** dance (Durga Puja, West Bengal)
- Activity encourages dancing to a favourite regional festival song with friends.

### 2. Everyday Movements into Dance
- Encourages observation of daily activities like:
- A mother getting ready for office
- An uncle cooking food
- Students turn these movements into dance steps using arm, hand, and body gestures.
- They practice counting beats (1-2-3-4) while performing these movements.

### 3. Rhythm and Beat Practice
- Introduces rhythmic syllables:
- **4-beat** examples: “ta ta ta ta,” “dhi dhi dhi dhi”
- **3-beat** examples: “ta ki ta,” “dha dhi na”
- Activities include:
- Digging soil
- Planting seeds
- Covering soil
- Watering plants
- Encourages clapping, stomping, and snapping to beats.

### 4. Using Head, Neck, and Eye Movements
- Students explore how to express emotions using:
- Head gestures (nodding, looking up/down)
- Neck movement (crouching, swaying)
- Eye direction (following a rainbow, looking in sadness)
- Practice involves matching body movements to emotions such as wonder, sadness, anger, fear, happiness, bravery.

### 5. Animal-Inspired Movements
- Students learn about animal dances like:
- **Mayilattam** (Peacock Dance)
- **Purulia Chhau** (Lion Dance)
- **Pulikkali** (Tiger Dance)
- They imitate animals from Panchatantra stories through body gestures and movements.

### 6. Animal Hastas (Hand Gestures)
- Introduction to hand gestures representing animals:
- **Mayura** (Peacock)
- **Vyaghra** (Tiger)
- **Simhamukha** (Lion/Deer/Cow)
- Others include Matsya (Fish), Kurma (Tortoise), Bhramari (Bee)
- Students use these hastas to represent animal characters while performing dance stories.

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## New Terms

| Term | Definition |
|----------------|-------------------------------------------------------------|
| Garba | A traditional folk dance from Gujarat performed during Navratri. |
| Hasta | Hand gestures used in Indian classical dance. |
| Rhythm | A repeated pattern of beats or movements in dance/music. |
| Syllables | Sound units used in rhythm for timing dance steps. |
| Panchatantra | A collection of ancient Indian animal stories. |
| Mayilattam | A South Indian folk dance that imitates a peacock’s movements. |
| Vyaghra | The Sanskrit word for tiger, used in dance hand gestures. |
| Simhamukha | A dance hand gesture representing animals like lion or deer. |
| Beats | Regular timing units that guide movement in dance. |
| Expression | The way emotions are shown using face or body in dance. |

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## Practice Questions

### Easy (3)

1. **What is Garba?**
**Answer:** Garba is a dance from Gujarat performed during Navratri.
**Explanation:** It is a festival dance where people dance in circles with clapping.

2. **Which part of the body do we use to nod ‘yes’?**
**Answer:** We use the head.
**Explanation:** Nodding is a head movement used to express agreement.

3. **Name one animal that has a special dance form.**
**Answer:** Peacock – Mayilattam.
**Explanation:** Mayilattam is a folk dance imitating a peacock’s movements.

### Medium (2)

4. **List two hand gestures used in animal dances.**
**Answer:** Mayura (peacock), Vyaghra (tiger).
**Explanation:** These are special hastas used to show animal characters.

5. **What are some rhythm syllables used in 3-beat steps?**
**Answer:** "ta ki ta," "dha dhi na."
**Explanation:** These syllables help maintain rhythm in 3-beat patterns.

### Difficult (3)

6. **Describe how planting a seed can become a dance step.**
**Answer:** Use hand movement for digging (ta ta ta ta), then place the seed (dhi dhi dhi dhi), cover soil and water using rhythmic beats.
**Explanation:** Everyday actions are turned into expressive dance by adding rhythm.

7. **Explain how neck movement shows different emotions.**
**Answer:** Looking up shows wonder, down shows sadness, side to side shows refusal.
**Explanation:** Each motion matches a specific feeling or idea in expressive dance.

8. **What is the importance of beats in dance?**
**Answer:** Beats help maintain timing and coordination of movements.
**Explanation:** They act like a guide for when to move each body part.

### Very Difficult (2)

9. **Create a 4-beat animal dance sequence using hastas.**
**Answer:** Use Mayura hasta (peacock) with ta ta ta ta rhythm: flap arms, peck head, spin, bow.
**Explanation:** You combine rhythm and gestures to form meaningful movements.

10. **How does the chapter integrate dance with nature and festivals?**
**Answer:** Through festival dances like Garba and Kolata, and planting movements with nature-based beats and stories.
**Explanation:** It links natural actions and cultural celebrations with creative movement expression.

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