Brake-Dancing
in Dharwad
Brake-Dancing
in Dharwad |
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Brake-dance was major craze in Dharwad during 1988-1990.
There were many studs perfecting their gyrations. Their idol was Michael Jackson, of
course. But, it took a lot of ingenuity from a gentleman to formalize this craze in
Dharwad. The guru of brake-dance in Dharwad was young, tall, handsome engineering student. He capitalized on this major epidemic during that time by opening brake-dance classes all over Dharwad. He used to rent public utility buildings in each locality and teach students. He was a real busy person then - running multiple shifts at multiple places. His marketing strategy was good and probably he was reasonably a good dancer as well. Moreover he was seen as a big charismatic figure. He was handsome, endowed with wholesome girl friend, putting then-unfamiliar accents and zooming all around Dharwad on his great bike. He probably financed his education all through this. There may be many such dance teachers now. May their tribe breed well. Another person with this insatiable brake-dance craze was my classmate in KCD. He probably got interested in brake dance during mid 1989 and by beginning of 1990 he was a self-made celebrity. He learnt all his stuff by watching Michael Jackson videos for countless hours. He came into prominence very soon with his good dancing and other innovations like sprinkling talcum power on the floor to ease his moon-walking and make shift color mixer. He had two dedicated deputies. One was ready with talcum powder and before each of his dance this person used to religiously sprinkle the whole floor with that. I bet Ponds made roaring business then. Other deputy used to manage the color mixer. It was nothing but different color papers wrapped around a circular plate, which was fitted in front of a powerful light. This person used to rotate it to give the color effect to the dance. I must acknowledge it worked quite well. As mentioned before this man was performing every where. Class days, fare well parties, hostel days and any other functions were not complete without his dances. He danced himself to glory probably till the day before the exams. There was a funny incident that happened in KCD. One of the professors had seen him perform Michael Jackson's steps with religious conformity and had noticed one step very well. Yes you got it- the famous step of covering the crotch and thumping to and from motion of the lower torso. Since our dancer was volunteering to dance everywhere, which was bordering on pestering organizers to have his dance as part of their functions, he had a chance to perform before a particular group, which consisted mainly of teachers from KCD and KUD. The teacher who had noticed the famous crotch-step called our dancer in advance and specifically instructed him not to do that at that particular function. He feared such step could mess the atmosphere of the function consisting of orthodox people. I do not know if the dancer obliged him or not. Were there any girls brake-dancing then? At least I can not recollect. Probably some interested ones danced at home but never came on stage. My friend dancer would have died to have a dance partner and I am sure it would have made his dancing experience more enjoyable and our viewing experience rather more jealous. Dharwad was still not so modern then. Hence was there a shortage for dance partner. Probably present day dancers may be lucky. Dharwad kept itself abreast of the latest trend then. What is the craze now? Hard rock? Heavy metal ? May be there are some groups and bands out there. May be, we will see a guy from Dharwad releasing his maiden album in Manhattan soon. |
| - Bra_h_min |