Youth Perspectives: Local Students Dance for Charity

What started off as a simple suggestion has inspired two girls to establish a Summer Dance Camp for charity. Led by upcoming senior Anika Nayyar and upcoming sophomore Kiren Singh from Foothill High School, the girls are providing Bhangra dance classes free of charge.

The two does accept donations from their students to go towards two charity foundations: Amar Jyoti School and Asha Kiran School, which both aid handicapped and underprivileged children in India.

Both Nayyer and Singh are established competitive and professional dancers.

Nayyar was inspired to create the camp when a parent of one of her previous students requested her to continue teaching Bhangra over the summer. She had dedicated her time in spring to train a local Bhangra team named Virsa Punjab in which the students were 7 to 11 years old.

Bhangra is a traditional Punjabi dance from northern India, and has recently grown very popular among high school students. An estimated 80 students were involved in Bhangra teams this past school year, around 60 at Foothill and 20 at Amador.

"I want to spread more awareness of my culture and of Bhangra," Nayyar said. "Most people just get to watch it or hear the music, but not a lot of people get the opportunity to learn it. I just want others to experience the same joy that I feel when I dance."

Although Nayyar had initially planned to teach children, her method of social media marketing attracted more teenage students. For now, they have five persistent students who show up to each practice.

Nayyar was also motivated to teach after volunteering at the Amar Jyoti Charitable Trust in India last winter. There, she found the opportunity to provide a dance instruction to some of the handicapped students.

"I was amazed at what they can do," she states, "interacting with those kids definitely changed me."

She decided to incorporate the charity into the summer dance camp idea. After informing her good friend, Singh, about the program, the two joined forces and Singh asked that Asha Kiran School be included to the cause.

The Asha Kiran School guides mentally challenged and hearing impaired children to live independently.

"I've worked with mentally challenged children through Special Olympics in the US too," Singh said. "So it made sense to support Asha Kiran because volunteering there made me really happy and I felt good that I was helping these children, who were so welcoming and warm."

Along with the satisfaction of knowing that they're participating for a good cause, students such as Nehal Tenany and Alina Nazar were attracted to join the camp so that they can "expand their dance horizon," as Tenany explains it.

Practices are usually one hour long, but they may run over by 15 to 20 minutes over. Everyone has to learn the routine. They begin by learning the footwork, followed by the hand movements. After putting it all together with the beat, the students practice a few times with the music, and the rest is repetition.

Along with Bhangra, Nayyar and Singh will also teach Giddah, Bollywood, Hip-hop, and Jazz, teaching a new dance style each week. The camp lasts seven weeks and began in July 11.

Practices are every Saturdays at noon at 310 Brianne Court  and students of all ages are welcomed.

For more information, contact anikanayyar@gmail.com or kirensingh@gmail.com