IS IT ALL ABOUT HIPS?
Around the World with Bollywood Dance
Sangita Shresthova Dancer and Media Artist

An exciting, sensitive, accessible journey through Bollywood dance.
— Mira Kaushik Director of Akademi - South Asian Dance UK

Shresthova's experiences as a dancer and choreographer allow her to observe and describe these performances with a nuanced attention to detail, while her theoretical sophistication gives us a larger framework for thinking about what live performance means in an increasingly global, but nevertheless always local, culture. — Henry Jenkins Author of Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide

Her artistic vision, sensitivity to her subjects, and her eye to story-tell tough real world issues through visual performance in superb. I believe her rather unusual Czech/Nepali cultural background allows her to traverse nuanced cultural issues. — Peter Sellars Theatre, Opera and Festival Director

The first comprehensive book on Bollywood dance culture, Is It All About Hips? traces Bollywood dances as they are interpreted, created, and produced in three locations: Mumbai (India), Kathmandu (Nepal), and Los Angeles (USA).

In this pioneering work, Sangita Shresthova brings alive the world of Bollywood dance through the chronicling and analyses of live performances, dance classes, film spectatorship, and personal narratives.

Watch how dances travel and meanings unravel…

Contents:

• Foreword KABIR BEDI
• Preface
• Introduction
• Dancing through the Decades: A Bit of Theory and History
• Bombay and the Bodies of Bollywood Dance
• Under Bollywood’s Big Umbrella? Bollywood Dance in Kathmandu
• More Indian than India? Bollywood Dance in Los Angeles
• Conclusion
• Appendix 1: Personal Narrative: Bombay Story
• Appendix 2: Personal Narrative: Kathmandu Story
• Appendix 3: Personal Narrative: Los Angeles Story
• Appendix 4: Personal Narrative: Author’s Story
• Notes
• Selected Films Cited
• Glossary
• Index