Theatre and Films : Comparative Analysis of German and Indian Dance Forms

The German students visited DPS Indirapuram in the month of October, under 13th Indo-German Student Exchange Programme between DPS Indirapuram and Schloss Realschule Gaildorf Germany. To foster greater understanding of each other’s dance forms, an ISA activity under the project; Theatre and Films – the warp and weft of societal fabric was conceived of, focussing on comparing dance forms of culturally rich and diverse countries of India and Germany. The activity opened doors of learning for both students and teachers. The German team was briefed in the month of September regarding this project and were requested to collect as much information as possible about their dance forms, costumes and accessories worn, musical instruments used, legend or stories associated with the dances and other facts. The students were also encouraged to bring their traditional dance costumes like dirndl skirts etc. Indian students also worked tirelessly collecting information about their own dance forms. The final project included 3 German Dances form; Waltz, Landler, Zweifacher and 3 Indian Dance forms; Bharatnatyam, Manipuri and Kathak. A big team of students from class 11, collaborated on the project, comparing, analysing and understanding each other’s folk and traditional dance forms covering SDG; Quality Education. This project gave an in depth understanding to students about the importance of performing arts in keeping up and propagating tradition and cultural values intrinsic to a community, region and nation.