We've received the following from Leon Patel at Global Grooves which may interest the dancers and percussionists among you:

Firstly we would like to say a big thanks for all of you who have supported the Global Grooves programme this year! It has been absolutely fantastic and without the support and commitment from all you hard working musicians and dancers things like this simply wouldn’t happen! We are busy developing the programme for 2010 /11 and will be announcing many more courses and performances in the weeks to come. As you may know we have a handful of short courses already organised for 2010 so make sure you book early as limited spaces are available.

We hope you have a very groovy Christmas and funky 2010!

Try something different this New Year!
We will be kicking off the 2010 activity with two new courses from Global Grooves to spice up the winter months. For dancers we have moves from movies and percussionists an introduction to Dohl rhythms and technique.

Moves from Movies, Tutors: Bisakha Sarker, Mira Balkachandran Gokul & Varsha Rai

...A short course of Indian dance movements for all those who love the lyrical energy of dance to add magic to their lives. A team of dance artists with extensive experience of performing and teaching Indian dance in the UK, across cultural boundaries, will deliver this exciting new course.

The team members are Bisakha Sarker, Mira Balachandran Gokul, and Varsh Rai.

They will draw from their expertise of classical and creative dance styles like Bharatnatyam, Kathak, new age dance to create an accessible learning program to support the participants to dance with the grace and confidence of Bollywood dancers .

At the end of the course the participants would have learnt a range of hand gestures (mudras), Footwork, rhythmic sequences, travelling steps and different ways of creating their own dances to their chosen Bollywood songs.

Bisakha Sarker Trained at the Udayshankar School of Creative Dance, Kolkata and is the artistic director of Chaturangsan.
Mira Balkachandran Gokul trained in Kalakshetra, Chennai and is the co founder of the dynamic dance company Sankalpam .
Varsha Rai trained in North India and is working as an emerging artist to develop for own practice .

Introduction to Dhol rhythms and technique, tutor: Leon Patel

In this course students will study the technique, rhythms and ‘bols’ (rhythm vocalisation) for South Asian Dhol. Participants will learn several basic patterns and put together 1-2 short arrangements using traditional grooves. The course will also look into how the Dhol drum is used in more popular and contemporary styles, and how this can be adapted to other instruments and fusion arrangements. Through studying ‘bols’, participants will also learn how to notate basic Dhol rhythms developing the tools to develop simple notation for future study with any percussion instrument. This is an excellent course for any percussionist and will incorporate techniques and rhythms that will help to develop your playing whatever your preferred style or instrument. This is one not to be missed!

No experience in Dhol drumming is necessary for this course but an intermediate to advanced understanding of percussion is required.

Limited instruments are available for this course so please contact us should you need to use one.

About Leon Patel

Leon is an experienced workshop leader in many styles of international percussion including Brazilian, West African, South Asian and Cuban percussion. Leon specialises in Afro-Brazilian Bloco styles and Candomblé studying extensively in the UK, Brazil and Africa and possessing over 10 years experience in facilitating workshops, master-classes and performances. Leon is also the Artistic Director of Global Grooves and has put together the entire programme of activity from scratch dedicating his time and skills voluntarily with his ongoing commitment to the development of international music and dance. His other cultural performance and workshop projects include Meninos Oldham and Bangdrum Workshops.

Dates and times and fees:

Fee for 7 week course: £55

Wednesday 20th January - Wednesday 3rd March. (7 consecutive weeks)

Please note we do have a limited number of study bursaries available for this course.

To book on this course visit www.global-grooves.org/dohl.aspx

Venue: Band on the Wall
25 Swan Street
The Northern Quarter
Manchester
M4 5JZ
Web: www.bandonthewall.org
Email:info@bandonthewall.org
Tel: 0161 834 1786

We hope to see you all soon!

Thanks
Leon Patel
Artistic Director
Global Grooves.
www.global-grooves.org