Née à Londres, élevée dans Queens et sur Long Island et aujourd’hui installée à Brooklyn, DJ Rekha, promoteur du bhangra aux États-Unis, a été invitée à se produire aux Warm Up Series du P.S. Près de vingt ans après leur lancement par Rekha Malhotra, alias DJ Rekha, les soirées Basement Bhangra, « mélange de musique bhangra d’Asie du Sud, de hip-hop, de dancehall et de sons électroniques, créant une expérience de dance unique à New York », lancées au départ au SOB, sur Varick Street, avant de déménager au Poisson Rouge, viennent d’être choisies par les lecteurs de Time Out « meilleures soirées de music live ». Drawing on Henri Lefebvre’s notion of the production of space, this essay focuses on a performance space to argue that the dancing in the city interrupts its spatial coordinates. The recognition of Basement Bhangra and DJ Rekha by mainstream media, academia and policymakers signals the claims of desis to the space of New York city through the performance of a vibrant South Asian youth subculture that originated in the villages of Punjab in North India. With Rekha being invited to deejay at major public events in NYC, bhangra could claim to be officially inducted in the global city’s soundscape. 1’s Warm Up Series, Central Park’s Summerstage, Prospect Park’s Celebrate Brooklyn, Brooklyn Museum’s First Saturdays, and the annual flagship Loving Day celebration held in New York City, recognized by Newsweek as one of the most influential South Asians in the US and received accolades from The New York Times, CNN, The Fader, The Village Voice, and The Washington Post. Born in London and raised in Queens and Long Island, Brooklyn based DJ Rekha, who is credited with pioneering bhangra, had been invited to perform at events like P.S. After moving to Yukon in 2012, he pursued his passion for dance and began teaching bhangra.Nearly two decades after Rekha Malhotra alias DJ Rekha launched Basement Bhangra, a “party that mixes South Asian bhangra music with hip-hop, dancehall and electronic sounds to create an unforgettable New York City dance experience” at SOB’s on Varick Street, which subsequently moved to Le Poisson Rouge, it has been voted by Time Out New York readers as the “best live music venue”. The video has more than 1.2 lakh views on the website and over 4,000 likes.Īccording to his website, he was born in Punjab and became a Canadian citizen in 2011. wkWK3WxZoq- Gurdeep Pandher of Yukon February 3, 2021 When it was -20✬ (feeling like -30✬ with windchill) & the pandemic on top of that, these friends from the Yukon's French community joined me for a "physically-distanced and pandemic-safe" bhangra class for joy, exercise and positivity. Outdoor winter Bhangra class in the Yukon.
'When it was -20 degrees C (feeling like -30 degrees C with windchill) & the pandemic on top of that, these friends from the Yukon's French community joined me for a 'physically-distanced and pandemic-safe' bhangra class for joy, exercise and positivity', wrote Pandher while sharing the video.
In the video, four people are seen learning bhangra steps from the dancer while standing on a ground covered entirely in snow.Īlso watch: Video Shows Britishers Joining Punjabi Neighbours For Bhangra On The Street Mr Pandher said that the temperature was minus 20 degrees Celsius at the time of the video being recorded. Turns out, Yukon is the only place in North America which gets the coldest during extreme cold snaps. It has even caught the attention of Canadian-American actor Ryan Reynolds who 'liked' the video.Īlso watch: Young Boy Does Bhangra With Two Cute Doggos And It Is Bound To Make Your Day In the clip, the teacher and his students seem unbothered by the heavy snowfall. He wants to spread the joy of the Punjabi folk dance by hosting outdoor classes in the freezing cold of Yukon - a sparsely populated territory in Canada surrounded by mountains.Ī video of Mr Pandher hosting a bhangra class for members of Yukon's French community, is going viral on social media.
Canadian dancer Gurdeep Pandher has one thing on his mind - Bhangra!