Bollywood dance is the dance-form used in the Indian films.  It is a mixture of numerous styles.  These styles include belly-dancing, kathak, Indian folk, Western popular, and "modern", jazz, and even Western erotic dancing.  In this web page, we will look at Bollywood dance and place it within the commercial and artistic framework of the South Asian film world.

Bollywood dance is a dif­fi­cult topic to discuss be­cause it is hard to pin down.  Its exact definition, geographical distribution, and stylistic cha­rac­teristics are amorphous.  However in spite of all of this, it is surprisingly recognisable.

Let us begin by discussing the term "Bollywood".  In the strict sense the term "Bollywood" refers to the Hindi culture, art, and film in­dus­try from Bombay.  The other film centres of South Asia are often referred to by their own designations (e.g., Lollywood (Lahore), Tollywood (Andhra Pradesh)).  However since the Bombay Hindi film in­dus­try dwarfs the other pro­duc­tions centres, the term "Bollywood" is generally extended to mean the en­tire South Asian film culture.  For the pur­pose of this web-page, we will use the more general meaning.

The international ap­peal of Bollywood dancing is something that has been many decades in the making.  Originally it was found only in places that had a significant consumption of In­dian films (i.e., Former Soviet Union, and the Middle East).  But a few years ago it started to become chic in Europe, and today it is rising in popularity in the US, and Canada.  Today, dance schools that teach this style may be found in most major cities.

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