// BLOG
Sansaar Juniors “Go Pyjamas!”
November 13, 2012
Surprise visit from Pudsey!
“Juniors go Pyjamas!”
Nachda Sansaar Juniors and Giddha Sansaar girls danced away in their pyjamas last Friday with Pudsey faces, raising money for Children in Need and raised a grand total of £160! The enthusiastic dancers cheered with excitement as a surprise visit from the iconic bear Pudsey lifted the atmosphere and took part in Dhol playing.
“I wish we could train in our pyjamas every week!” – Manisha, aged 9
This view was shared pretty much by everyone and the night turned out to be a great success!
Trip to the High Ropes adventure park!
August 13, 2012
As well as building relationships with members of #TeamLawkNaach, Dance Sansaar took out the performance team and individuals who offered immense support and showed outstanding passion and commitment during the Lawk Naach journey for a team building day to Sandwell Valley high ropes adventure park. As the day started, a few of our team members were very anxious about taking part but as the day went on their confidence grew, and this was demonstrated by the fact that even those who were afraid of heights saw fit to jump off a ledge 40ft high!
The whole day proved to teach the importance of communication skills and team spirit! This has been an integral part of the the success of Lawk Naach and will improve collaboration within the group and increase opportunities to collaborate with other organisations.
Road trip to Derwen College!
August 13, 2012
The Lawk Naach performance team made a trip down to Derwen College – Residential Special Needs College in Shropshire where students were overjoyed after seeing the team do a surprise Bhangra and Giddha performance and spend the afternoon dancing away with them. Lawk Naach once again created a very positive and electrifying atmosphere!
It was quite an overwhelming and great experience for the team and we would like to thank everyone at Derwen College for the great response and for awarding the Lawk Naach performers with very unique and creative medals made by themselves! We are very thankful and look forward to working you all once again very soon!
Rhenu
The prestigious GOLD MEDALS!
August 13, 2012
So since the finale, the team have been going out, including myself and we have been speaking to participants and finding out about their Lawk Naach journey. We have been showered with great feedback and are overwhelmed by knowing how much this project has meant to people all over the Midlands! One of the best feedbacks we got was from a very special guest indeed, watch this space for a quirky and animated clip that we will be showing very soon. 
Take a look at a few of our magic moments since the finale event, where we have visited schools and colleges and presented medals to students that took part in the finale but unfortunately could not stay long enough to receive their medals. Seeing the proud faces of everyone as we presented their medals to them gave us a great sense of joy! I’m sure we will look back at the medals in years to come and remember the huge achievements and the memories we shared during this journey towards London 2012!
Rhenu
Lawk Naach Finale!
August 2, 2012
The Lawk Naach finale event brought together over 2,000 people from across the West Midlands in celebration of the achievements delivered through this amazing project. Having engaged well over 24,000 people directly in dance discovery workshops, the Lawk Naach Project has affirmed its position as the largest dance project the West Midlands has ever seen. This Cultural Olympiad funded project has enabled people from all backgrounds to access Punjabi culture through Bhangra and Giddha dance workshops, these workshops were delivered by our dedicated team of Lawk Naach artists, whose enthusiasm and team spirit encapsulates the ethos of the whole project.The Lawk Naach Finale event was an hour long showcase of Punjabi Folk Arts, which was hosted by Punjabi singer Shin from one of the UK’s biggest Bhangra bands DCS. The whole show got underway with a ‘wake and shake’ from our little stars at Coalmoor Primary school, who travelled all the way from Shropshire to get the crowd started on the final leg of their Lawk Naach journey.
Participants and spectators were left in awe as they were entertained by performances from the ever growing Sansaar family. Nachda Sansaar started the show with a performance of traditional Bhangra, which was accompanied by live vocals and music. Giddha Sansaar then showed their unique flavour of Giddha dance, creating a spectacular performance with 11 dancers, vibrant costumes and animating props. Sansaar Juniors entertained the audience with a performance of Bhangra to pre-recorded music, the dancers showed their youth and vibrancy while still remaining true to the traditional form of this enduring Lawk Naach.Dhol Sansaar then graced the stage for their debut performance, this team of young Dholi’s (the youngest being only 4 years old) wowed the audience with their rhythmic routine using Dhol drums. Punjabi singing sensation Anil Banger gave the audience a rendition of his latest hit single Patandra, which hit number 1 on the official Asian download chart on the very same day, this performance was enhanced with dancers from Nachda Sansaar and Giddha Sansaar. Dance Sansaar presented the final act on stage and they performed a theatrical dance piece called Lawk Naach, using Bhangra and Giddha to tell the story of the Punjabi Harvest. The lyrics, vocals and music composition for this piece were created specifically by renowned Punjabi artist Rai Kalsi and the dance was choreographed by Jag Kumar.
Our local sports and healthy lifestyle ambassador Dave Heeley (also known as Blind Dave), said a few words to inspire the participants minutes before he joined the latest edition to the Sansaar family – Team Lawk Naach. They took their place centre stage to deliver the most spectacular performance the West Midlands has seen in celebration of London 2012 and the Torch Relay. Over 2,000 members of Team Lawk Naach joined the Sansaar family in an amazing and truly unique performance of Lawk Naach. Never before has the West Midlands seen so many people from a diverse background come together to dance the same routine, in the same place, at the same time! Although we had over 2,000 people present, there were actually 1,779 registered participants, therefore we did not qualify for the Largest Bhangra dance world record. We did also put a submission in for the largest Bhangra and Giddha dance, but Guinness have confirmed they do not recognize dances with mixed styles. As a result a Guinness World Record evades us, for now…
The Lawk Naach project would not have been possible without the passion, support and commitment of every single person who’s life was touched by this amazing experience. We have all helped to realise a dream and affirm the ethos that ‘dance is a vehicle, which unites people and breaks down barriers’. Lawk Naach was a celebration of community spirit and the multi-cultural society we all live in today.
We are currently working on a documentary film to showcase this amazing project in its entirety. If you have any pictures, video’s or would like to contribute to this with an interview please contact us on media@dancesansaar.com - your contribution to the film would be much appreciated and will hopefully capture the essence of community spirit Lawk Naach represents.
