Bhangra classes offered for high school credit in B.C.

B.C. high school students can trade in their gym classes for instructionin bhangra, a traditional dance that originated in the Punjab region of India.

The B.C. Ministry of Education now allows students to take bhangra classes for creditat the South Asian Arts Academyin Surrey.

"Students love it.A lot of kids have danced and played music throughout their lives, but now they can actually get credits for ittowards their graduation," said Gurpreet Sian, an instructor at the academy.

It took Sian and fellow instructorRaymanBhullarover fiveyears to work out the details with theMinistry of Education and get the programrunning.

At no cost, students canlearn how to play thedholdrumand get lessons inthe vibrant dance ofbhangra.

Students registerthrough the Ministry-approved iLearnDL, andonce signed up, attend practices at theSouth Asian Arts Academy.

Tests and assignments

The only catch, they say, is that students must complete a couple of assignments and testsbefore a letter grade and credits areassigned.

Bhangra has its roots in thePunjab region ofIndia where it was originally performed as a way to celebrate the harvest season.

Since then, the lively dance driven by the beat of the dhol has made it's away across the globe.

In Vancouver, festivals like the 'City of Bhangra'attractthousands of people yearly to celebrate andbridge cultures through music and dance.

"I like to compare bhangra to hip hop," Sian said. "It's this big underground subculture with competitions that happen all across North America, teams all over the place. Vancouver is sort of a hub you could say for bhangra dance, bhangra music," .

In the video above, Our Vancouver hostGloria Macarenko learns more about the dance and gets schooled in bhangra.