Rock tha party!
Bombay rockers in Bangladesh

Bombay Rockers, established in early 2003 by Navtej Singh Rehal and Thomas Sardorf is really rocking the party scenes all over the world now. By 2004, they had already proved their worth and became the number one Danish band- a tag that they still hold. And they were here in Bangladesh to rock us too at International Club, last Thursday courtesy of Jetset PR.
Bombay Rockers, best known for their chart toppers Rock Tha Party, Sexy Mama and Ari Ari really got the crowd on the floor going absolutely crazy, as they danced to the hip hop beats of Nav and Thomas.
Having rocked Scandiniva and India where they performed at Bangalore, Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi and some other major cities also rocked Bangladesh on their first outing. Navtej and Thomas said that the local crowd was just what they hoped for, passionate and loving. They will perform in the major cities in Germany, later this month.
Navtej more widely known as Nav, is a Punjabi munda who is born and raised in Denmark, while Thomas Sardorf is a Dane. Nav had a fervour for music since he was a kid of eleven years, while Sardorf who is also a producer and songwriter pursued music as a teen since sixteen.
Nav who absolutely adored the local crowd, loved Bangladesh as he said it was a good trip, that they both bought loads of DVDs. If they had any complaints, it was the extreme heat and humidity. Nav requested the local audience not to buy pirated CDs while Thomas asked his fans to keep rocking because they will be back. Nav also wanted to assert that the DJ Dr. Zeus is not a part of their album. He stated that Zeus's name in their album was a mistake. Bombay Rockers is a two-man band.
They have also commended JPR, for its premium hospitality, and thanked the awesome crowd for showing up.
That's the Bombay Rockers for you.

By Taskin Rahman

If you've been watching Channel I regularly over the past few weeks, you must have heard of the Surf Excel Protibhar Lorai.
On the morning of June 3, 20 schools from different parts of the country took part in the mega final. These schools were selected from divisional finals. The participating schools were Agrani School Rajshahi, BAF Shaheen English Medium High School, Chittagong Grammar School, Chittagong Ideal School, Govt. P N Girls High School, Khulna Zila School, Mohammadpur Preparatory and Higher School, Rajshahi Cantonment Board High School, Scholastica, Shaheed Bir Uttom LT Anwar Girls High School, SFX Green Herald International School etc. The contest took place at the Sultana Kamal Mohila Krira Complex.
The contest started at 8:30 am with a festive look all over the Complex.
The programme had four sections, mud-building, creative painting, face painting and imaginative building. Ultimately, it all centered on children using different materials to display their creative talent. All the participants put up a super-charged performance. The predominant theme amongst their creations was the historical and cultural heritage of Bangladesh.
In mud-building the first prizes went to Rajshahi Cantonment (junior group) and Green Herald (senior group). In creative painting the first prizes went to Green Herald (junior group) and Agrani Rajshahi (senior group). In face painting first prizes went to Mohammadpur Preparatory (junior group) and Chittagong Ideal (senior group). In imaginative building first prizes went to Green Herald (junior group) and Govt. PN Girls High School. Other schools also did well. St Xavier's Green Herald came out on top in the end, scoring the highest in the contest.
The top five schools took part in the surprise game which was the final part of the arrangement. Green Herald, Govt. PN Girls, BAF Shaheen, Shaheed Anwar Girls and Mohammadpur Preparatory were the teen titans who participated. The surprise game was about how quickly each team can create the logo for Surf Excel Protibhar Lorai.
The programme also honoured some renowned personalities who worked for the development of child talents. They were Rokonuzzaman Khan (Dada Bhai), Begum Momtaz Hossain, Ali Imam, Dr. Abdullah-al-Muti Sharfuddin and Hashem Khan.

By Durdana Ghias

Gender Education
Theatre for Children Programme

Centre for Asian Theatre (CAT) in co-operation with Goethe-Institute Dhaka organized Theatre Performances for children along with an interactive session on Gender Education: Theatre for Children Programme on May 30 at the Experimental Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy. H E David Sproule, High Commissioner, Canadian High Commission was the chief guest and Dr. Markus Litz, Director, Goethe-Institute Dhaka were the Special Guests for the occasion.
CAT is quite famous in the field of theatre. In 1995 CAT had taken the initiative to produce theatre for children. The pilot projects of CAT were aimed to spread awareness amongst school going children, their teachers and parents on gender discrimination and other social issues. The initial success of this pilot project encouraged CAT to take up 'Theatre for Children' as a regular programme. In his speech Kamaluddin Nilu the Secretary General of CAT said that gender problem is a social and psychological problem. He emphasized the importance of gender education among school-going children. He said that according to the psychologists it is not possible to change the mindset of a person after 20 years. So the basic gender ideas should be instilled into the minds of teens and children to have a healthy society.
CAT has done small workshops for children and is also performing for the slum children. Dr. Litz said about their project for organizing puppet dramas for slum children. He also said that the average age of Bangladeshi population is 22 while it is 39 in Germany, which means that the bulk of our population consists of children and teens.
Three dramas were staged for children. These were Amrao Parbo (We can also do it), JB Quarter.Com and Mukhosh (The Mask). The plays Amrao Parbo and JB Quarter.Com deal with gender issues and social justice. The first also highlights our historical and traditional heritage through playful songs and credits both male and female for contributing human civilization. The second one represents the whole society through a residential quarter. Here children become united and question their parents about their due rights. They create a cyber world for themselves and succeed in their mission. At last the parents agreed with them. Mukhosh deals with the so-called social elites who are harming our society in many ways and encourages unmasking them.
Present in the discussion programme were Dr. Hameeda Hossain; Md. Shahjahan, Deputy Director, DSHE; Shirin Akhter, Joint Secretary, JSD; Mujahidul Islam Selim, General Secretary, CPB; Advocate Sultana Kamal, Executive Director, Ain-O-Shalish Kendra; Muhammad Abdus Samad, Headmaster, Pallabi MI Model High School and Nazmoon Nahar. Abdullah Zafar, Team Leader, Protikriti Communication facilitated the interactive session. The whole programme was quite proactive. We look forward to this kind of programmes in future.

By Durdana Ghias

Tango basics- 2

If you believe you managed well with last week's steps, then this week we have added a slightly challenging body twister, which will only appear fun once you know your moves. So give it a try, shake a leg, twist your body and break a backbone! (Okay you don't have to do the last one!)
Men's steps
(Men start out facing the front of the room, 12:00 with the woman in front in standard dance position)
1 - 2. Step out a 1/4 turn left onto the LF toward 9:00 (S) (Man is facing the left side of room(9:00) with right hip next to woman's left hip)
3 - 4. Step forward with the RF toward 9:00 (S) (Man is still facing the left side of room (9:00) with woman in front of him)
5. Step forward with the LF and make 1/4 turn right to face 12:00 (Q) (Man releases right hand from woman's back while still holding on with left hand and faces the front of room (12:00)
6. Step side right with RF 4 to 6 inches (Q) (Man is still holding onto woman's right hand)
7 - 8. Slide the LF to the RF slowly and touch the LF next to the RF with the left heel slightly up (S) (Man & woman are side by side at arms length apart with elbows slightly bent facing the front of room (12:00)
9 - 10. Step forward with the LF toward 10:30 and pivot 1/2 turn to the left facing 4:30, keeping the right leg in back of the left (S) (Man & woman are side by side with the man's right hand to the woman's back facing 4:30)
11 - 12.Step forward a short step with the RF toward 4:30 so the right heel is next to the left toe (S) (Man uses the right arm to lead the woman in front of him so they are both face to face back in regular dance position)
13. Step forward with the LF toward 4:30 between the woman's feet (Q)
14. Step side right with the RF toward 6:00 and face 3:00 (Q) (Man is now facing the right side of the room (3:00) with the woman in regular dance position)
15 - 16. Slide the LF to the RF slowly and touch the LF next to the RF with the left heel slightly up (S)
Women's steps
(Women start out facing the back of the room, 6:00)
1 - 2. Step out 1/4 turn right onto RF toward 9:00 (S) (Woman is facing the left side of room (9:00) with left hip next to man's right hip)
3 - 4. Step in front of man with the LF toward 8:30 and make 1/2 turn left facing 3:00 (S) (Woman is facing the right side of room (3:00) in front of the man)
5. Step back on RF and make 1/4 turn left (Q) (Woman releases left hand from man's shoulder while still holding on with right hand and faces front of room (12:00)
6. Step side left with LF (Q) (Man is still holding onto woman's right hand)
7 - 8. Slide the RF to the LF slowly and touch the RF next to the LF with right heel up (S) (Woman and man are side by side at arms length apart with elbows slightly bent facing the front of room (12:00)
9 - 10. Step forward with the RF toward 1:30 and pivot 1/4 turn to the right, keeping the left leg in back of the right (S) This is a flair (Man & woman are side by side with the woman's left hand to the man's right shoulder facing 4:30)
11 - 12. Step forward with the LF toward 4:30 and pivot 1/2 turn to the left, keeping the right leg in back of the left (S) This is a flair (Woman is in front of the man facing 10:30 so they are both face to face and back into regular dance position)
13. Step back with the RF toward 4:30 (Q
14. Step side left with LF toward 6:00 and face 9:00 (Q) (Woman is now facing the left side of the room (9:00) in regular dance position)
15 - 16. Slide the RF to the LF slowly and touch the RF next to the LF with right heel up (S)
Music for practice:
Blue Tango
La Comparsita
Hernandos Hideaway

By Shayera Moula