School: ARAVALI INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
    FARIDABAD, HARYANA, INDIA

30 students, ages 12-16 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 11, 2023. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2020, 2021, 2022

Classes and Teachers: Ms Neha, Ms Sarbpriya, Ms Priya, Ms Nishtha, Ms Jasmeet, Ms Richa, Ms Palka, Ms Gitika, Ms Aryeda, Ms Jyoti, Ms Jyoti, Ms Diksha

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://aravali.edu.in

1. Description of Our Community

The local community selected for this project is 'Community Groups and Special Populations'. We have focused on the differently abled people and how Bharatnatyam dance is serving as a way of expression to them. The community selected specifies their role in society and emphasizes on Bharatnatyam as a unique form of Classical dance which plays a very significant role in various other domains of learning. It not only nourishes the soul, but also provides an eternal impact on the mind, body and soul of the dejected souls who are deprived of the basic joys of life owing to their disability. With it's mudras, gestures, hand movements and body control, the special population can vividly portray their inner self and sooth their minds. Faridabad is a developing city with heterogeneous group of people harbouring it. This comprises 41927 specially abled people according to census of 2011. Our project aims not just to provide recognition to Bharatnatyam artists with disability in our city , but extend our efforts towards the cause to pan India. This community is not given the equal significance and opportunity to sustain their life and our project takes a step to bring a difference.

2. Summary of Our Project

Dancing is an art, and Bharatnatyam is the expression of that art because both Bharatnatyam and expressions are incomplete without each other. It is thought to have been one of the last, oldest, and most well-known dance styles to have preserved spirituality. Each Bharatnatyam dance represents a distinct narrative. It is based on sensing the rhythm and music. It's how people with disabilities, like the famous physically disabled Bharatnatyam dancer Sudha Chandran, could express their emotions. Also, a number of organisations have been established to support this expressive art form among the disabled. The fact that people with disabilities are frequently viewed sympathetically and undervalued helps them establish a reputation for themselves. It all depends on developing abilities and a passion; there is no conversation and no language needed. Everyone benefits from being more in tune with both themselves and other people. Many NGOs that cater to children with special needs put more emphasis on dance and music, such as the blend of both dance and music known as Bharatnatyam. This is because people with special needs can understand the steps and beats better and enjoy performing it. They improve special skills, interaction, self-esteem, friendship making abilities, and communication skills through Bharatnatyam. It enables them to accept their situation and to take pride in how they overcame it to excel as Bharatnatyam dancers. Overall, Bharatnatyam can make a fervently deaf person hear the cheer, a passionate blind see the brightness, and a vehement curious person learn, but Bharatnatyam can assist a passionate deaf person in hearing the cheer, a fervent blind person in seeing the light in life, and an eager learner physically impaired in feeling the concealed emotions. According to science, dance forms like Bharatnatyam, which demand for rapid muscle movements, improve muscle synchronization, balance, and strength.

3. Our Computer and Internet Access

A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:more than 50%

B. Number of workstations with Internet access in the classroom:more than 6

C. Connection speed used in the classroom:dedicated connection

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:4-6

E. Additional comments concerning your computer and/or Internet access (Optional):

As our aim was not only to explore our neighborhood for this problem but it was to understand its impact pan India. Technology and internet helped us in doing so. The entire research work was carried out in our computer labs where students gathered the information, discussed, and derived conclusions to various problems. Various computational and designing tools like Excel, PowerPoint, Canva etc. were used to make draw results and represent the outcomes.

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

A path jam-packed with obstacles is a path jam-packed with lessons. Despite the fantastic encounters and tremendous effort, a lot of challenges stood in our way. Choosing the topic, we want to focus on, comes first. It was tough to narrow the list down the topics because we had so many answers from mentors and students. Designing a mind map for the intended research and development was challenging when the topic was decided and teams were formed. The main source of motivation, notwithstanding the value of experiencing and learning something new, was collaboration, teamwork, and support from mentors. s. It helped the students stay committed towards the project. Keeping everything organized and well-operated was also important. As we strive to keep the students interested in this project and warrant their overall development, reaching out to the community with questions was another hurdle during the journey. They were first a little hesitant, but persuading them improved their social abilities. Students were given exposure to use DSLR camera which was a hard nut to crack initially. They were taught to handle it, hold it accurately and align the camera at specific angles to click pictures and record videos. Final creation of the website was done on Google sites were designing of the entire concept was taught. It took a week’s time to explore various tools under it and use each optimally.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

Our Community includes learning and teaching fraternity with students, their parents. We as a team were overwhelmed by the way in which our team was welcomed by the students of an NGO Prabhat . An NGOs have played an important role in the development of rehabilitation for persons with disabilities worldwide. This has been done on regular bases were Government involvement is negligible and it started as a charity-based institution. NGOs vary in their capacity to change their working practices to achieve these aims. One factor which influences the capacity of disability related NGOs to make the necessary updation appears to relate to their different forms, which vary from small community .

6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?

This International project designs allowed us to become active learners and bring an important contribution to the society we live in. The learning tasks and assignments focused on learning and connecting with our community relating to pedagogic factors generally. Our experience-based and research-oriented project help us to discover a dynamic path of learning. Along the route, we also developed skills related to communication, content organization, data collection, and analytics along with effective web presentation.

It has been an experience that allows us to learn and grow with our teammates as we put it into practice. Our project was largely community-driven, which helped us develop our research skills. This project acted as a vehicle to foster research ability among our team. Without this collaborative group ... without the interaction ... without the glimpse of connectivity that's out there, it would not have been possible for us to showcase our research work. Our theme also helped us to learn more about the true essence of Bharatnatyam, gain knowledge about disabilities, various inspirations, and many more such topics. The rapid and dramatic incursion of the Internet and social networks into our everyday life has revolutionized the methods of exchanging data. The Internet helped us to effectively relay and spread awareness to a larger part of the population. If you want to take a quick glance at the activties and research we did you can visit our activity record page at : https://sites.google.com/view/bharata-natyam/team/progress

1) What information tools & technologies did you used to complete your CyberFair project?

During the entire journey of our project, technology played an important role. We used labs of our school that have nearly 60 desktops, 5 laptops, a scanner cum photocopier, and 2 smart boards.

Our research team explored the internet on these systems and got information on various domains of our project. The outcomes of every individual were shared with the team using smart boards which were followed by group discussions to get the best possible conclusion. Some topics were also discussed in online meets like zoom or google meet by respective teams. eBooks, online newsletters, and various documents related to our work were referred as most of the individual work was carried out at home using virtual platforms for interactions and research work. During our visits, the entire learning was captured using a DSLR camera and iPhone. They clicked pictures and videos of their special and rememberable movements. This experience will be with them in the corners of their heart forever. They documented their learning experience and feeling in a word document. Scanning of the document required from various books and magazines procured from the library or from various other sources was done in the school lab only. Editing of the documents and their designing was done using MS office tools, Canva and Photoshop. The thought process and learnings of the entire team were framed together as a web page using google sites.

Our team also conducted online interviews with the parents of special children discussing their perspectives about the same.

2) In what ways did you act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for your CyberFair project both on-line and in person.

The practical application helps to comprehend concepts more than relying solely on study findings. We believe visiting other communities and respecting their perspectives on several issues is crucial. For Bharatnatyam, we had to reach out to unique groups and impart this kind of art to them.

The first task for the students was to compile a list of surrounding NGOs serving special needs children. They called and contacted the organization that was decided upon. This presented an opportunity to learn something new in a unique setting. After seeing more than 100 underprivileged and disabled kids, we had a completely different experience. While the students gave the kids refreshments, they also jotted down the issues they were still facing and heard about some tragic events and a lot of fun and learning. They designed a questionnaire asking the questions they were keen to ask. They connected with those kids and realized that since they are a part of our society as well, they ought to be treated equally.

We also conducted workshop for students with disabilities to learn Bharatnatyam in our school. During our visit we also did our best to provide the children with a opportunity to learn Bharatnatyam. In order to raise awareness in our locality we also prepared a street play or widely known as Nukkad Natak to draw people’s attention towards our cause. We developed our project as a community initiative . To view how we acted as ambassadors to our community , Visit our community connect page at https://sites.google.com/view/bharata-natyam/community-connect

3) What has been the impact of your project on your community?

This project will surely leave a deep impact not only on the people who are involved in it but also on those who have seen the final product. Since the centre stage is given to the differently abled and their near and dear ones, for the first time we realized what they really expect from the society. They do not want our sympathy rather they need our empathy. They don’t look for reservations, rather they desire acceptance from the people around them as they are. The project brought students and teachers closer to the differently abled community as the one on one interactions helped us to know them better. We used to interact with NGOs , which were near to our school and worked with such people, as a part of our community drive but through this project we get to explore more. To take a step further we also conducted workshops for children with disabilities both in our school along with the NGO we visited. Raising awareness among our local community was also an important pillar of our project which aimed to bring a real-time impact than just a virtual one. To do so we prepared and played a Nukkad Natak as well as exhibited various Bharatnatyam paintings in our school . This is how we impacted our community and strived to bring a positive change to the current scenario of underrepresentation of disabled Bharatnatyam artists on the big stage. On presenting our work to the parents of not only participating students but also to the parents of our differently able students we received overwhelming response. They admired the endeavor and wished for more such activities to be channelized throughout the year so that this special bond keeps on flourishing and this significant realization about the special group of our society keeps on burgeoning.

4) How did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and volunteers?

This project was an amazing experience as the main idea behind it was doing something for our community .While researching for our topic , Bharatnatyam for people with disabilities we came across many members of our community who came forward to extend their expertise towards our cause. We were able to gain in-depth knowledge about Bharatnatyam with the help of our school’s dance educator, Mr Sanil along with various other Bharatanatyam artists. The people of our community who took out their time to fill our survey forms also made a valuable contribution to our project. Our online as well as field interviews were a great source of knowledge for getting a new perspective on our project. Some other instances in our journey which involved our community members include the people who viewed our Nukkad Natak and provided their advices and support for our project. We would like to sincerely extend our gratitude towards all the people of our community who helped and guided us throughout our project journey .