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Phugadi - The Turns In Pairs

Phugadi (Maharashtra) Kikli (Punjab) Egrae v Krujok (Russian)

In India this movement has several names. In the state of Maharashtra it's called "Phugadi", and in the state of Punjab in the North it is called "Kikli". The female children mostly do it, and ladies mostly perform it during the festivals. The men take part in it also, but to a lesser extent.

Here two performers facing each other, extend and cross ones arms in the front and hold each other by the hands. The gap between each others feet remain closer and the upper body is tilted back. Next they spin around balancing each other around an imaginary vertical axis that passes from the centre of the either performers. The feet movement is kept bare minimum.

This is very similar to whirling on the merry-go-round. This is a universal activity and these are games mostly played by young girls.

When using this activity here as an exercise, the hold is the ballroom type and the shoulders should remain square to one another. The part of the body from the hip upward should remain vertical. Also the part of the leg below the knee and above the ankle remains almost vertical.

Also the pair should be of different sex. This is extremely necessary since the amount of tilt will vary with the weight of the partner. Women are generally light due to men being basically heavy in the bones. If the man and the lady weigh the same, yet the difference of compactness will arise; the man would seem move in shape comparatively, this again effects on the tilts required to balance each other.

It will definitely be much easier to practice it with the partner of the same sex, since the physical and mental construction is almost the same. However in the Dance-Sport the partners should be of the opposite sex. This necessitates the need to practice with the partner of opposite sex. This in turn helps in understanding the better qualities with the other sex and to be able to combine the best in each other, for the optimum results that are comfortable to each other.

When whirling the centrifugal force is going to pull the partners apart, so it becomes necessary to keep the feet "pushed" forward, and the body erect. The feet kept forward will help in retaining the spin and the body kept vertically erect will help in reducing the force of pull to maintain the "squareness" to each other. One should always bear in mind to reduce the exertion without sacrificing the spin.

This exercise will help tremendously in all the turns, especially the flekerl in Viennese Waltz, the Natural and the Reverse Top in Rumba and Cha Cha Cha. These turns, "Phugadi", is spot movement. To progress, the axis around which the spinning takes place, is slighted shifted towards the person executing the back turn. (Back turn is when turning on one foot relatively the other foot is moving backwards.)