Does an Indian dancer need to know the language?

I don't speak Hindi, and I don't always understand all of it. But, I have been dancing to Indian songs at weddings since I was 12. People are shocked at how one can dance so well with not knowing the language. One man even told me, "Why do you pretend to not know Hindi? Look at how you dance" I told him, " All what I need to know is how to move my body."

There are European women on youtube doing very well with dancing to Bollywood songs and white belly dancers doing well to Arabic songs. Language may make it easier to understand the lyrics, but it doesn't dictate how well you can dance. I think dancing is more about movement, the ability to choreography and being in tune with the beats. What's interesting is that some people can speak Hindi fluently, yet they aren't able to dance.

What do you think? Is knowing the language mandatory for doing an Indian dance?

 

Classical dance is a different scenario, but non-Indian students are able to learn the meanings of certain things. My point is if one needs to speak the language fluently.

I had a bharatnatyam teacher that told me how some of her non-Indian students were more disciplined and knowledgeable than her Indian students, heh.

 

I agree that knowing the language helps. I do refer to subtitles or ask my mom to help out with certain words/phrases.

The people around me felt that one couldn't do an Indian dance at all if they didn't know the language. I think a lot of people now these days imitate the choreography seen in a movie, or add their own steps that go with the music.

I was just curious to see if anyone else found it hard to believe.