2019 was not an easy year for me as a dancer. In February, I fell and sprained an already weak ankle and nursed a swollen ankle for three months or more. I continued to teach, but practising and performing were out of the question. I was restless, of course, but I do know that I gained much from the experience.For one, for the first time in many years, I watched our troupe perform. I wrote about it in a Facebook post, and it sums up what I feel.So often, when we perform, people come and tell us how much they enjoyed the show. When I listen to their wonderful responses, particularly if I'm happy with the performance myself, I long to be two people. I long to watch, while also dancing. I want to see us.At today's performance, I will.Anyone who's ever worked as part of a troupe knows this: there's no 'me' and 'you' when we dance together. We go together, we dance together.And so, … [Read more...]
World Dance Day 2019
What did you do on World Dance Day? We put up two performances!To be completely honest, we did not plan the performances keeping World Dance Day in mind; things just fell into place that way. We were scheduled to perform in Udupi on the 28th of April, and one of the dancers in our troupe was keen on seeing whether we could perform at Murdeshwar Temple and Chitrapur Math too. It was just her determination that made it possible!At Murdeshwar, we didn't have a fixed audience. Of course, dressed as we were in Bharatanatyam costumes, we drew curious looks. Starting a performance, however, is something altogether different. Yet, we marked out our space and we began - and the response was heart-warming.Slowly, a group of people gathered together and settled to watch. We overheard a member of the audience saying to someone else that she would stay for just one more piece. She … [Read more...]
Performances Ahead
Why do we dance? And why do people suspend their lives for a couple of hours to watch?Performing arts seem to exist in a world of their own, with their own rules and rigorous demands. What other field has a saying like 'The show must go on'?I think the joy of a performance is that it feels like a huge secret that the artistes share. A secret is special. It creates oneness, like being part of an inside joke. What unfolds on stage is just a tiny part of everything that goes into a performance - hours of rehearsal, chatter and choreography; rising tempers, annoyance and laughter; work, play and food; balancing family, professional lives and dance.Where we perform is often secondary, for me. What I, as an individual dancer, "get to do" is also secondary. It's dancing together that unfailingly gives me a high.Knowing another dancer so well that I can predict what she will do … [Read more...]