Learning Indian Classical Dance for almost 15 years has helped me to appreciate my culture and help shape who I am today. It has enhanced the understanding of my culture by adding to the basic knowledge I have learned through my parents about my culture and it has opened a whole new world of art to me. It has taught me things about the Hindu religion, which is the basis for the dances, the music and the different stages that go into the making of a song and various other aspects of Indian Classical Dance. I also have had a lot of interesting moments throughout my years in classical dancing. Today I would like to share some of these moments with you so I can help you to better understand what it is to be an Indian classical dancer.
You would think that after learning dance for such a long time you can be somewhat considered a professional that puts on performances flawlessly. Think again!!! No matter how long you have learned there will always be times where you just make a fool out of yourself. For myself I have had many occasions where I would just either forget something or just do something really dumb. I have had the opportunity to travel and perform at various places. But one performance that I will never forget is my performance in Chicago. Here's how it begins. First let me tell you how we prepare for our performances. We usually leave everything to the last minute like learning a new dance and we stay up until the next morning trying to learn it. But this performance was different. The performance was on a Saturday, which meant that we had to leave the day before, and that meant a shorter amount of time to practice. We ended up practicing and learning dances either on the bus or a few minutes before the performance. Well, you probably could guess what happened. We did so horrible that at the end of the performance no one clapped for us. To make us feel better our instructor told us that it wasn't us but the people around here that don't appreciate art.