Thursday, October 6, 2011

Dance Dance Dance........

This was a post I have been wanting to write for the past 2 weeks , but have been postponing it for a while because of household hurries and worklife worries..So here goes..

Flash Back :
1988:(or may be 1989) I'm not really sure. I was 6 year old girl-just like all the other girls of her age.
I spent my time outside playing with friends, going for a ride on my new BSA Champ and watching the only cartoon shows that came on doordarshan.Mom had always wanted her daughter to dance and soon there was a dance teacher knocking the door every saturday and sunday morning.It was soon clear that I did not have any aptitude for dance and the frustration of teacher and student were evident. Soon I started waking up every sunday dreading my dance lesson and crying because I could not watch the mickey mouse
cartoon on doordarshan. Finally my dad who is as interested in the fine arts as an average mallu is in veg food, decided that spending 150 rupees a month on something that made his daughter cry every day was not worth it.Thus ended my brief stint with dance.



Back to Present:

Later in life, I avoided any kind of dance including the mandatory to learn Thiruvathira knowing which is a
necessity in my community unless you want to look like a stupid in your own wedding video(Yep, it is a part of the welcoming ceremony to the groom's home or kudiveppu). I had been content (with a wee bit of envy I must admit) watching my friends perform amazing dances and win prizes in school and college, with my part limited to dressing them up and giving pep talk before the program. With great difficulty and ample help from my grandmother and aunts, I mastered one step of thiruvathira which helped me avoid looking like
a complete fool in the welcome thiruvathira at my husband's place.

Watching the ease with which my hubby's cousins danced , for the first time , I had a burning desire to be like them. To learn the dance. So when I got a chance to take part in an Onam program in Columbus, OH , I jumped on to it and found to my chagrin that to wish to learn is one thing , but having 2 left feet is quite another. Heart aches and body aches and 2 months later , I performed my first ever dance on stage. I wasn't quite so graceful, but it worked out. I could do the right steps.

This made me more ambitious, I wanted to try doing some other types of dance.But I didn't have the confidence to ask anybodyfor a chance as I was quite sure that nobody would have that much patience.
But this year, I gathered up courage and joined my friends for a cinematic dance. It was way difficult at first,
But good friends and a great teacher (who is a good friend too) and a supporting hubby can do wonders I was able to learn it , bit by bit , step by step.

And we put up an amazing show. It felt so happy to be part of such a winning combination that I felt this was the right thing to blog about to co-memorate the other achievement that I'm proud of- that of completing 50 blog posts.





7 comments:

  1. from the photographs (in YT), it looked great, looking forward to see the video

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  2. Congrats Sunitha...Guess its all about pushing your own boundaries :-) Cheers

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  3. @Pradeep etta, have shared the video now.
    @vivek, Thanks..

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  4. Sunitha..
    Nice one.
    uhm..i am sad that I missed the Thiruvathira for ur Kudiveppu. Feeling grt that our dance came out well and much appreciated.Glad that you didn't giveup in bw during the practise and your dedication paid off ..
    Radhika

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  5. I can't say I identify with the 'two left feet' bit for I love dancing:) No formal training but you'll always find me doing a *thing* to any random beat.

    Thiruvadirakali is not something I have attempted on stage but I liked a mini-version of it I did.

    Congrats on the successful show! It feels great, dunnit:)

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  6. godd effort sunitha,welldone,i wish u a very good future in this field.

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  7. @Radhika... Special thanx to you too.. :)

    @PeeVee, Thanks for commenting on my blog and making me feel special.. Yeah.. It was a wonderful feeling to have done it.. :)

    @Pusha aunty, It was mainly thanx to your daughter that I even attempted this. and it feels great to be appreciated..Thanks.. :)

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