So you think I can dance?
The title is ripped from the television competition, "So you think you can dance". People have seen me singing on stage a lot. But, one of my FIRST stage appearances was a dance and my role was - my name.
It was in Tumkur during my first standard. My mom visited the school few months prior to 'school day' (also called Annual day). She was enthusiastic to teach kids some group dance. There I was stuck with the role of Krishna ;). She picked a few songs on Krishna and his pranks and made up a ballet. Practise sessions went on well and the finale was approaching. One fine day, someone triggered me with an idea, 'dance is for girls'. ha ha ha. Gone was my mind into the woods. I told my mom, "Amma, I am not going to dance. That Soumya (who was doing the role of Yashoda) is not my real mom. I don't feel like calling her 'amma'. Pick some other kid". Soon started my mom putting my Krishna's stolen butter back to me. She and all my teachers convinced me that I will get a bicycle if I participate in the ballet. Since that was one thing I surely couldn't say NO, I agreed. And I did it. Don't ask me how ;)
Then, in third standard, I was in Shimoga. There is always this wave of 'School day' and parents want their kids to participate. The school in Shimoga was a very small one which was run in a residential area and on a house plot. There was no auditorium or a hall for the show. All they did was erected a shamiana (temporary structure) on the street and put chairs there.
I was selected for a folk dance. The costume was different - had to wear dhoti :( and put a turban on the head. I wore the dhoti at home. For some reason, my mom couldn't make it to the event and my dad was out of town. My maid, who knew to ride bicycle took me to the venue. By the time I was there, my dhoti was flying in the air ;). Anyways, show was good. I still remember my dance partner's name - Rama!
Next year, we were in Hubli! What is this, was I a stage performer roaming towns and cities every year???? What to do? My parents where getting transferred every year. It was nice in a way, I got to perform in front of new audience every school day ;)
Hubli's span was 5 years. But, the first year's school day was something funny. I was in class 4, new to school and teachers knew I could sing ;). That English teacher chose me to sing a song in English man! Though I agreed, my bro teased me for the lyrics - It was "bow bow bow O Linda, bow bow bow O Linda, bow bow bow O Linda, will you be my darling?" That word 'bow' must come as 'baauv' otherwise, it is like a dog barking 'bow bow'. Adding to this, the costume for the song included a black bow and my dad searched places to get that specific bow :D. Thanks dad! Our group sang the song and little kids danced for it.
Taking a long jump in time, I did participate in two dance numbers in my Grad school. hunnnn! Oh man! That too in front of International audience of 500 in number. More, my Professor sitting in the front row :D. Still more.., people had not seen me dance and thought all I could do is only sing, sing, sing. Thanks to the lead dancer and all in that team. I loved it. Don't ask what people thought, but, I enjoyed every bit of it. Since stage fear was out of question, I believe I did a pretty decent job. One was a Tamil 'karagaatam' dance with super duuper costumes - folk dress, bells to our legs, and more interestingly a small structure on our heads. Since we did not have Indian type of bells, we bought Santa bells from Staples store and put them in threads to make it look and sound like real Indian type bells. The other was a Telugu movie song. I don't remember much. All I recollect is we do a kick start to our scooters in the end and my dance parter sits on it and we all zoom on stage to go back stage! ha ha ha LOL.
My next learning project will be formal dance classes. That is just a dream though. So you think I can take dance classes? ha ha ha
It was in Tumkur during my first standard. My mom visited the school few months prior to 'school day' (also called Annual day). She was enthusiastic to teach kids some group dance. There I was stuck with the role of Krishna ;). She picked a few songs on Krishna and his pranks and made up a ballet. Practise sessions went on well and the finale was approaching. One fine day, someone triggered me with an idea, 'dance is for girls'. ha ha ha. Gone was my mind into the woods. I told my mom, "Amma, I am not going to dance. That Soumya (who was doing the role of Yashoda) is not my real mom. I don't feel like calling her 'amma'. Pick some other kid". Soon started my mom putting my Krishna's stolen butter back to me. She and all my teachers convinced me that I will get a bicycle if I participate in the ballet. Since that was one thing I surely couldn't say NO, I agreed. And I did it. Don't ask me how ;)
Then, in third standard, I was in Shimoga. There is always this wave of 'School day' and parents want their kids to participate. The school in Shimoga was a very small one which was run in a residential area and on a house plot. There was no auditorium or a hall for the show. All they did was erected a shamiana (temporary structure) on the street and put chairs there.
I was selected for a folk dance. The costume was different - had to wear dhoti :( and put a turban on the head. I wore the dhoti at home. For some reason, my mom couldn't make it to the event and my dad was out of town. My maid, who knew to ride bicycle took me to the venue. By the time I was there, my dhoti was flying in the air ;). Anyways, show was good. I still remember my dance partner's name - Rama!
Next year, we were in Hubli! What is this, was I a stage performer roaming towns and cities every year???? What to do? My parents where getting transferred every year. It was nice in a way, I got to perform in front of new audience every school day ;)
Hubli's span was 5 years. But, the first year's school day was something funny. I was in class 4, new to school and teachers knew I could sing ;). That English teacher chose me to sing a song in English man! Though I agreed, my bro teased me for the lyrics - It was "bow bow bow O Linda, bow bow bow O Linda, bow bow bow O Linda, will you be my darling?" That word 'bow' must come as 'baauv' otherwise, it is like a dog barking 'bow bow'. Adding to this, the costume for the song included a black bow and my dad searched places to get that specific bow :D. Thanks dad! Our group sang the song and little kids danced for it.
Taking a long jump in time, I did participate in two dance numbers in my Grad school. hunnnn! Oh man! That too in front of International audience of 500 in number. More, my Professor sitting in the front row :D. Still more.., people had not seen me dance and thought all I could do is only sing, sing, sing. Thanks to the lead dancer and all in that team. I loved it. Don't ask what people thought, but, I enjoyed every bit of it. Since stage fear was out of question, I believe I did a pretty decent job. One was a Tamil 'karagaatam' dance with super duuper costumes - folk dress, bells to our legs, and more interestingly a small structure on our heads. Since we did not have Indian type of bells, we bought Santa bells from Staples store and put them in threads to make it look and sound like real Indian type bells. The other was a Telugu movie song. I don't remember much. All I recollect is we do a kick start to our scooters in the end and my dance parter sits on it and we all zoom on stage to go back stage! ha ha ha LOL.
My next learning project will be formal dance classes. That is just a dream though. So you think I can take dance classes? ha ha ha
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