Loving Every Post-arangetram Minute

It's been 2 months since I finished my arangetram, but I'm only now starting to feel like I've established a post-arangetram routine - and it's amazing! It's everything I dreamed having 2.5 hours of my day back would be. Ed and I have been pretty good about going to the gym to do our women's weight lifting routine (have I mentioned that Ed is a really good sport about everything?). This weekend, I finally bought a new pair of outdoor running shoes - a mere 8 years or so after I bought my last pair, and tried them out today doing a wuss "run"*. It's the first time I've been excited about running in years. Also today, I got my bike pedal restored, which had been broken since the week of my arangetram.

This is what freedom looks like

What's even more amazing is that I went to dance class for the first time since my arangetram and I truly enjoyed it. I had practiced a few times over the summer, but I was so burnt out that I was not feeling it. Yesterday, however, I was really happy to be there, something I hadn't felt in probably a year. It's great to be back!

* wuss run: An athletic activity wherein the participant alternates between walking and jogging, switching as the song on said participant's audio apparatus changes.

Downsizing and Appealing Head Shapes

What's the number one thing every dancer does immediately after her arangetram? Chop off her hair. In my case, it was item 9 or 10, but I finally got around to it. The results:

Finally!

This is my first for real hair cut in... basically since I moved to California 4 years ago. I'll get a trim every year or so, but that's about it, and even then, it's like a $25 hair cut. Once I got to dancing, I needed my hair to be long to facilitate braiding. I also couldn't have layers because they're a nightmare to braid with.

This time, I went for an unheardof $75 hair cut at my boyfriend's hair salon. Yes, that old cliche of the boyfriend who wants his lady to spend more money on hair care. I rolled with it, and I'm pretty happy with the results.

In addition to the nice hair cut I was also complemented on the height of the top of my head. That's a new one, but I'll take it!

Not Me!

I've been a bad blogger for the last three weeks. Since I finished my arangetram, I've wanted to distance myself as much as possible from my arangetram and all things arangetram. Not because I'm not happy about my arangetram or anything - not at all. It was a wonderful experience. But I'm still exhausted and trying to figure out what my life is going to be like without 14 hours of dance a week.

Yesterday, I helped out at the first post-Emily's-arangetram arangetram. It was pretty great! For one, I was totally relaxed. Even at the other arangetrams I helped out at before mine, I was stressed out because I knew my time was coming. This time, I had already done my bit, so there was nothing to stress out over.

The Other Side of the Game

I was really happy to help out at yesterday's arangetram. The dancer, Keerti, helped me out a lot during my performance and stage rehearsal. She was very calm and collected, and her sister had done her own arangetram years ago, so her family was also very chill. This is a rarety in the business, I assure you. She did a great job and I'm very happy for her. Also, still happy it wasn't me this time :)

It was also nice to watch the show with my fantastic boyfriend, who was wonderfully dressed in a silk kurta he purchased himself in Bombay. I feel like we fit in. However, one of the dancer's uncles asked me if I was Keerti's classmate. I said yes, originally thinking that he meant her dance classmate, but later when he referred my boyfriend as her classmate as well, I knew we'd had a misunderstanding.

New accomplishment: I am more convincing as an 18 year old than as a Bharatanatyam dancer.

This week, I'm striving to do a better job of updating the blog. Stay tuned for posts of video clips, more pictures, and how I got into Bharatanatyam in the first place.

The Rundown

I know, I know, I'm very slow at getting any follow up from the show. But after half a year of preparation, I feel a day or two is an acceptable waiting period.

Overall, the whole performance went really well. There are, of course, things I wished I'd done better - adavus I didn't have the kind of form I'd like to have, occasional hunched shoulders, etc, but I think those are all outweighed by the things that went as well or better than I'd hoped.

By some miracle, I can do a reasonable version of real Bharatanatyam expression! This is really something I never thought I'd get. Dance steps and stuff aren't that different from any other artistic athletic activities, and although still hard, I didn't feel like there was a real barrier to learning. Expression, however, is sooo tied to culture. Most of the girls I dance with have had their whole lives of watching their grannies and TV and absorbing all that so that when it comes time to dance, they have so much to draw on. I, on the other hand, am rich in Irish curse words, but poor in any kind of Indian expression.

Somehow, I've got it together, and the only strategy I had was practice, practice, practice. I guess I did have some natural inclination - as Radha's father put it, "She has big eyes and an expressive face and will go far in life". Indeed, Mr. Sadogopan! But more importantly, unlike rhythmic dance, I could practice expression in the mirror in my room without special space, and so I did. And I guess that paid off.

The other thing that went really well is so many people showed up. My parents, sister, Aunt Jane and Uncle Jerry, friends from Canada Krista and Sharvil, Gaby from NYC, tons of colleagues from work, even more families from dance, and even members of the community who just came by to check it out. It was so awesome! Thank you so much to all of you who came - I hope you all enjoyed the show.

For those of you who missed it, here are some highlights courtesy of my Google team mate Matt Dunlap...

Through the whole process, my Guru Shrimati Mythili Kumar has been amazing and very supportive. I never imagined getting to this level and I thank her for challenging me an believing in my abilities despite the odds. Thank you to Anjana Dasu, my amazing student mentor, who has her own solo show Sunday July 21st at Hoover Theatre that you should all watch! Thanks as well to Lakshmi Venkatesan and Megha Ranganathan for teaching me parts of my repertoire.

None of this would have been possible without all the amazing work the volunteers at Abhinaya contributed. Thank you so, so much to Kjirsten for her helping masterminding it all, to Dinesh Belwalkar for coordinating AV, to Sheelu and Prema Aunties for doing an amazing job on my make up and hair in spite of my complexional challenges - it was very entertaining to hear the discussions that went like 'something something illa white person something something'. There were many many others who all contributed so much - thank you all!

Finally, to my boyfriend Ed and all my friends, thank you for staying with me in spite of not seeing me much for the last few months. I'm looking forward to spending quality time with all of you this summer.

Tomorrow: The Big Day

Last night I finished the final orchestra rehearsal. It was rough, but much better than the stage rehearsal I had on Tuesday, for which I was completely stressed out and exhausted. For the final rehearsal, I was less stressed, and had made an effort to stuff myself with food in the lead up. Now, I'm relaxing, and maybe doing some last minute practice reviews, but mostly, I'm trying to get my mental focus to maximize the awesomeness tomorrow for you, the audience (hopefully).

She's pumped, are you??

For those of you who are on the fence, let me reiterate what's in store for you tomorrow:

• An incredible two hours of action-packed live dance and music!
• Delicious authentic Indian snacks served at intermission!*
• An amazing chance to wear Indian clothes!
• Participate in the happiest clash of cultures ever!]
• It's 100% FREE!

There might be rumours floating around about needing to buy me gifts, but do not be persuaded! Such stories are FALSE!

If you are completely compelled to buy something, you can give a donation to Building Skills Partnership, an NGO that runs English language and computer skills training to janitors and other support staff working around the Bay Area. I've been working with them for 2 years on their Google-based projects, so I can vouch for them as a solid organization.

Thanks to Erin, Adam and Eliza for the amazing fan pic :)

* If you are Gaby, you will instead have delicious authentic gluten-free cuisine.

T minus 1 day!

The Parents have landed!

This afternoon, my parents arrived in the Bay Area. They are staying at a fine establishment in Sunnyvale, close to the heart of the action. I felt bad about not having them stay with me, in spite of the tinyness of my place, but given the current state of my apartment, I thought it would be best.

No Country for Old Parents

Now that they're here, it's another sign that I'm getting closer to the big show. It's nice to have some more cheerleaders around, even if they don't entirely understand what's going on.

T minus 3 days!

What's in a Thillana

In continuing with descripitions of my pieces completely out of order, I will now discuss the Thillana. A Thillana is usually the concluding piece in a Bharatanatyam recital, as well as in carnatic music concerts. It involves mostly nritta, or straight up rhythmic dance. Given that it's the end of the show, it's a real killer.

Fortunately for me, I quite like my Thillana. It is in ragam Dhanasri - ragams are kind of like 'keys' in western music, as best I can tell - which is a really cool ragam. To hear a weird version of what it sounds like, view below (my orchestra will NOT be featuring a saxophonist or a morsing player).

Unlike most thillanas, which only have one line, mine has 3! Originally, this meant I was totally dying by the end of the 15 minute piece. We have since shaved it down, so it's a lot shorter, but it still has 3 different lines.

While most of the dance is just 'dancing' (ie: no miming), there is a single verse at the end describing Lord Krishna Padmanabha (a mistake I made in the first draft of my program), who is one of the lesser-celebrated incarnations of Lord Vishnu. He has a subpar wikipedia page, so all I can tell you about him is what I know from my thillana, which is that 1) He is an incarnation of Vishnu, 2) He is playful, and 3) He removes ones troubles. Frankly, I feel I can be forgiven for mixing him up with Krishna.

The line at the end of the Thillana, and all of them have one, always strikes my as a strange artistic choice. You're going along, perfectly logically, dancing your exhausted little heart out, and then BAM! storytime. The only western equivalent I can think of are the kind of music video that will suddenly cut from a song into some out of nowhere story that you never saw coming. A classic example, perhaps a little dated for you young folks, is Puff Daddy, Ma$e, and the disembodied posthumous voice if Biggy Smalls' Been Around the World, where we we go from perfectly coherent ballin' about the Middle East to... salsa dancing with Jennifer Lopez.

Huh?

The Thillana definitely does a better job of this genre in that it doesn't involve Ma$e. And hey, who doesn't want to hear a story about the gods? If you didn't, surely you would have left by now.

T minus 6 days!