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.